Newbie with a Khukuri

[JuniorHeep]

I received shipment on two beautiful HI khuks about a week and a half ago. One is a 16" Tirtha (edit* Young Sher) made WWII which belongs to my grandpa. Mine is an 18" AK made by Vim.

i spent a few minutes choppnig some small limbs and saplings with my AK. I was more than impressed. Everything 5 inches or less in my little patch of woods was quick work. Smaller limbs under an inch and a half were gone with one good whack. Edge retention was great. After about 30 mins of fairly hard work i could not tell that there was any change in sharpness at all. I feel confident that this thing will serve me well for a LONG LONG time.


One question though. The brass piece that caps the end of the handle has loosened up a little bit. Will this become a major problem later on down the road or is it kinda common?

 

[Issun]

very nice khuk's you got there! that 18" ak looks to be quite the chopper, and Tirtha is known for his very very nice work.

I have not experienced any loosening of the brass cap, but I doubt that it will cause any problems, theres a whole lot of epoxy in the handle thats holding it all together as well as the flattening of the tang

I would get a dab of epoxy/jbweld or something and smear it into the gap between the cap and the rest of the brass, then quickly wipe off all the excess epoxy that didnt get into the gap

again, congrats on your first khukuri! buying one with someone else is a good idea, Im finding that the best way to stave off HIKV is to get someone else to buy a khukuri

 

[stickfred]

1st-Welcome to the HI Forum JuniorHeep. There has been a lot of new member activity and it is really good to see. Glad you showed up here and hope you stick around.

2nd-Your WWII was made by Young Sher, judging by the placement of the mark. It is a madal(?) drum instead of what we call the "beer mug".

3rd-As for the loose keeper on your handle, you might try taking a ball-peen hammer to the silver part coming through the keeper and possibly tightening the keeper that way. The silver part is the end of the tang that gets peened onto the keeper. If this doesn't work, then you can try a glue or epoxy.

You've got some really nice khukuris there and I'm sure that your grandpa is lovin' that WWII. Its nice that you've had a chance to take it out and work it already. How were you feeling after 30 minutes of chopping with that AK? Pretty good I'm guessing. I don't want to forget to ask you to read the Safety Sticky. We want you to have a safe good time with your new tool and all your fingers so you can post your thoughts and opinions. Again, glad to have you with us.

Peace

Rick

 

[Suicycoprowler]

You and your grandpa have good taste in khuks! :thumbup:

 

[Cpl Punishment]

2nd-Your WWII was made by Young Sher, judging by the placement of the mark. It is a madal(?) drum instead of what we call the "beer mug".

BLASPHEMER!! It's the beer mug kami!!

J/K -- I always forget the name of that drum.

Junior -- welcome to the madness!

 

[Cotherion]

I'll fill it up with loads of epoxy and end of problems

 

[JuniorHeep]

After my chop session my right hand and forearm were a little fatigued. That is definitely one heavy mutha. But im young (24) and will get used to it.

I was majorly impressed with how easy it went through all the limbs and such. However my fun was cut short when i realized the end cap had loosened up a bit.

I gotta get it back out and clean it up a bit. I already have a couple of rusty fingerprints showing on it.

Oh and thanks for the clarification on the Kami marks.

There is a notable difference in finish between mine and the WWII. The WWII has a nicer finished handle, the lines that are marked into the side of the blade are cleaner and the back of the bolster has a nicer joint than on mine. It doesnt bother me at all though because mine is destined to be a worker.

In the future im gonna try and pick up a slightly smaller, thinner chiruwa handled khuk in villager finish. Something that i can really throw around in the wheeling rig or truck and not have to worry at all about finish quality