New to site and collecting edged tools/weapons.

[Sharks_Edge]

To the Man I see many call Uncle Bill,
I would like to say that it is nice to see an indiviual business man who invests in a people for the betterment of thier lives. I am sorry to hear about your health and wish you the best.
Since I am new to both this site and collecting edged tools/weapons, I have some questions. Like collecting guns I prefer my acquisitions to be functional and not for show.

Question 1: Do and of the manufacturers use bone of oxen for handles instead of just horns ?

Question 2: I see mostly black sheaths and a red color for the swords, do they have oo can they manufacuture any other colors ?

Question 3: On the Himilayan Imports site I noticed several very beatuifule pieces with carved handles or entire blade cover designs. How many times a year do you recieve these type of items? I especially like the three dimensional tiger or lion blade.

Well thank you for your time and I look forward to doing business and discussion with you and others.
Best Wishes

Sharks_Edge
Karl B.

 

[etp777]

There are bone handled Khuks at times in the blems(maybe all the time for regular orders, don't know) but they tend, at least lately, to be a bit mroe fragile than the horn or wood handled khuks. You can take a horn handled Ang Khola and beat it to death for years, and besides scratching the magic stone polish on the blade, you'll never have a problem with it. But the bone tends to be more brittle, and the Laha doesn't fill the whole handle, leaving voids, which exzacerbates the problem causing them to break even easier. THey look great, and would mak ea great show piece, but if you want a khuk to actually use I'd get a horn or wood handled one. For looks, actually, I prefer one of the wood handled ones treated to my special 30-45 day Tru Oil marathon.

As far as I know, you get black for Khuks, red for swords, though others might know better. There are also people in states who will make aftermarket sheathes if you shop around.

And dunno on this last one. Think they're avialable as a regular order most of time, but I don't often see them on the blems, and as blems are all I can afford(not even that lately) can't speak on the topic.

Hope that all helps a little bit.

 

[Steely_Gunz]

Welcome to the Cantina, Karl

The only question of yours that i can address is that of the sword sheath. I bought an Everst katana from Uncle Bill a couple weeks ago and was tickled to death to see that it did not arrive in one of those very "festive" red sheaths. It was actually a deep chocolate brown hue. Very sharp looking indeed. I think a lot of the time it depends on what the workers at BirGorka have at hand. If the only piece of leather they have big enough to stretch the length of a sword is red, then they craft it in red. Like yourself, the kamis are first and foremost about function. Beauty takes a backseat although the blades themselves are absolutly stunningly well done. There might be a hammermark here, a slightly skewed edge there, but the craftmanship is amazing. You wont be disappointed with whatever you get. Once again, welcome The experts will be along shortly to answer all of your questions.

~Jake

 

[Mr.BadExample]

It's kind of like a Model T, any color as long as it's black
Custom stuff tends to be aggravating because of the difficulty in communicating over long distances, and sometimes because the kamis just do what they want. The carved handles aren't too uncommon, they even show up in the blem box here sometimes. Your best bet is to email Bill Martino and ask if what you want is in stock.