Trust Uncle Bill to make a liar out of me
.
Tom Holt said the 25 inch Kumar Kobra is THE khukri. So I ordered one. It arrived today. It was not made by Kumar, but by Bura.
And the hand of a master is immediately evident. There are only a couple of hammer marks in the blade, just enough so you know this was done at the forge, and not on a mill. And a good thing, too, since the blade is so long and flat that one might actually think it was run off on a lathe. The blade is quite tip-heavy, and the forward portion of the blade much longer in proportion to the back than any other khukri I've seen. It has a unique center of balance, and while I have not had the chance to test it (only had it a couple of hours) I belive that the cutting power of this blade must be awe-inspiring, if not actually frightening.
The blade is full of subtleties. The forward portion of the blade has a very shallow taper from elbow to tip. Shallow enough that you have to actually look along the spine to see it. Then you also see that the blade is fullered along nearly it's entire length, but so smoothly and softly that it really only shows when you see the curvature of the reflections on the surface. The line representing the sword of shiva is dead straight, with no mis-matches where the engraving iron didn't quite line up. The line looks like it has been carved with a ruler. The two halves of the eye-of-dove cho are perfect semi-circles and match each other in size, shape, and placement.
The handle, rather than staying the same diameter or even narrowing after the bolster, actually flares quite noticeably. I have rather long fingers in relation to my palm, and this makes getting the right sized handle important, because my grip gets compromised more seriously than most folks. I believe that if I had taken measurements of my hand and sent them to Bura, he could not have fitted it any better to my hand. Absolutely perfect.
The buttcap also has no extra scratches or marks on it. The three tang ends (still trying to figure out how they do that, and why) are well polished, with no sharp edges and the conical fasteners are perfectly round.
As I said, the hand of a master.
Uncle Bill, some time ago special-ordered a 25 inch Kumar Kobra. Meaning no disrespect to Kumar, but if it is at all possible, would Bura be able to make it (if it's not already being worked on)? That way, I would have a matched set, one for work, and one for show. Of course, the hard part would be telling which is which, right?
Tom
[This message has been edited by TomF (edited 06-23-2000).]
