A few years ago, sometime mid to late 2008, I bought a khukuri from ebay, one of those from Khukuri House Handicraft Industries via Bob Robillard. Recently I wrote a belated and lengthy letter of complaint to Mr. Saroj Lama, Managing Director of KHHI.
I'm an infrequent reader and very infrequent poster so you will please bear with any faux pas I make. I have recently found, in one particular thread, that the respondents liked to dismiss defects as cosmetic. This was true but cosmetic went against the reason those knives had been bought and there, like here, cosmetic flaws is a hugely valid criticism. I bought this as a working knife so I will point out here that in that respect it hasn't been a failure. It's given fair service these past years and for some of you that's all that matters. But, fit and finish were immensely below par and structurally and functionally it's lacking too. Finish was certainly something I was expecting but did not receive.
Steel belt loop rivets, rusty, cosmetic & functional minor
Sure it looks bad but if the sheath falls off that's a problem I don't need and it makes the knife harder to carry. They're in hard to clean places and it's also hard to tell how successful I've been and how deep the damage is.
Sheath polish, cosmetic minor
It's just missing in places. Small areas but easily visible.
Sheath, too tight, functional moderate
No wants their knife to fall out but my sheath is ridiculous and it hasn't worn in with age and use and loss of metal from the blade (described below). I can hold the sheath upside down with the blade only a few inches in and shake it vigorously and the knife doesn't fall out. Even when it's attached to my belt I have to hold the sheath with my off-hand to draw the blade. The description of the sheath by the manufacturer says the leather in the mouth of the sheath is beaten extra well so it won't scratch the blade. I think scratching could also be avoided if it didn't grip so hard it nearly stopped the blade coming out.
Handle, cracked, functional & cosmetic minor
It doesn't look good but worse than that the cracks has increased by about 50% with use. One of the cracks leads to 1cm tall and wide dome which is just waiting to sheer off the rest of the handle. These cracks are all plainly visible and easily detected by touch. Yes, they're larger now but they were big to begin with.
Brass end cap, cosmetic minor & functional moderate.
The end cap of the handle is made of a sheet of beaten brass. The outline is kind of like the typical human eye. At the corners of the "eye" there are two vertical sheets of brass meeting without a covering (because the top bit of brass that covers the end of the handle was too short or the horn handle too big). That corner hits the heel of my palm and I end up abraded, cut or even with a small chunk of skin cut out when I chop. I have to modify--that is limit--my grip and power to avoid digging holes into my hand.
Blade, dull, functional minor
I knife should be sharp when produced. I could put a lot of force on my thumb and then drag it along the blade and not even leave a mark. Easily fixable but not how it should have arrived.
Fullers, cosmetic minor
Not well done at all, different width, depth and erratically wiggly and one time the chisel used to form them was moved so far along that one side unintentionally has two fuller. They're so small they serve no purpose on a knife this thick other than a cosmetic one and in that they fail because they're ugly and incompetently executed.
Blade, rusty, cosmetic major & structural minor
Rust will destroy the blade so that's why I say it is a structural defect. The amount was more than a little freckling. It has etched the blade and has taken a lot of effort to remedy. It's a major cosmetic flaw due to reasons explained next.
Blade, huge grind marks, cosmetic major
The description of the service No. 1 says "well polished blade". No.
Every single part of the steel is covered with grind marks. Much of the land is shiny but the whole thing looks like someone attacked it with some 300 grit paper. (Someone with a very steady hand mind you since all the gouges are parallel to one another, obviously caused by big pieces of grit in the grind wheel.) To idle away my time I've gone over it with a finer set of grits by hand and removed the rust and levelled out much of the etching and made the grind marks much less prominent (but they're still plainly visible and there's a long way to go before it's a satin polish let alone mirror).
This and the rust are just cosmetic but they're major flaws because I was expecting and paid for a shiny, smooth, polished blade. That is not what I got.
Blade, chipped, structural moderate
There were several small chips and one one longer chip though none were very deep at all. They were immediately obvious. All primarily on one side of the blade. Just last week I introduced a much smaller dent into the same location though in this case it appears that the edge has bent more than been entirely chipped away. I am beginning to suspect that this is a problem with the forging or heat treating of the blade since it's all on one side and in a portion of the blade that doesn't get the heaviest use.
When I was looking for an address for Khukuri House I came across this thread here on our very own forums
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...quot-Khukuri-House-quot-my-impressions-(long)
The very same Bob Robillard wrote in 2005:
"this is the first and only complaint that I have had had from any of my numerous customers."
That could still be true. I never complained until recently and even then I wrote to the supplier, not to Bob.
"Also, the proprietor of Khukuri House has written to Jimmy apologizing for the defective products and is willing to take measures to ensure that KH-USA does not receive any more defective khukuris."
Whatever measure were taken weren't 100% successful as it was nearly four years later that I got a sub-standard knife from KH-USA. I was a member of Blade Forums at the time and I didn't post at the time so there could be more in the same boat and loads of non-members could have experienced problems as well.
Later years still I do not expect anyone to make it right. As the thing hasn't snapped in two I don't think there's anything to make right now. I can sympathise with the first poster in that other thread and I can back him up on everything bad about the knives then except the fractures (even though he doesn't need any back up).
I do appreciate that these are hand made but rust is not acceptable in any manner. Flaws like chips in the blade and split handles very much made this a knife which should have been sold at a heavily discounted price and with notice of the defects. Purely cosmetic things like the fuller are really quite incidental and only made it onto the list because the list existed to record the other faults.
That the same rust problem on blade and rivets was found four years apart suggests a history of rust that hadn't been corrected and so probably still hasn't been corrected. Chips and splits in handles only get bigger with use so they have to be avoided from the start and if you can see them, you haven't avoided them.
While Jimmy (from other thread) and my experiences may be isolated they do show a consistent pattern. If I could inspect the actual knife before purchase I would buy from Khukuri House again since it hasn't failed in use but without seeing it first I'd be very reluctant.
I'm an infrequent reader and very infrequent poster so you will please bear with any faux pas I make. I have recently found, in one particular thread, that the respondents liked to dismiss defects as cosmetic. This was true but cosmetic went against the reason those knives had been bought and there, like here, cosmetic flaws is a hugely valid criticism. I bought this as a working knife so I will point out here that in that respect it hasn't been a failure. It's given fair service these past years and for some of you that's all that matters. But, fit and finish were immensely below par and structurally and functionally it's lacking too. Finish was certainly something I was expecting but did not receive.
Steel belt loop rivets, rusty, cosmetic & functional minor
Sure it looks bad but if the sheath falls off that's a problem I don't need and it makes the knife harder to carry. They're in hard to clean places and it's also hard to tell how successful I've been and how deep the damage is.
Sheath polish, cosmetic minor
It's just missing in places. Small areas but easily visible.
Sheath, too tight, functional moderate
No wants their knife to fall out but my sheath is ridiculous and it hasn't worn in with age and use and loss of metal from the blade (described below). I can hold the sheath upside down with the blade only a few inches in and shake it vigorously and the knife doesn't fall out. Even when it's attached to my belt I have to hold the sheath with my off-hand to draw the blade. The description of the sheath by the manufacturer says the leather in the mouth of the sheath is beaten extra well so it won't scratch the blade. I think scratching could also be avoided if it didn't grip so hard it nearly stopped the blade coming out.
Handle, cracked, functional & cosmetic minor
It doesn't look good but worse than that the cracks has increased by about 50% with use. One of the cracks leads to 1cm tall and wide dome which is just waiting to sheer off the rest of the handle. These cracks are all plainly visible and easily detected by touch. Yes, they're larger now but they were big to begin with.
Brass end cap, cosmetic minor & functional moderate.
The end cap of the handle is made of a sheet of beaten brass. The outline is kind of like the typical human eye. At the corners of the "eye" there are two vertical sheets of brass meeting without a covering (because the top bit of brass that covers the end of the handle was too short or the horn handle too big). That corner hits the heel of my palm and I end up abraded, cut or even with a small chunk of skin cut out when I chop. I have to modify--that is limit--my grip and power to avoid digging holes into my hand.
Blade, dull, functional minor
I knife should be sharp when produced. I could put a lot of force on my thumb and then drag it along the blade and not even leave a mark. Easily fixable but not how it should have arrived.
Fullers, cosmetic minor
Not well done at all, different width, depth and erratically wiggly and one time the chisel used to form them was moved so far along that one side unintentionally has two fuller. They're so small they serve no purpose on a knife this thick other than a cosmetic one and in that they fail because they're ugly and incompetently executed.
Blade, rusty, cosmetic major & structural minor
Rust will destroy the blade so that's why I say it is a structural defect. The amount was more than a little freckling. It has etched the blade and has taken a lot of effort to remedy. It's a major cosmetic flaw due to reasons explained next.
Blade, huge grind marks, cosmetic major
The description of the service No. 1 says "well polished blade". No.
Every single part of the steel is covered with grind marks. Much of the land is shiny but the whole thing looks like someone attacked it with some 300 grit paper. (Someone with a very steady hand mind you since all the gouges are parallel to one another, obviously caused by big pieces of grit in the grind wheel.) To idle away my time I've gone over it with a finer set of grits by hand and removed the rust and levelled out much of the etching and made the grind marks much less prominent (but they're still plainly visible and there's a long way to go before it's a satin polish let alone mirror).
This and the rust are just cosmetic but they're major flaws because I was expecting and paid for a shiny, smooth, polished blade. That is not what I got.
Blade, chipped, structural moderate
There were several small chips and one one longer chip though none were very deep at all. They were immediately obvious. All primarily on one side of the blade. Just last week I introduced a much smaller dent into the same location though in this case it appears that the edge has bent more than been entirely chipped away. I am beginning to suspect that this is a problem with the forging or heat treating of the blade since it's all on one side and in a portion of the blade that doesn't get the heaviest use.
When I was looking for an address for Khukuri House I came across this thread here on our very own forums
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...quot-Khukuri-House-quot-my-impressions-(long)
The very same Bob Robillard wrote in 2005:
"this is the first and only complaint that I have had had from any of my numerous customers."
That could still be true. I never complained until recently and even then I wrote to the supplier, not to Bob.
"Also, the proprietor of Khukuri House has written to Jimmy apologizing for the defective products and is willing to take measures to ensure that KH-USA does not receive any more defective khukuris."
Whatever measure were taken weren't 100% successful as it was nearly four years later that I got a sub-standard knife from KH-USA. I was a member of Blade Forums at the time and I didn't post at the time so there could be more in the same boat and loads of non-members could have experienced problems as well.
Later years still I do not expect anyone to make it right. As the thing hasn't snapped in two I don't think there's anything to make right now. I can sympathise with the first poster in that other thread and I can back him up on everything bad about the knives then except the fractures (even though he doesn't need any back up).
I do appreciate that these are hand made but rust is not acceptable in any manner. Flaws like chips in the blade and split handles very much made this a knife which should have been sold at a heavily discounted price and with notice of the defects. Purely cosmetic things like the fuller are really quite incidental and only made it onto the list because the list existed to record the other faults.
That the same rust problem on blade and rivets was found four years apart suggests a history of rust that hadn't been corrected and so probably still hasn't been corrected. Chips and splits in handles only get bigger with use so they have to be avoided from the start and if you can see them, you haven't avoided them.
While Jimmy (from other thread) and my experiences may be isolated they do show a consistent pattern. If I could inspect the actual knife before purchase I would buy from Khukuri House again since it hasn't failed in use but without seeing it first I'd be very reluctant.
But, that's beside the point I reckon. Thanks for the detailed review. I don't believe KHHI has a US arm anymore, but they're still cranking out khuks under the control of Saroj Lama IIRC. I did run into a fellow on another forum who appeared to be acting as a US agent of sorts, but he could have just been a big fan. I personally have no experience with any of the khukuri houses. From what I've read and heard, it can be a real roll of the dice with any of them. Some folks receive a khukuri they love, and some get garbage and realize too late how much shipping adds to the price. I've looked over the KHHI site and can say there is some information which appears to be questionable at best with respect to histrorical accuracy. Also, they seem to make overweight beasts which don't interest me.