- Joined
- Mar 25, 2014
- Messages
- 2,010
Want to be dead nuts honest here, boys & girls. I am not a fan of the overall shape of a "balance" khuk blade. No way, shape, or form. Period. I have avoided the Nabin Rai balancers for this very reason. Being a "traditionalist" American 18th & 19th century gunsmith, I had to learn how to carve the Pennsylvania-Kentucky long rifles and pistols and through time, I came to appreciate the carvings for what they were and did. In fact, a bit of the maker's soul is imparted into each carving which gives the rifle a soul or life of it's own. Carving is similar to hand engraving. No name needs be on the gun because his (or HER) signature is displayed in his carvings.
Then Mrs. Martino posted a photo of the carving on the last kami Nabin Rai offered as a DOTD. Something about the carved man, a Gurkha I assume, made me sit up and notice. Since no one had sharked the khuk, Mrs. Martino was emailed and requested to send me a couple additional pics of the carving--I was NOT interested in any minor crack that she had advertised in the DOTD posting. She gratefully fulfilled my request and the rest is history.
Nabin Rai arrived in this morning's mail. Upon opening the famous triangle box, I was mildly surprised to see a very well made all leather sheath-sewn and with brass snaps, no less. I immediately thought: Wow. Shades of Pugs!
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The khuk was removed and the blade was given a quick once over (since I really was not interested in the blade), but still had to take notice of the brass inlays on the blade and the other decoration. Not great mind you, but very neatly executed. Being a blacksmith, I do know how difficult it is to decorate thick metal and must say it is no easy task. Even a small accidental squiggle in the design is better than what 99.99% of the rest of us can do. I remembered seeing that pic of Pala holding a balancer on his finger and thought: Can I do that, too? Well, after a couple tries to find the balance point position and finding where the blade was sort of comfortable on my finger--you be the judge:
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Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the world famous acrobat and body contortionist, Bookie, was able to pull off this rather dangerous stunt without the assistance of loss of blood or trick photography! Thank you, but Please! Please!! Hold the applause down, shall we?
Next came a close scrutiny of the Gurkha. The carving was executed with amazing detail. No, it is not perfect, but considering the wood used, it's fabulous!! I was in rapture of the fineness of detail and found the little man most intriguing. Buffing compound had filled in some of the detail, but less than a minute of light scrubbing with an old rat tooth brush, the little Sepahi was ready for inspection. So ready in fact, that he is to be promoted to Niak upon you reading this!
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As you can see, he is one fine fellow. He fills out my entire rack of khukuri and a more fitting final companion piece would be hard to find and obtain in my opinion. Lucky me....and Bawanna, eat yer heart out and chew yer mustachios off, brother. You ain't getting your mitts on my Niak!
In closing, I am very glad I broke down and bought the Nabin Rai and in my honest opinion, it was under priced and Bookie received that more bang for his buck. Nope, I still am not a fan of the "balance" blade profile, but when a carving speaks, do listen. Would I buy another? Emphatically, YES.
Then Mrs. Martino posted a photo of the carving on the last kami Nabin Rai offered as a DOTD. Something about the carved man, a Gurkha I assume, made me sit up and notice. Since no one had sharked the khuk, Mrs. Martino was emailed and requested to send me a couple additional pics of the carving--I was NOT interested in any minor crack that she had advertised in the DOTD posting. She gratefully fulfilled my request and the rest is history.
Nabin Rai arrived in this morning's mail. Upon opening the famous triangle box, I was mildly surprised to see a very well made all leather sheath-sewn and with brass snaps, no less. I immediately thought: Wow. Shades of Pugs!
The khuk was removed and the blade was given a quick once over (since I really was not interested in the blade), but still had to take notice of the brass inlays on the blade and the other decoration. Not great mind you, but very neatly executed. Being a blacksmith, I do know how difficult it is to decorate thick metal and must say it is no easy task. Even a small accidental squiggle in the design is better than what 99.99% of the rest of us can do. I remembered seeing that pic of Pala holding a balancer on his finger and thought: Can I do that, too? Well, after a couple tries to find the balance point position and finding where the blade was sort of comfortable on my finger--you be the judge:
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the world famous acrobat and body contortionist, Bookie, was able to pull off this rather dangerous stunt without the assistance of loss of blood or trick photography! Thank you, but Please! Please!! Hold the applause down, shall we?
Next came a close scrutiny of the Gurkha. The carving was executed with amazing detail. No, it is not perfect, but considering the wood used, it's fabulous!! I was in rapture of the fineness of detail and found the little man most intriguing. Buffing compound had filled in some of the detail, but less than a minute of light scrubbing with an old rat tooth brush, the little Sepahi was ready for inspection. So ready in fact, that he is to be promoted to Niak upon you reading this!
As you can see, he is one fine fellow. He fills out my entire rack of khukuri and a more fitting final companion piece would be hard to find and obtain in my opinion. Lucky me....and Bawanna, eat yer heart out and chew yer mustachios off, brother. You ain't getting your mitts on my Niak!
In closing, I am very glad I broke down and bought the Nabin Rai and in my honest opinion, it was under priced and Bookie received that more bang for his buck. Nope, I still am not a fan of the "balance" blade profile, but when a carving speaks, do listen. Would I buy another? Emphatically, YES.
