Quite a few years ago now, before I ever held a Khukuri, Bill and Pala had an idea to make the best khuks in the world, offer them to the market place under the most gentlemanly, fair, and compassionate business arrangment, (where the customer was 'right' or the business would not be done.) improve the lives of those in Pala's immediate sphere of influence in Nepal, and let Karma find it's balance. It worked. Then Yangdu had an idea to go internet, and the forum was born, and something unexpected and wonderful happened; a new cultural experience with people from all over the world celebrating friendship and wonderful tools.
What were these tools? They were great. They dared to be different. The Kamis were skilled and confident enough to offer both traditional forms and improvements of strength and durability. There is a place for 'fighter' and 'replicas', and there is a place for enhanced, stronger modern renditions.
It makes little sense to criticise a chopper for not being light and marital, or a martial blade for not being thick and strong enough to fell trees. It is not sincere or genuine to mock the entire line as being clumsy and axe like, when no other company offers as many khuks with as much variety. Some companies get their steel from India in sheets, of very modest quality. To say then that HI also has this same steel is rather like a Taiwan wrench saying it's as good as the US Proto because both of them are shiny. I asked Yangdu not too long ago to inquire in Nepal if HI still used leafspring; she asked and the answer came back they used leaf spring.
IN confidence, HI changed and experimented over the years. When you are that good, you can diverge from some concept called 'traditional', (which in truth is not an absolute and never really existed.) Are the British WWll blades in contract the only 'true khuks'? Because metal was so expensive, and the khuks relatively slight for small statured people compared to some of HI's renditions today, does that make the khuks of 150 years ago the only 'true' khuks? Should the only firearms sold in the commercial market be Black Powder of weaker steel because that is more authentic?
AFter a lot of discussion, some bickering and flickering, we returned to the 'traditional' bolster recently. This does not mean habaki bostered khuks are not khuks, that they are weak, or that owning one means you beat your dog every Sunday.
I'm just a naive kid who added a few extra decades to his life and found himself nearing 50. The shots and sour grapes, the whining and sneering from dark corners of the Globe about HI took me by surprise this last year. I was caught 'unawares'. I'm not 'unawares' any longer.
HI is the best. That there are other wonderful khuk manufacturers does not
take this away.
This is a renewal of things I've said before. I just felt like saying them again.
It's OK. It's OK to build great khuks. It's OK to have friends. It's Ok to talk about khuks.
munk
What were these tools? They were great. They dared to be different. The Kamis were skilled and confident enough to offer both traditional forms and improvements of strength and durability. There is a place for 'fighter' and 'replicas', and there is a place for enhanced, stronger modern renditions.
It makes little sense to criticise a chopper for not being light and marital, or a martial blade for not being thick and strong enough to fell trees. It is not sincere or genuine to mock the entire line as being clumsy and axe like, when no other company offers as many khuks with as much variety. Some companies get their steel from India in sheets, of very modest quality. To say then that HI also has this same steel is rather like a Taiwan wrench saying it's as good as the US Proto because both of them are shiny. I asked Yangdu not too long ago to inquire in Nepal if HI still used leafspring; she asked and the answer came back they used leaf spring.
IN confidence, HI changed and experimented over the years. When you are that good, you can diverge from some concept called 'traditional', (which in truth is not an absolute and never really existed.) Are the British WWll blades in contract the only 'true khuks'? Because metal was so expensive, and the khuks relatively slight for small statured people compared to some of HI's renditions today, does that make the khuks of 150 years ago the only 'true' khuks? Should the only firearms sold in the commercial market be Black Powder of weaker steel because that is more authentic?
AFter a lot of discussion, some bickering and flickering, we returned to the 'traditional' bolster recently. This does not mean habaki bostered khuks are not khuks, that they are weak, or that owning one means you beat your dog every Sunday.
I'm just a naive kid who added a few extra decades to his life and found himself nearing 50. The shots and sour grapes, the whining and sneering from dark corners of the Globe about HI took me by surprise this last year. I was caught 'unawares'. I'm not 'unawares' any longer.
HI is the best. That there are other wonderful khuk manufacturers does not
take this away.
This is a renewal of things I've said before. I just felt like saying them again.
It's OK. It's OK to build great khuks. It's OK to have friends. It's Ok to talk about khuks.
munk
