My Sgt. Kahda Special Arrived

cavetech

cavetech

Joined
Nov 25, 2005
Messages
760
I won the 13.5 inch 14 ounce Sgt. Khadka special. Samll imperfection on the spine. $40 on the 2/8 DOD and it arrived today. Exciting as always.

The blade is very nice, substantial, and arrived sharp. I still can't find any imperfection on the blade spine.

I have not seen an HI kuk with the deeply etched or engraved "Made In Nepal" in large lettering with flag on the blade like this one. There are absolutly no other marks on the blade like from the kami that made it so I can't connect with it's maker. Don't HI kami's always mark there blades? My others have a number of marks. I can't decide yet whether this big blade marking is attractive or detracts from the knife. My first impression is it detracts from the blade.

The sheath is pretty, but the sheet metal (I don't know the proper term for it) isn't up to HI's usual standards. The metal around the sheath opening scrapes the blade, the seam on the sheath tip is poorly done and when I pushed the sheath through my belt to see if it could be carried that way a projecting piece of metal on a cone shaped object caught my shirt and tore a small hole in it. It was a good shirt too.

I like the blade, don't like the blade marking, the sheath is so-so.

Does anyone know why the blade markings have changed?

I have attached a few picture to try and illustrate these comments.
 
My 9 inch Sgt, Khadka special is devoid of kami marks as well. The blade is totaly unmarked.
 
Well, Steve, truly a special I guess. That is a somewhat unique size for him, as most are in the 12-12.5" range. The metal scabbards have those imperfections from time to time. I have had to round the edges on some of mine. That back peice should be flush but should be fixable. I have never seen blade markings like that flag and "Made in Nepal" on any blade, but at least he did a neat job of engraving.

Sgt. Khadka usually puts no initials on any of his knives. He works at a different shop and sells his stuff to HI for distribution.

I know you have a fine knife there, and the half-off price doesn't hurt. Personally I would consider the scabbard the "blem" part of the deal and get another sheath/scabbard going for the knife. That is $15 less than what I just paid for a Kumar Karda.

Norm
 
Steve Poll said:
II have not seen an HI kuk with the deeply etched or engraved "Made In Nepal" in large lettering with flag on the blade like this one.

Don't HI kami's always mark there blades?

I like the blade, don't like the blade marking, the sheath is so-so.

Does anyone know why the blade markings have changed?
Click to expand...

Steve the HI Marking's haven't changed. It appears that some of y'all are under the impression that the good Sergeant is an HI Kami, he isn't.
Sgt. Khadka has his own small shop and AFAIK is still in the Nepali Army but not for sure about that.
Sgt. Khadka has also made a few khukuris in the BirGhorka arun.
Hope this helps explain the difference.
The reason the blade is stamped, "Made In Nepal." is that it is required to have some form of identity letting it be known that it's a Nepali export.
A simple paper tag will do the same thing.
 
That is interesting information about the Sgt. He does seem to make very good kuks.

Yes, the kuk is very nice. I will make a kydex sheath for it. This one I might do differently, without a belt loop. Some kind of snap or d-ring so it could be attached to a strap or even a pack. It was a very good buy and Yangdu sent it fast.

I have a horn question. When I "knock" on my kuks with wooden handles I get a solid full sound.

When I do the same to this one with a horn handle it sounds hollow. Since I have almost no experience with horn I wonder about this. Is it typical of horn because it is an animal product vs solid wood? They must both be filled with laha inside.
 
Steve?

In addition, the Sargent is the father of Ram, the medical student from a small village in Nepal, attending medical school in Romania, and being largely subsidized by Cantinistas, Steve Ferguson, Himalayan Imports, and the sale of his own work on khukuris.

I have one of the Sargent's blades. The khuk is lovely, the elaborate trimming not to my taste, but...it is a connection to a kid trying to learn complicated medical terminolgy and procedures in a foreign country, living on less than a shoe-string, and currently having a little bit of a health problem because his diet is so poor.

Ram plans to go back to Nepal and offer medical service to what basically is a third-world country.

I'm told Steve Ferguson will soon have a transcript of Ram's academic work, and perhaps, if it is not too personal, will post it for all of us to see.

There's more to the Sargent's work than is first apparent.

They are lovely knives.


Be well and safe.
 
Steve, when you get that kydex sheath done, post pics, will you?
I got my G/F a 12" Khadka a while back, and she wants a more practical field sheath for hers as well.

DaddyDett
 
Steve, I'd like to see your kydex sheath work too. I can't believe how well he made those letters and they're inlaid with brass too. I hope you like that knife. My two Sgt. knives are becoming my favorites.
 
I love the good Sgt's work. I have handled several of his knives, and I plan on snagging a few bigger ones as fate allows. I think he really excells in his fancy biltons. Beautiful little knives that make great hard use EDCs. I have one of his 10.5" khuks that is kinda like a bigger bilton and kinda like a little BAS:confused: Pretty neat knife:) Sort of like that mousegun of khuks. The khuk you'd pack when you don't need a khuk.
I agree on the scabbards though. They are nice, well made, but not all that functional. I plan on making a leather one for my 10.5" khuk way down the line as I don't carry it much. IMHO, the Sgt makes the most flawless blades of anything offered by HI. I have handled around 5 or 6 of his pieces and they all had perfect grinds, no hammer marks, and no fold marks. He makes a great presentation khuk that you could take out and use for 50 years of hard work;)

Jake
 
I recently picked up a semi-blemmed 9.5" Sgt Khadka myself...

I already had a little 8.5" Dharan Bilton with an aluminum handle - it was sort of a neat little novelty knife, but the finish wasn't great. There were some file marks visible on the blade, the leather on the scabbard felt like construction paper, SoS was a single etched line, etc. For the price I paid ($18) no complaints, but I wasn't really moved by it either.

So after I paid my $25 for a Sgt. Khadka, I sort of wondered if I really wanted another khuk in that size...


Boy, let me tell you, opening the box made a believer out of me! The calibre of the Sgt.'s work is simply amazing. Handle was much bigger & more comfy, blade was noticeably heftier and wider, with some brass inlay in a very ornate SoS. (One side had been overbuffed, oh well, that's one reason I didn't pay full price I guess) The engraving on the fancy scabbard is very neat and clean, too.

I would definitely buy another one of these as a gift - and finances permitting, I'll buy more for myself. (But that's a few months away at least :( )

I think one of the neatest things about this knife is that I can take it to demonstrate why khuks are worth collecting (because of the hand-done work and detail that can go into them) without having to terrify non-knife people with a gigantic 21" GRS.
 
Steve Poll said:
That is interesting information about the Sgt. He does seem to make very good kuks.

Yes, the kuk is very nice. I will make a kydex sheath for it. This one I might do differently, without a belt loop. Some kind of snap or d-ring so it could be attached to a strap or even a pack. It was a very good buy and Yangdu sent it fast.

I have a horn question. When I "knock" on my kuks with wooden handles I get a solid full sound.

When I do the same to this one with a horn handle it sounds hollow. Since I have almost no experience with horn I wonder about this. Is it typical of horn because it is an animal product vs solid wood? They must both be filled with laha inside.
Click to expand...

Steve, I don't think that many of the horn handles are completely solid. This is especially noticeable on horn handle slabs that are mated to a chiruwa tang. Sometimes there will be gaps inside from the handle construction that are filled with laha. I have never had one fail or had any problems because of this.

Norm
 
I have learned alot from this thread. It's been very interesting learning about our kami's and the real life relationships evolving around the kuks we like.

My best to Ram. What an undertaking to become a doctor, in a strange country, and supported by HI and friends. Terrific.

I will work on the sheath this weekend. I'll make it a pancake style (vs foldover) so there will be rivets on each side of the scabbard that could be used to tie it to a pack ot something. Or wrap paracord around it.

Since the kuk blade is curvier and has a larger belly, I'll probably take the time to mock up a balde from 1/4" plywood and then form and rivet the sheath around it. I think I have some 1" and 2" d-rings around for attachment to a strap or pack or I could even set it up to attach to a military web pistol belt.

Now I can hardly wait to get going on it. Maybe 2 1" d-rings reminisent of the original Gurka military style frogs. It will come out thin and tough.

Darn. Now I'll be awake all night planning this. I'll be glad to post pics when done. Now should I use .090" thick kydex........................
 
Steve Poll said:
I will work on the sheath this weekend. I'll make it a pancake style (vs foldover) so there will be rivets on each side of the scabbard that could be used to tie it to a pack ot something. Or wrap paracord around it.

Since the kuk blade is curvier and has a larger belly, I'll probably take the time to mock up a balde from 1/4" plywood and then form and rivet the sheath around it.
Click to expand...

Steve I no nothing except for what I've read here about Kydex but will a 1/4" mockup blade be enough to allow for the thicker spine when you go to holster your khukuri in the scabbard?

How would a person go about making the scabbard to insure a proper fit for the thicker spines on the HI Khukuris?
 
Hi Yvsa: You have a good point about blade thickness.

I have fudged on other kydex sheats by laying the knife on a flat bench and putting spacers under it (like leather scraps) for some more thickness.

I haven't checked to see what I'll need for this kuk, yet. I have 1/4" plywood on hand, so I will probably use it as a form. I feel I need a form for a kuk because the broad belly of the blade has to clear the sheath all the way in and out. If 1/4" is too thin, and probably is, I can double it or shim under it and lay the hot kydex over it for forming. Don't need any kydex under it at that point because the top or outer layer will be moulded and the back side flat.

Then add flat back, rivet, bandsaw to shape, sand nice smooth edges. Invent attachment device.

I'll try to take a few pictures of the WIP. No guarantee on picture quality, though.

Have to go do shop things now.
 
I don't know where this pic came from so I can't give appropriate attribution. But they are nice sheaths.

Steve

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ferguson said:
I don't know where this pic came from so I can't give appropriate attribution. But they are nice sheaths.

Steve
Click to expand...

Yes, they sure are.:thumbup: A couple of those look like the Cold Steel Kukri's, I wonder if that's the scabbard you get with their models?
 
Here's the rusult of 1-3/4 hours work. Part of which I spent trying to fix my bandsaw, and couldn't. I cut everything with tin snips/metal snips. Kydex is .090 per sheet.

Heat, shape, rivet, fine tune, cut to shape, belt sand.

It could be prettier, but I now have a strong, functional and durable sheath.

The bad news is I dropped my Sgt. Karda on the concrete floor and chipped the horn at the pommel point. Nuts.
 
That's pretty cool Steve.:thumbup: How are you going to be able to carry it, does it have a frog or???? ;)
 
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