my Kobra died

If I were designing a blade I would never put something like a cho into it. It is insane from a structural integrity viewpoint and is extra work. But the cho is there because of religious and cultural significance and because of this it has always been there and probably always will -- at least on khukuris manufactured in the subcontinent.

The philosophy is somewhat the same with the ram dao. If the eye is not there the blade is incomplete and the knife cannot be called a ram dao. My western mind and engineering background tells me this is BS but the kamis and many natives of the subcontinent don't share my views.

East is east and west is west......

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Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ
Himalayan Imports Archives (33,000 + posts)
 
Would the kami's be willing to replace the cho with a choil? It would be a useful asset when using the khukuri for finer task.

Sorry to hear about your khukuri. 2x4 chopping normally not very hard on a knife. Machetes can be used. If you twist the pieces out or the blade gets twisted it is a different story.

An 18" AK, WWII, or GRS might be the way to go. This monster might be a good idea as well:

http://www.bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum53/HTML/000410.html

Will


Will

[This message has been edited by Will Kwan (edited 02-05-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Will Kwan (edited 02-05-2001).]
 
Something that popped into my mind is that the cho of the Kobra is very similar to the "eye of the dove" of the Chainpuri style Khukuri. It would seem, at least to me, that the closed cho would be more structurally sound than an open cho, or am I just "passing wind"?
 
It was 18", made from an old file. I agree with Uncle Bill, that the blade may have been to hard at the cho.
 
i asked uncle for a special about 2 weeks ago, and asked for a cho-less sirupati with slight differences from the production model. uncle told me that the kamis would never make a khuk without a cho. i was thinking about circumventing this little dilema. how bout if uncle told the kamis that they were making a "khukuri-styled" blade rather than a genuine nepalese khukuri. they make katanas and bowies, why not a "khukuri-styled" blade?
 
The bowie has a cho. I delivered a katana blade to them personally. They know this is a replica of a Japanese blade and because of this they made the knife per model. The khukuri is the symbol of Nepal and the cho has cultural and religious significance and I doubt that they will ever agree to make a khukuri without the cho.

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Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ
Himalayan Imports Archives (33,000 + posts)
 
On the subject of chos...

At first glance it does seem a bit odd to take a substantial bite out of the blade at one of its weakest points. However, I believe that the cho started life as a functional feature - a choil - and became stylised into its present form as its original function was forgotten.

Dr Jim Hrisoulas (one of the world's finest bladesmiths, even if the son-of-a-something does owe me a thousand dollars...) says this about the choil in 'The Complete Bladesmith';

"...Move onto cutting the choil [a semicircular cut filed into the blade at the point where the cutting edge merges with the ricasso]. This cutout will be a great aid in sharpening the blade and will prevent the blade from coming to an abrupt halt against the stone when it meets the end of the edge..."

Other (less authoritative) sources on blademaking claim that the choil helps relieve stresses set up by the harmonics of the cutting edge under load, or some such. Don't see it myself, but I spent physics lessons at school looking out the window, so what do I know?

The similarity of the words 'cho' and 'choil' is probably just a coincidence. However, I'd say that the cho is a choil that kept on growing, getting bigger and more elaborate as khukuri styles developed. Whether it still serves any function, of course, is another matter entirely. Still, I can see the kamis' point when they say a khuk without a cho isn't a khuk. Where an artefact so rooted in long & honorable tradition as the khukuri is concerned, the old 'if it ain't broke' adage would seem to apply.
 
Thanks, Tom, for good input as usual. There are so many names for that notch it gets confusing. Personally, I think cho might be a Nepali corruption of choil -- maybe a feedback from early British influence when India was a British colony. I heard the term a couple of times and liked it because it was short and easy. Pala calls the "notch" Surya ra Chandra -- sun and moon -- which is much too long and confusing.

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Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ
Himalayan Imports Archives (33,000 + posts)
 
A notch can also be found on some old bowie blades. The practical reason is that the notch keeps "fluids" from running down the edge all the way to the grip, causing them to drip off first and keep the grip from getting slippery. Dip your edge in some milk and see if it works. Virtually every aspect of khukuri design seems to be originally based on function.

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"To know and to act are one."
 
This is the first HI khukuri to break at the cho, isn't it? I wonder how big the cho was on this one. Some of them are enormous, to my eye anyway ... I think a cho is a good idea but it doesn't have to be so big! IMHO...

I suppose the break was probably due more to heat-treat than to too big a cho, but my vote would be for small, tasteful chos ... if I had a vote ... to my eye a small cho looks better as well as weakening the blade less.

-Cougar :{)
 
Uncle as always, boils it all down. A tit works for me.

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"To know and to act are one."
 
I think a cho is made for a practical purpose though without much scientific basis.
Tom's comment on "relieving strsses" from the blade reminded me of a notch on a 5" floppy disk. The purpose was to relieve stress of twisting force. If there were no notch, the twisting stresses would focus on the area and break. A notch on the edge in a certain point gives more flexibility by avoiding torque concentration. Back to khukuri, its design feature is its curved shape with its cutting area far (4-5inches) from the axis of the handle where a usual knife has its edge in only half inch from its axis. A cho that takes some lateral strength, and gives much twisting strength seems a good deal and reasonable.
I hope wiser and more knowledgeable forumites can add thoughts on this comment.

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\(^o^)/ Mizutani Satoshi \(^o^)/
 
A little tit is an interesting idea ... I'm afraid we'll never convince the kamis to go along with that -- but how about jawboning them into making the cho a little smaller? Could that be possible? I don't know, maybe I'm the only one who feels smaller chos look better ... and it's not like I'm buying vast numbers of khukuris (can't, not on an impoverished non-writer's wages)....


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-Cougar :{)
Use of Weapons
 
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