New Sirupate on way .

B

bigeard09

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Sep 8, 2016
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I recently ordered a 12 inch satin blade Sirupate with the addition of a brown western leather sheath with a Baldrick style carry strap . Ive chosen the white rosewood handle and brass hardware to match my other Kasilash blade which was the MSI . I believe the same blacksmith is making this sirupate ( who uses the sun makers mark ) and his MSI was absolutely first class , fit and finish perfect , so lets wait and see .
 
Just received my new 12" Kailash Sirupate and heres first impressions .
Khukuri itself weighs a very easy and light to handle 460gms , thickness at bolster 7mm to 8mm and gradually tapering towards the tip . The handle ( 4.75" ) is made from white rosewood and once again as with my MSI is very well shaped and finished with a centre ring that is just the right size to hold between my middle two fingers without causing any discomfort , nice and comfortable to swing and to hold . It has a good brass bolster and butt cap which are well fitted with no gaps giving the knife a good overall fit and finish . All I need to do now is spend a little time applying several coats of boiled linseed oil to the handle and let each coat soak in to feed the wood and help prevent any future cracking or shrinking , and of course the BLO adds an extra aesthetic look to the handle .
It comes with a western style brown leather sheath fitted with a baldrick style carry rig which I have to say is very well made . The baldrick style carry strap is made from khaki colour military grade type webbing ( 1.5" width ) which matches the brown leather sheath perfect and fitted with strong metal adjustment fittings . The western leather sheath seems to be well stitched and robust enough to carry the khukuri through remote area environments and I have give it its first couple of coats of baby oil to soak in and feed the leather , at a later stage I will regularly feed it with leather dubbin grease or something similar as I like to look after my knives both before and after use ! The khukuri also came with a basic brown leather covered traditional Dap / scabbard which once again seemed to be a good fit and a nice finish with no movement or rattling about of the blade . Kailash seem to make their traditional Daps/Scabbards with a thinner profile which I much prefer to a more thicker cumbersome one so top marks again to the guy who made this scabbard .
To summarize , once again another seemingly flawless khukuri and sheath / scabbard from Kailash Blades which when I get the chance will try it out but as Im getting older and less mobile these days we will see ! Also when I get the chance I will take some pics and try and upload them onto this site but I did have a bit bother with that last time I tried and ended up getting Kailash to put my MSI khukuri pic on their facebook . This could be my lasy khukuri purchase ever but what a great one to go out on !!! This particular Sirupate and rig would actually make for a very good general bushcraft tool or indeed an offensive weapon if needed as for all it is light enough to wield about without tiring it definitely seems to be a well made , solid and robust khukuri .
I will finish off by thanking the smiths who helped to make this for me especially ( Mr Sun mark ) as I call him , you have done yourselves proud once more , keep up the great skills you have . Also a thankyou to Andrew for all help shown .
 
Can't wait to see the photos! Especially of the baldrick strap since I've never heard of it. How is the balance on the 12"? I'd be interested to know how it ranks as far as being "choppy" is concerned.

Side question: what kind of BLO do you use? I've tried some and they never seem to really dry. The closest I've gotten is with tru oil but now I just use pure tung oil even though it takes a long time to apply.
 
Sounds like another win!
I've passed on the feedback to the team- particular to Sisir (sheathmaker) and Bikram (Mr Sun blacksmith). I like the look of this baldric carry a lot-particularly for larger blades. As part of our recent effort to improve kydex we've got all this great webbing and buckles- great to be able to put them to use in different applications like this.
You're very much welcome for the help- thanks for sharing your experience :)
 
Bill_Melater said:
Can't wait to see the photos! Especially of the baldrick strap since I've never heard of it. How is the balance on the 12"? I'd be interested to know how it ranks as far as being "choppy" is concerned.

Side question: what kind of BLO do you use? I've tried some and they never seem to really dry. The closest I've gotten is with tru oil but now I just use pure tung oil even though it takes a long time to apply.
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The balance feels just right and as I said this khukuri is easy to wield without tiring . Being a reasonably light khukuri 460g it is never going to be the best heavy chopping blade but I do feel it would be a very good medium use general utility / campcraft tool as it has a good robust feel to the whole knife . It is only my opinion through many years of owning , making and using different styles of knives but I believe that there is no such thing as one knife does all , so I think its important when choosing a knife or khukuri for outdoor tasks to give it some serious thought as to what it will be used for and take into consideration the weight of the khukuri . I think a smaller , lighter khukuri are very much underated in favour of larger , heavier blades when used in a general bushcraft environment .
I just use a normal brand BLO but give each coat to sink in and dry . I have to say I asked Kailash to leave the wood on the handle raw but still finished off nicely , this makes it easier for the BLO to soak in .
 
bigeard09 said:
The balance feels just right and as I said this khukuri is easy to wield without tiring . Being a reasonably light khukuri 460g it is never going to be the best heavy chopping blade but I do feel it would be a very good medium use general utility / campcraft tool as it has a good robust feel to the whole knife . It is only my opinion through many years of owning , making and using different styles of knives but I believe that there is no such thing as one knife does all , so I think its important when choosing a knife or khukuri for outdoor tasks to give it some serious thought as to what it will be used for and take into consideration the weight of the khukuri . I think a smaller , lighter khukuri are very much underated in favour of larger , heavier blades when used in a general bushcraft environment .
I just use a normal brand BLO but give each coat to sink in and dry . I have to say I asked Kailash to leave the wood on the handle raw but still finished off nicely , this makes it easier for the BLO to soak in .
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That's the hard part with some of this; reading posts can help but it's not the same as getting that real experience. I'm still developing a taste and experience, not to mention unlearning some misconceptions. So far, Kailash is knocking it out of the park.

I sanded my handles a little (very lightly) before applying the tung oil. It actually lightened up the wood a bit. I have tried the typical hardware store can of BLO on some handles I made for some of my hand files but they always ended up feeling...unfinished if that makes sense.
 
Got to say both khukuris Ive had from Kailash have been fitted with the white rosewood option ( my choice ) as I think it looks good with brass fittings , and both handles appear faultless with a nice grain which is enhanced with the BLO . Wood like any other natural material can have hidden faults and I suppose every now and then you can have a failure but to repeat what Ive already said , In my opinion Kailash Blades seems to have a first rate quality control which helps reduce any after sales problems making the in the top 3 khukuri manufacturers .
 
The blades come coated in an oil - which might help with temperature/moisture fluctuations that cause cracking during shipping for all know. The light sanding which was done with 400 grit sandpaper and steel wool is only done to get the top layer of oily wood off and open it up for a proper wood oil. The rings and handle flare are very comfortable so no need to reshape. I think they lightened up a little simply because I removed that top layer of the shipping oil. Otherwise, I'll second your observation. The wood is solid, the fit is great and they're paying good attention to the grain direction.

How long have you had some of the lighter handles? I've heard BLO tends to yellow?
 
Bill_Melater said:
The blades come coated in an oil - which might help with temperature/moisture fluctuations that cause cracking during shipping for all know. The light sanding which was done with 400 grit sandpaper and steel wool is only done to get the top layer of oily wood off and open it up for a proper wood oil. The rings and handle flare are very comfortable so no need to reshape. I think they lightened up a little simply because I removed that top layer of the shipping oil. Otherwise, I'll second your observation. The wood is solid, the fit is great and they're paying good attention to the grain direction.

How long have you had some of the lighter handles? I've heard BLO tends to yellow?
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Havnt had the khukuris long enough to notice any discolouring or yellowing of handles but to be honest I cant see that the colouring will change that much over the years . The BLO does darken the wood slightly and highlights the grain as I would imagine any other wood oils would .
One thing Ive noticed on the baldrick carry rig is that by changing the ends of the webbing to the various metal securing rings it allows you to carry the sheath in around 4 or 5 different carry positions , vertical horozontal , oblique etc with a metal connectoon to lengthen or shorten the strapping webbing . The baldrick rig is only a very simple but practical and effective carry option .
 
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