Non-traditional kukris

R

rlewpolar

Joined
Oct 4, 2022
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I’ve always liked the concept of the kukri and how useful they are as choppers, weapons, and just general formidable knives. I’m always on the lookout for kukris made from modern materials and manufacturing. I only have a couple but will probably add a few more down the line. Show us some of your modern kukris and how you think they stack up against traditional kukris if that’s your thing. Here’s a couple of mine; a Cold Steel Gurka Kukri Plus in 3v and the latest addition, a Spartan Harsey Kukri. Really like both of these knives

https://imgur.com/a/AOk2fio
 
irsh said:
I really like that 3v Cold Steel full flat Kukri. I just have trouble spending the money to own one.
Click to expand...
They are insanely expensive at full retail. I found a new one for $400. While still expensive, the sheer amount of 3v steel in that blade makes it a pretty good deal. It’s unbelievably sharp and well-finished. Cold Steel did a great job with this one
 
Have you checked out Kailash Blades? They also make some awesome looking ‘non-traditional’ khuks and big blades. Kydex sheaths, modern grip materials and everything.
 
The more expensive cold steel khukuris are pretty great- some very lucky owners in this thread!
There's a few good western offerings these days but there's still a large difference in user experience and design philosophy between most of them and a traditional nepalese offering.

Weight distribution is the main difference. Part of this is due to handle design and a preference for full tangs (often untapered) as it's seen as a natural fit to the hard use nature of the blades. Along with a tendency towards shorter khukuris (8-12") this can lead to a handle heavy feel, with less efficient chopping power per gram to boot. Related to this is lower overall spine thicknesses in the west and reduced incidence of distal taper. The lack of distal taper can help to push the POB forward and compensate for a beefier handle. It's also down to process constraints as distal taper (and fullering, hollow forging etc) that's seen on better nepalese offerings is quite easy to forge and freehand grind, but very uneconomical in modern mass manufacture. The lower spine thickness comes from thinner stock which again saves on grinding processes and is cheaper overall.

While traditional blades are extremely varying in both design intent and quality, a high quality traditional blade (tora, us, some ggk, some HK) will tend to be longer and have a pretty similar or even higher overall weight. This weight will however be less in the handle/ tip and more aorund the bolster and first few inches of the blade. This leads to a good chopping pob, good power but crucially a blade that changes direction a lot better and feels more refined in terms of balance. More thunk, less clunk.

Coming around once again to the higher end cold steel offerings, they should be commended for going out on a limb and delivering a well made blade with great steel but also for offering a lighter handle during a time when ultra beefy full tang beast blades were all the rage- particularly for khukuris.

Take care,
Andrew and the team at Kailash
 
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