- Joined
- Sep 30, 2005
- Messages
- 580
I only ordered my first khukuri knives a few months ago. I wanted to start with one or two brands, and get various specimens of each maker before moving on to other brands and their specimens. My first choice was the Khukuri House product, which I initially ordered via their authorized ebay vendor, Khukuri House USA.
When I received these first two knives (Service #1 & #2), I found myself disappointed. These knives I did not keep.
After discussing many of the issues with you folks here, I can now look back and realize where some of the problems were real, and where some were my over expectations. I can also see how some of these problems could have been avoided.
One thing that I will first address, is my over-expectations.
Though not major issues, I did bring up the fact that the knives had some minor rust on the rivets, that one of the knives had some minor freckled rust, and some other minor issues. Now I don't see these issues as critical. My discussing these issues with you folks here have made me lighten up on them.
Now, there are some things that these first KH knives had that I still don't want to find on any of my ordered knives. These issues range from noticable fractures in the blade, to cho/kaudi fractures. I also don't want to see major etched in rust, or cracks in the handle. If a product is being sold to me as 1st quality, then don't send me a second quality.
This is where the title of this thread comes into play.
Though I was not happy with my first KH knives, I wanted to have some nice representations of their knives in my newly started khukuri collection.
When I first ordered those first two knives from Khukuri House USA, I many times requested that he send me "nice specimens".
Now I know that requesting it in that manner was not enough. It was obvious that the KH company in Nepal did not do their part in carefully inspecting their shipment to KH USA. In turn, KH USA did not carefully check their product before sending it on to me.
I continued to check out different KH vendors, and ran into one that promised to do a good job at inspecting the product before sending them out to me. Now I don't just ask for "nice specimens", but actually point out certain things that I will not find acceptable. Since I don't want to have cho/kaudi fractures, I specifically request for it to be inspected for such an issue. If the vendor is not familier with the problem, I will email them a photo of what I mean. While I won't complain about a light freckled rust that will clean up with some Flitz, I do tell them that I don't want rust that actually permanently etches the blade. All this is now what I am doing, and will continue to do with any future khukuri vendor that I use. This way if they send you an item that clearly has any of the issues you pointed out as unacceptable, then you have a better leg to stand on when confronting the vendor about it. I actually believe that most vendors will try to inspect for these issues if you point out the specifics.
I recently received a couple of KH manufactured knives from another vendor, not KH USA, and they had promised to look out for those issues that I mentioned. Sure enough, they came through for me. Smart move on their part, since they now have a regular customer (at least until I get all the models that I want from that particular manufacturer). I now have a few decent sized representations of nicely made KH products, and I believe it is mostly because I was not afraid to ask my vendor exactly what I wanted and expected.
Here is a photo I took of one of these recent knives (their World War model):
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/9764/dscn05013qf.jpg
When I received these first two knives (Service #1 & #2), I found myself disappointed. These knives I did not keep.
After discussing many of the issues with you folks here, I can now look back and realize where some of the problems were real, and where some were my over expectations. I can also see how some of these problems could have been avoided.
One thing that I will first address, is my over-expectations.
Though not major issues, I did bring up the fact that the knives had some minor rust on the rivets, that one of the knives had some minor freckled rust, and some other minor issues. Now I don't see these issues as critical. My discussing these issues with you folks here have made me lighten up on them.
Now, there are some things that these first KH knives had that I still don't want to find on any of my ordered knives. These issues range from noticable fractures in the blade, to cho/kaudi fractures. I also don't want to see major etched in rust, or cracks in the handle. If a product is being sold to me as 1st quality, then don't send me a second quality.
This is where the title of this thread comes into play.
Though I was not happy with my first KH knives, I wanted to have some nice representations of their knives in my newly started khukuri collection.
When I first ordered those first two knives from Khukuri House USA, I many times requested that he send me "nice specimens".
Now I know that requesting it in that manner was not enough. It was obvious that the KH company in Nepal did not do their part in carefully inspecting their shipment to KH USA. In turn, KH USA did not carefully check their product before sending it on to me.
I continued to check out different KH vendors, and ran into one that promised to do a good job at inspecting the product before sending them out to me. Now I don't just ask for "nice specimens", but actually point out certain things that I will not find acceptable. Since I don't want to have cho/kaudi fractures, I specifically request for it to be inspected for such an issue. If the vendor is not familier with the problem, I will email them a photo of what I mean. While I won't complain about a light freckled rust that will clean up with some Flitz, I do tell them that I don't want rust that actually permanently etches the blade. All this is now what I am doing, and will continue to do with any future khukuri vendor that I use. This way if they send you an item that clearly has any of the issues you pointed out as unacceptable, then you have a better leg to stand on when confronting the vendor about it. I actually believe that most vendors will try to inspect for these issues if you point out the specifics.
I recently received a couple of KH manufactured knives from another vendor, not KH USA, and they had promised to look out for those issues that I mentioned. Sure enough, they came through for me. Smart move on their part, since they now have a regular customer (at least until I get all the models that I want from that particular manufacturer). I now have a few decent sized representations of nicely made KH products, and I believe it is mostly because I was not afraid to ask my vendor exactly what I wanted and expected.
Here is a photo I took of one of these recent knives (their World War model):
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/9764/dscn05013qf.jpg
