Shop 2 khukuris -- review by all owners.

[Bill Martino]

I have received feedback on just about all the shop 2 khukuris and here is what they say. Since most customers who bought these knives are fairly heavy users and experienced in the knife world not surprisingly the reports were almost all identical. Rather than posting each individual report I'll sum them up since they all say about the same thing.

First, nobody returned any shop 2 khukuris. Evidently they were all worth keeping.

1) General appearance -- good but not as sophisticated as shop 1.

I agree. Shop 2 has a couple of kamis straight from the village and they think we are crazy to want a khukuri that is beautiful. If a khukuri is tough, durable and functional that is all it needs to be. Use is going to destroy the beauty anyway so beauty is wasted effort. We still have some convincing to do.

2) Performance -- same as shop 1.

I am not surprised.

3) Strength and toughness -- same as shop 1.

A couple of customers rated shop 2 blades as perhaps a bit better than shop 1.

Again, I am not surprised. The village kamis in the shop are making excellent blades but don't want to polish them excessively.

Major complaints:

1) Blade marking. Same kami signs all blades and uses an electric pencil.

I do not like the marking, either. We are working to get this changed. The kami who signs might be the only one in the shop who can read and write. We are asking that the individual blades be marked with the name of the kami who forged the blade. We will concede this marking to electric pencil if we must but are asking that the HI logo be marked when blade is hot using a scribe rather than the electric pencil.

2) Final finish. Needs to be polished out more.

I agree. We are trying to convince the kamis to do more polishing. Gelbu is having a hard time convincing them. He is a young man and the kamis think he knows nothing. When the boss gets back he will take care of this and bring the finish up. The kamis are leaving grind marks on the edge which need to be polished out. Their argument is the polishing destroys the effect of the "magic" stone. They could be right since I have no idea as to what this stone actually does or does not do.

3) Scabbard needs to be improved.

I agree. Gelbu has doubled the pay of the sarkis and told them to double their effort in the scabbard making. This has got to help but we will keep on them until they get the scabbards the way we want them.

Any more suggestions for improvement will be much appreciated and the fifty dollars off regular price deal will stay in effect until the shop 2 knives are exactly as we want them.

Uncle Bill

 

[Howard Wallace]

Bill,

Perhaps one of the best of the shop 1 Kamis could visit shop 2 for a week or two with a batch of finished shop 2 khukuris. He may be able to communicate better, and tweak the pride of the shop 1 kamis when they see what shop 2 is doing. He could also probably pass along many good hints learned through experience.

In my opinion:

Toss out those electric pencils. The rustic marking of the date and name on Brita's 20" Sirupati is very pleasing and is in keeping with the spirit of the blade. My guess is that it was done by the kamis rather than by the Newari engravers. Am I right? If blades are to be signed and numbered this method will be more pleasing to the customers. (I'll bet you a nickel to a doughnut.)


Namaste.

 

[Bill Martino]

Howard, there is some interchange scheduled between shops as soon as Kami finds his way back to Kathmandu.

I don't think the electric pencis should be used, either. I don't like it. I have an idea this is a new toy for the kami who marks the blade and he is having fun with it. The old method is better. For special markings down at shop 1 they use steel stamps -- English.

However, the electric hair dryer forges seem to be working great but how one heats charcoal has little to do with final results.
Actually, I loved Brita's Sirupati. It was an exceptional effort which I believe you can tack up to your being a trekker in Nepal years ago.

Uncle Bill