Originally posted by John Powell
Thanks Mike, that's a nice way of saying what I was thinking for those swell folks at PhotoPoint. Wonder if they're related to the kindly execs from Enron?
A slight tangent here-but when your mention of Enron I presume to be concerning their 'creative book-keeping', no? Actually, Enron has been doing underhanded and nasty things for quite some time
...For instance, they were 'contracted' to build a power-plant in Maharashtra (India)--the 1st private power plant in India--and it turns out that the power it generates is too expensive for *anyone* to buy. But the contract signed
requires Maharashtra to pay US$220 million a year 
just for maintaince--$220million/year for a power plant which is doing nothing! .... (as an aside, Pres. G. Dubba Bush is actually fist-in-glove with them, they made the largest of the corporate donations to his presidential campaign....
). If you're interested in my tangent, the Booker Award winning Indian novelist/political activist Arundhati Roy has actually written a book concerning this and other scandal in India--and I've written a review of it which you can read here:
More of Enron's "Dirty Laundry" (saris?) - corrupt dealings in India
But to return from my tangent to khukuris (though perhaps one should be used on some of the Enron execs....)--
Originally posted by John Powell
Ben, the kukri that we're all miscommunicating about is indeed a well made piece from India and probably produced in 1945-48. It well could have been made in Dehra Dun or one of a dozen other depots. The ivory on the grip is well worth restoring and if YVSA was taking outside projects he would be the man I would go to. The scabbard is also worth restoration with the correct buckles and straps.
Many thanks John for the resolution of the miscommunication
. I was worried that your 1st assessment was based on it being marked 'Dehra Doon'. Glad to know that it's a well-made piece from India - one of the things I've been looking for, but I didn't know anything about this piece when I bought it!!
Definitely looking forward to restoring the ivory grip. The buckles are still on the straps, but the straps aren't completely torn off or anything, so I was thinking of following Uncle Bill's suggestion of sort of integrating new leather with the old.
Originally posted by John Powell
As for use it probably didn't see any 'action' since these knives were made for the officers in Indian Gurkha regiments as symbols of pride. It was probably used by someone years later to whack away at a piece of wood or some such mundane thing.
I follow your reason on this perfectly, and you may well be right. The reason I was thinking it has 'seen action' is partly the condition of the scabbard (roughed up a lot) and the dings on the blade--but those could be from anything.
But it's obvious that after the straps broke, someone did a 'quick fix' with a bit of boot-lace so that it could still be hung from a belt. So even if it was a symbol of pride it appears that someone was really using it at some point in time. And the 'boot-lace hanger' makes me think that its owner needed a quick 'field fix' at some point in time and that he then was rendered incapable of restoring his 'mark of pride'. I just find the boot-lace telling of something like this--but who knows? (but it wasn't 'doctored-up' by the seller for sure - he didn't point out the boot-lace, he called it a 'bone'-handled gurka knife and sold it to me for US$40).
I also wonder - even if it was a 'symbol of pride' sort of more formal khukuri - if the owner didn't find its feel/balance so brilliant that he decided it was a better one to use than his 'working khuk'--because the balance on it is fantastic and the feel is marvellous!
(even a slightly better feel than my HI BAS [which feels wonderful])....
Originally posted by John Powell
I hope that gives you some of the info you're seeking. As to the K45 I will try to get the kindly old gent who runs this forum to post a picture so you can see what one looks like. They are not in the same style as this kukri, but are fairly crude and real working knives.
Yes, many thanks for the info--so it turns out to be just the sort of khukuri I was looking for. Curious to see the K45 (does that stand for anything? Something and then 1945? I'm supposing that M43 is a model made/designed in 1943? [so the series goes MI, MII, M43 - sort of like Windows - 3.0, 3.1, 3.11, 95, 98, 2000....]
)
But you say that this kukri isn't in the same style as the K45 in any case....so, there isn't an 'official category' it fits into, right? It's an officer's knife made late war-1948 in India somewhere.
Many thanks again for the info. It's a brilliant khukuri in any case, and I'm anxious to restore it.
Cheers all, B.
