Moderate confusion...nothing new, but...

Kismet

Kismet

Joined
Jan 30, 2002
Messages
7,269
A friend dropped by with his khukri. He got it a knife show. It came with a note from Bill Martino saying it was a Gelbu Special. It is 18 inches long. It has a beautiful long fuller, and is typically, quite nice. Moderately enbossed sheath.

The cho, however, is that of a Kobra. I saw the blade, and said.."hey, a lovely kobra." He said, no....GS. We went to the site.

All GS's have a closed cho with a dangle. All kobras have the closed cho with a solid bar of steel intersecting the circle.

However, I'm thinking there must have been variations.

Not important, just curious. Ideas?
 
Originally posted by Kismet
The cho, ......... I'm thinking there must have been variations.
Click to expand...
I think UBE has said that, with chos,
as with everything the kamis make,
they do what they want.

Or, given 'accidents' in the making of,
they did what they did.

Wonder if they tease each other about such 'mistakes',
probably so.

Any case; Gotta love the variety.
 
I've seen a similar case... I once had an older Bura 18" kobra with a closed 'eye of the dove" cho, like you'd find on the GS or chitlangi. It was definitely a kobra, not a GS. I believe it went off to Afghanistan with one of Sarge's guys.

Maybe it was going to be a GS and Bura decided not to fuller it...
 
IIRC, all kobras have split triple tangs going thru the buttcap. If they don't, they aren't kobras but something else.
 
I'll have to look, but at least one of my kobras
(my Bureti)
has only a single tang thru the buttcap.
But it was made to -look- like three.
I think my 20" kobra is the same.
 
Regardless of whether the triple peened over tangs are real or two of them are imitation, the triple rather than single tang peened over is the designator I've come to associate with the kobra.

IMHO, single tangs look far better than the triple. Matter of taste I suppose, although I'm not the sole arbiter of what's in good taste. I think I should be, though. Don't you agree? :D :D :D
 
Originally posted by Rusty
although I'm not the sole arbiter of what's in good taste. I think I should be, though. Don't you agree? :D :D :D
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Absolutely..........I think I should be.

:cool:
 
Rusty, before answering your question (musing?), we need to know if you like Hanshees and convex grinds.

TAL
 
Originally posted by Thomas Linton
Rusty, before answering your question (musing?), we need to know if you like Hanshees and convex grinds.

TAL
Click to expand...

Who else do you know of who has converted a panna butta ( Chiruwa ) tanged M43 so the handle continues the curve of the blade despite the exposed tang that needed to be filed down to accomplish this?
 
OK, OK, Subject to approval of Uncle, you have my vote for Final Arbiter of Taste (or things tasty). But what, oh what, will Yvsa say?!

TAL
 
Originally posted by Thomas Linton
OK, OK, Subject to approval of Uncle, you have my vote for Final Arbiter of Taste (or things tasty). But what, oh what, will Yvsa say?!

TAL
Click to expand...

Mine too, as long as my little brother doesn't advocate thin assed edges and soft kardas.:rolleyes: :p ;) :D

Ooops!!!! Just saw the "things tasty." On that - I may have to crawfish. It's kinda like I asked a friend once, "Do you know what's fun?" He replied, "Yes! What's your version?"
Tasty could be a more slippery slope than "good taste.":rolleyes: :p ;) :D
 
Bro, I'm one of, if not the very firstest to advocate replacing soft chakma(k)s with carefully shaped file pieces ground only with bare hands holding them so they don't get overheated and retain full hardness of the file.

Matter of fact, I'm the guy who took a 10" triangular file and polished it until it became a 7&1/2" long piece of 7/16ths wide full file hardness nearly razor sharp steel on all three edges ( talk about flat ground ) using only hand tools. And mirror finished at that! ( It'll be my hospital sleeve dagger when it's finished. OK, truth is it's really a %&#@^ing doctor dagger. )

Does a 120 degree edge triple flat grind at circa 65 Rockwell C sound soft and thin?

;) :p :D
 
From the archives of the Bill Martino vault: note my friend got.

(I found and un-wadded that letter I got with the big blade:)

GELBU SPECIAL by SANU / HABAKI-STYLE BOLSTER

Evaluation by Bill Martino:

"This is an 18 inch Gelbu Special made and marked by Sanu that is one of
the best Khukuris that I've ever seen - period. It is 1/2 inch thick
with perfect
deep fullers, which takes the weight down to a very neat 1 pound 6
ounces.
The fit is as good as Bura can do and the finish is the typical Sanu
magic mirror."

"The edge runs 58 to 59 Rc where it should be and is razor sharp. This
Khukuri
is almost impossible to beat. The scabbard is equal in Quality to the
Khukuri
it houses. Very good quality leather, excellent workmanship, unique
tooling
and nicely done of dragon and Swayambunath temple, and the HI frog will
easily last for 100 years."

"The handle is water Buffalo horn and the Karda and Chakma also have
matched horn handles."

The man is a poet, I tell you, a poet.



:)
 
I'm sorry Sanu left, but his dad makes scissors for the carpet trade and hopefully he'll make good even if he's not the first son. But it's a loss to HI and the knife trade of Nepal to lose one of his caliber.

I treasure my Sanu's and my Bura's - just my opinion, but others don't have the feel to them.
 
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