New guy questions

R

RonS

Joined
Jun 26, 2000
Messages
201
I've been hanging out here for a couple of days now and have visited the HI site and looked thru the archives and I think I'm getting a feel for the different styles but some aren't mentioned/pictured as often as others.
Would someone please take a few and explain the differences between a Chainpuri, a Sirupati and a Kobra?
I know the Kumar Kobra is the product of a particular smith who seems to be the Bill Moran of his nation but how do these three lighter, slender Khukri styles differ? I am pretty sure that a 15-17 inch Chainpuri is what I want but are there any differences that I can't see from the photos? Fullering, full or stick tang etc?
What is the procedure for ordering/buying
something a little different like a knife with a wood sheath or an uncommon color horn grip?
In all probability I will only be able to buy one Khukri and it will have to serve as a working and display knife.

Thanks in advance for any and all help!
 
There's many on this forum better qualified to answer than me; but I think I'm right in saying that the Chainpuri is more heavy-duty than the sirupati; the Kobra is a slimmed-down version of the traditional sirupati.

I own several sirupatis, including 2 different Kobras, and can recommend them wholeheartedly as extremely robust and practical working tools, which also happen to look extremely cute...

I believe the perfect 'beginner's khukuri' is one of the village-made 20" sirupatis; they're light, unbreakable, comfortable to use and have classic, graceful lines, and they represent outstanding value for money.

If you want something shorter, around 16", you may care to consider the British Service model, which is also an outstanding performer and a great-looking knife. Personally, I'd still reckon a 20" village sirupati would prove somewhat more versatile, especially if you're looking to buy just one khukuri.

(Of course, if you want the perfect do-it-all khuk, equally suitable for shaving, peeling potatoes, hammering in nails, felling trees and killing dragons, there's always the 25" Kumar Kobra...)
 
Ron-

I just got my chainpuri today (it's beautiful-I am NOT worthy) and I can honestly say that it makes my Kumar Kobra look like a toy. It is much more massive. Other than sharing a narrow blade shape they are really different kinds of knives. The Kobra is light and fast, while the chainpuri feels like it could carve up a Buick. Hope this helps.

------------------

Kevin
 
Dangnab it! I never did get my 20" HI chainpuri weighed, but it is in line with my two 17" villager chainpuris, one at 17 ozs and the other at 14 ozs. Guessing, the 20" is probably 18 or 19 ozs. The cho and handle aside, the chainpuri and sirupati blade shapes are similar, but my experience ( all of 3 of them ) is that the chainpuri is kind of a sirupati thin and light.

I'm guessing, but it may be that the kamis at Birgorkha, having plentiful steel on hand and wanting to make sure their blades don't fail, are making everything thicker and heavier.

Those of you who got one of the cowdie cho'ed; wooden chainpuri handled; sirupati bladed villagers in the batch a while back that ran from around 18" to 21" ( mine was 19" and Jim March got a 21" - anybody remember that batch? )put them next to an HI sirupati. Even I had to re-read that sentence, but it's correct if hard to understand. Those village sirupatis were WAY thinner and lighter than the HI Sirupatis.
Just look at the Super and Mega Salyans. They were a mistake and way too thick for the proportions. What did the Forumites do? At least one or two asked for longer and thicker.

I wonder if maybe Pala and Gelbu aren't collecting the most "Sher-crazy" kamis around and making "Frankenstein Monster" khuks the likes of which shall we say "push the envelope", and that's why Bill is asking who wants lighter versions.

Yeah, I should talk. A Super Salyan, a 30" Sirupati, and a 26" Kora.

------------------
John Moses designed it, I trust it, and that settles it.


Himalayan Imports Website
 
Thank you all! I didn't get the weight/thickness thing between the chainpuri and suripati and couldn't figure out why they seemed to be treated as if they were completely different when the profile seemed only slightly different to me. Thx
 
My chainpuri is 7/16" thick. I take it that this is not normal? It has remarkable workmanship and I LOVE it but as the thickness suggests it is not light at all. I have nothing to compare it to except my Kobra (a shade under 1/4" thick but I expected "featherweight" construction on that) so I kind of assumed that my chainpuri was a "normal" specimen.

------------------

Kevin
 
Maybe John Powell could help here.

I've no idea how much Bill knows. Pala may not particularly have been interested in any other regional variants. What's made for everyday work in the terai regions may be nearly incompetent as a useful tool in the ranches overshadowed by Everest

Even BirGorkha's kamis may be clueless as to types from other regions since they come from nearby. The Salyan region is far away, and look to Shop 1's try at duplicating a salyan.

Look at two brothers, kamis from the same village. Kumar makes a light almost cut-and-thrust 20" khuk and brother Sher builds khuks only a yeti could use all day.

------------------
John Moses designed it, I trust it, and that settles it.


Himalayan Imports Website
 
I suspect in something so personal as forging a blade, the blades may vary as much from kami to kami as from region to region. Surely the locals can distinguish the work of local smiths. While a blade might indicate the carrier came from a certain region, it might also identify which side of the valley he came from.
 
I do not own a chainpuri, but I do own a sirupati (20") and a kobra (20"). One of the differences, I thought, between the siru and the chainpuri is the design of the handle...chainpuris seem to have a much more flared bell on the hilt.

As far as differences between the kobra and sirupati go...everything about them looks exactly the same, except for 1. the handle is slimmer and 2. the blade is slimmer. This equates to a less 'meaty' feel and makes the kobra RADICALLY faster. Which is downright scary, since the sirupati is no slowpoke.

BTW, don't feel that the kobra is 'too slender' to be used as a tool. Unless you intend to use it literally as a prybar, it will function perfectly well at whatever task you give it. Naturally the sirupati will chop and split wood better...but so will an Ang Kola.
wink.gif


Mike


------------------
"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." -Robert Heinlein
 
I'm glad I still need to pay off my latest Spyderco! That way I have more time to make up my mind. I'm begining to think that I need at least 2 Khukris, maybe three. One for the truck, one over my dresser on the bedroom wall and something special in the sitting room next to the front door. I think i'm in trouble!
 
I'm too close to Uncle. I ordered one early in the day and it arrived the next morning. After seeing it I called and ordered two more which arrived the next day again IIRC. Three inside a week, and a fourth by ten days.



------------------
John Moses designed it, I trust it, and that settles it.


Himalayan Imports Website
 
Hey - no one ever told Ron to sit down and take a load off, offered him a beer, or even a chew.

Sorry Ron, you don't sound like a newbie or stranger, so you got treated like family from the get go, where we coulda put on our company manners til you got to know us a bit. By the way - watch out for the elbows at the supper table, and be careful where you stretch your feet out. Some of these fellers tromp around in hobnailed boots.

------------------
John Moses designed it, I trust it, and that settles it.


Himalayan Imports Website
 
Thanks Rusty, I already feel right at home here. A bunch of guys who like large knives and at least one 1911 fan!
 
And my with an antique .38!

Ron, I've got a nice 18 inch Kumar Kobra that might be a good starter for you. It is $95 delivered to your door and if you don't like it you can trade it in on something else.

------------------
Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ
 
Welcome back Mr. Martino!

Thank you, but I still have to get the bill paid for my newest pocket knife which set me back the price of a village Khukuri despite being only about 3" long. I'm going to kind of lurk in the weeds and watch and maybe learn a little until the knife and gun fund recovers.
 
Geez, I don't even have my Sirupati from Rob Lefebvre yet, and I'm still tempted by that that Kobra...better hold off.
 
I think .45 is still very popular in US among knife / non-knife gun lover.

But you dear HI forumites are unique guys who favor knife thickness = bullet calibre, both .45"!

------------------
Did you enjoy today?
\(^o^)/ Mizutani Satoshi \(^o^)/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top