Lightweight Khukri Carry

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hollowdweller

Joined
Sep 22, 2003
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Hi,

My wife and I are going backpacking in a few weeks at Dolly Sods, a rugged wilderness area near here.
I'd like to take one of my khuks, but since I want to keep the weight down I'm considering trying to figure another way to carry it rather than the kind of heavy sheath with the extra knives.

Anybody have any suggestions? I was thinking maybe 2 pieces of cardboard joined with duct tape and oiled on the inside.
 
DOn't htink I'd want to trust cardboard and duct tape, least not with edge I have on my carry ones when I use them.

WHat I might do is pick up some cheap, pretty tyhin brass plate from local hardware store, fold it in half, and then cover in cardboard and duct tape inside and outside. PUt edge towards the fold. Keeps bladefrom cutting through, but brass is soft enuogh not to harm the blade.

Or just go a bit smaller. 12" villager AK is great for that, and is my new camp knife. Or rather, will be once I finish oiling the wood on it and chkama and karda.
 
I think someone here uses the blade protectors used on ice skates to cover the blade. I've tried it myself. Not bad but kinda slow to use. I usually just end up carrying the original sheath.
 
that's a good idea, but also might try this,w hich is how I protect edge on my machetes.

Contact local fire dept. and see if they have any old hoses they're looking to get rid of. These things hav like 3-4 layers of coverage, and are gtough. I use them for machetes, and haven't cut through one yet. Theyr'e also useful as a rope protector if cilmbing or rapelling and you need to wrap your rope around a tree or rock. running the rope through the section of hose, and letting that be part in contact with tree keeps the rope from getting abraded, as it only contacts nice smooth inner rubber surface of the hose.
 
Originally posted by hollowdweller
another way to carry it rather than the kind of heavy sheath with the extra knives.
Click to expand...
You can significantly slim down scabbard as provided, it's fairly simple.

Note that I have not actually done this,
but I've examined the construction
& plan to do it one one or two scabbards.

Remove the blades
Slide frog (belt hanger) down and off.
You now have 3 pieces of wood covered in leather.
The leather is held together in back by loose stitching.
You might also find a couple of tiny tacks in the assembly.
Save any that you remove, a magnet is useful.
The stitching is covered by a flap of the leather.
Lift the flap and

[up to this point you can still just fit everything back together]

snip the -top- of the stitching.
Loosen the top of the stitching enough to
pull out the wood 'shim' that is behind the karda & chakma pockets.
Pull out the rings of leather that form the karda & chakma pockets.
Now is time to tighten everything back together.
[before doing so, read the note below]
Rethread, tighten, and tie as needed to keep everything secure.
If you have excess leather I'd overlap it and tack it down.
I suppose you could glue it with rubber cement or similar---
it's always nice to be able to disassemble things later.
Tiniest brass tacks from the hardware store work fine,
just be sure not to go -into- the blade cavity of the scabbard.
Once the scabbard is again tight,
You'll need to tighten the frog to match.
The frog is held tight by a leather lace that's made to be adjusted.
(Except that sometimes it's made to fit & has no lace
in which case you can: cut it, punch holes, add lace & tighten)
Even if lacing is already present,
you'll probably need to trim it back the front of the frog
& add new holes.

Note: If the frog has nothing to catch onto,
it could slide off the top of the scabbard.
Traditionally, there is a ring of material added
under the leather of the scabbard to act as a stop for the frog.
 
I get the idea. I once saw a guy making awesome digeridoos out of PVC pipe. I couldn't tell that they weren't wood till I picked one up. Sounded great though. I have some 2" PVC. Might give it a try.
 
Well, if you want a quick solution, these are good suggestions. you could also use kydex to form a sheath, or any benda ble plastic.

For a slightly more involved quickie sheath, get a piece of heavier weight "cow butt" leather, size it, then fold in hals, then drill holes for copper rivets and rivet it together. The copper rivets will keep the khuk from cutting out of the sheath, and yet are soft enough so as not to damage the edge of the khuk.

Keith
 
The sheath is light. Grind down your khukuri blade until it is light enough for your taste. You can also cut the handle with a hacksaw. Drilling holes in the blade will also lighten it...this technique is often used for brake discs on motorcycles.

(or get a 12in AK)

Be safe.
 
I have considered this, as I don't think I could grinnd a good fuller. I considered doing this to the fullered area at the back of my 18" AK. When done professionally, this might give a khuk that hi-speed "vented" or "ported" look.

Oh, wait--Kis was using sarcasm.;)

Keith
 
Kis is right--the scabbard is light.

It's made of pretty light wood and coverd with much thinner (lighter weight!) leather than one could use for making a leather-only sheath. If weight, rather than compactness is the issue, I doubt one can easily get much lighter. If carry in a pack is OK, the frog isn't needed.

Get a scale or balance. Remove frog, K&C and weigh the bare scabbard. I very much doubt that an equivalent length of firehose will be any lighter.

Removing the small tool pockets as suggested and replacing the heavy leather frog (Yeah, weigh it by itself and combare to the bare scabbard!) with something made of webbing is probably as light as one could get without going pretty exotic, I think.
 
You could get Terry Sisco to make you a quick draw sheath. These are amazingly light and the two smaller implements are given their own sheath which you could leave at home.:)
 
In terms of weight, it is pretty hard to beat the HI scabbard the way it is. I made three sheaths out of 10 - 12 oz. leather and all of them came out heavier than the scabbards. Weight was not an issue though, and I was planning to use the sheaths under conditions which would break or damage a wooden scabbard.

Fire hose won't be much lighter, but it won't be alot heavier either. If you are carrying the khuk in a pack which is subject to getting wet or banged around (like canoeing), riveted hose is what I would use. This stuff can be hard to get though, but if you have trouble shoot me an email. I have plenty of 5" in "safety yellow."
 
Originally posted by clearblue
Smoky mountain knifeworks has machete sheaths for sale at $3.99 per
you might could modify one.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll check 'em out. Might be cheap enough to give one a shot anyway.
 
Originally posted by Kismet
Hollowdweller?

didn't mean to be sarcastic. Just funnin'. Welcome.:)
Click to expand...


I live up a hollow off of the main hollow. We had this party one time and this friend of mine who has a cabin on the ridge was talking about the difference in mindset between hollowdwellers and ridge dwellers. Ridge dwellers tending to be fruit tree lovers and grape growers and hollowdwellers raising livestock since water is usually more abundant down there. I raise milk goats. In fact Kismet is the herd name prefix for a famous herd of Nubians out of Virginia.
 
thus the "get yer fill" line in my first post. hollow-fill, fill the hollow, you get it.

Kis is one of the good guys, I didn;t mean to imply he was bein' nasty or anything. Kis' humor does tend to be dry, perhaps a 6.5 outta 10 on the "Dry British Humor" scale.;)

Welcome.
 
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