Kukri recommendation

[Steve Tall]

...Those KLVUKs are the bomb, though.

For those unfamiliar, the Himalayan Imports KLVUK is the VUK Villager Utility Knife (Khukuri/Kukri) made by KL Kesar Lal. He might be retired by now, and the current VUK offerings are made by long-time kami Kumar (who is also very skilled at making swords).

 

[bikerector]

Another unsung quality of these handles is the fact that not being stabilized, shrinking or contracting wood won't (generally) bother your hands; while wooden slabs exposing the full tang or extending past it can cause discomfort in use. Those old guys knew what they were doing, well before the British introduced the full-tang concept.

Agree, the full tang can be brutal. I have a golok with a full tang and it get's pretty rough if I use it on thicker, dry wood. Nice for clearing trails through marshes but rough to try and cut logs for make-shift water crossing and such. I've resorted to athletic tape and more recently handlebar tape for bicycle handles.

 

[Steve Tall]

I like the multipurpose aspects of a kukri. For example, the curved edge (concave part) can be used like a drawknife

Here's a thread about backcountry trail maintenance (at a national park) where one of the Himalayan Imports "Villager Utility Knives" has proved its worth over the past 4 summers:

"One thing that the khukuri does better than anything else is debark logs, it is better than most all of the drawknives we have even excepting the antique drawknives made by craftsmen that actually knew what they were doing. In this project we didnt have access to those tools, but the khukuri made short work of our bridge's logs anyway." [quote and photo from Issun]

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/villager-khukuri-building-bridges.1533163/

 

[Moonw]

It's a versatile tool alright.

 

[RayseM]

I like to see good tools doing good work . Great thread Steve.

Ray

 

[fugglesby]

When you mention Micarta...will this apply to the stick tang knives as well, or only the full-tang ones?

Have no idea how thick you can get it.

The plan is to do it on stick tang blades as well, but do them in a frame tang style with three individual blocks of micarta. Will probably end up a little more expensive than the full tang equivalents, but it's a pretty tidy overall solution I'd say.
On the topic of the shrinking wood and horn handles, I absolutely agree that it's much less likely to cause problems on rat tail tang handles. It still does leave a blade more likely to crack though, so I think the ideal situation is one where the wood and horn used has been properly cured in the first place. Difficult to achieve in the tropical humidity and altitude of Nepal, but still definitely doable. It's something that'll be getting tackled the next time I'm over there.

 

[Moonw]

The plan is to do it on stick tang blades as well, but do them in a frame tang style with three individual blocks of micarta. Will probably end up a little more expensive than the full tang equivalents, but it's a pretty tidy overall solution I'd say.

Thanks. Didn't think about this solution...just saw it yesterday while watching "Forged in Fire" .

 

[Hermit_Knight]

Thanks. Didn't think about this solution...just saw it yesterday while watching "Forged in Fire" .

That show just came out on cable in Australia I’m loving it!

 

[Moonw]

That show just came out on cable in Australia I’m loving it!

I'm enjoying it even more now, for what it is (I'd say an excellent educational tool), after I learned some of the "secrets". For example, I was confused why they didn't show any tempering done, only to find later that it was happening in fact behind the scenes.