Being a lover of the unusual and non-traditional yet practical things in my life, I was slowly drawn to Himalayan Imports over the last year or so and it was a journey of no regret. It's also one of irony in that the more I research "high" quality outdoor knives and gears made by reputable companies such as Ka-bar, Cold Steel, Kershaw, EESE, Busse, etc the more I always seem to end up being attracted to the down-to-earth products of Himalayan Imports, mainly because it tickles my sense of desiring to honor crafts done by hand and not by machines. I have my father to thank for such perspective as he's been a construction worker of the old fashion kind for more than 40 years, the kind where solid workmanship build quality is more desired over a house build in less than 1 month; all because dad wanted his work to be trusted, relied on, and to outlast him for years to come. And here I am, writing tonight a review using what I was taught and fostered over the years, the attention to the quality of a craftsmanship that Himalayan Imports has proclaimed was done by hand by various Kamis.
A review of an unusual bowie knife that I have chosen to be my first Himalayan Imports knife, the Tirtha Bowie which I named my Tiny Bowie.
The Tirtha Bowie
I don't have to mention that Auntie has Superman in her back pocket when it comes to delivering Himalayan Imports products since that's already widely known in this community.
I have to admit that when I got the package (a triangular tube) I had not a clue what to expect; pictures are one thing, having it finally in my hands is something else entirely. The package was pleasantly heavy (I like heavy tools) and when I jiggled it back and forth, I could feel something sliding back and forth inside, giving a solid hit at each end. After giggling like a kid on a Christmas morning, I flick out my Kershaw knife and promptly opened up the well taped package (thanks a lot Auntie as it took me a while to open that darn thing without stabbing it with a bigger knife just to get it open
). Out slides a well wrapped object in heavy duty packaging paper ("Yes yes yes, protect it from shipping" *Mumbles while ripping said paper off my knife!*). Lo and behold! Here's what I found within.
I was quickly hit by a certain smell that smells rather much like industrial oil of some sort but that was secondary as I pulled out the knife with anticipated joy. I was not disappointed.
(Note: The image above shows blade being used as I used it for several days before this review. I left it looking used as I liked the "I used this! Bawhaha" look. Will clean it up at a later date.)
Holding it in my right hand, I just stood there enjoying the heavy weight, letting my palm feel the woody handle that has been crusted with metal linings. After spending about 5 minutes feeling the balance and optimal placement of my hand, I did as anyone would; I pretended that there were zombies in living room. Swinging it as I did, I quickly learned that this blade is made for chopping primarily and yet with practice over a period of time, it might be an interesting self defense weapon. But I'm under no stretch of imagination that I have any skills in wielding it in any martial art fashion. This is the kind of blade that you must earn it's respect by observing it's ingrained created characteristics. If you don't, you will get hurt to put it mildly.
("Foolish human" glares my cat next to my pumpkin experiment)
Tirtha Bowie stat
Overall lenght --17''
Weight -- 27 oz
Spine thickness--1/4''
Chiruwa US Cherry wood handle with brass fitting
Villager fit and finish
Black leather scabbard with brass tip
Done by Tirtha
Tirtha Bowie Up Close and Personal
Holding it in my hand, I realized one thing about this blade. There are only 2 places on the handle that I can hold onto and feel some sort of balance. First would be right up to the end of the handle towards the blade which will help with the chopping balance while the second location would be directly in the middle of the handle for more nimble movements of the blade. It seems that if I go all the way back to the end of the handle away from the blade, the whole thing becomes unbalanced.
The Cherry wood handle is such a smooth well done yet very simple work which feels homely in my hand while I was testing the blade out. The pins are all leveled with the wood handle on both sides. I can surely imagine the wood aging gracefully over the years after many outdoor work.
The spine is one heck of a thick thing, quite thick that I can't imagine what it would take to break this thing at any points on the blade, even the handle is well endowed with plenty of steel despite a tampering towards the end which I do not think is a weakness.
Using the Cold steel Rajah II as a size reference point, one can appreciate the size of this thing. It gleefully dwarfed the Rajah II and to think I once thought the Rajah II knife was a pleasantly large knife. Well, I have been unceremoniously shown the error of my ways and perceptions.
The blade is such a fun thing to look at, fun to direct and aim. Just watching it bite into wood like a beaver out of hell makes me want to bubble with giggles. But then again, overkill is such a happy coping skill of mine that I don't mind at all! As you can see, the sweet spot of hitting wood with the Tirtha Bowie is towards the end, mostly upon that curve section of the blade. Of course, my aim is not always perfect but that's where I try and aim it at and when I do get it right, boy does it take a chunk out of the wood.
To show how much of a chunk, I'll use the Bowie vs Rajah II with about 7-10 hits each on the same branch (I idiotically didn't think to count as I happily went chopping away with the bowie before I even thought to count...)
If I want a tree to go down (should it ever be needed), I can see quite clearly that the Tirtha Bowie will get the job done.
The Kami Symbols
Beats me what any of that says. But I do see the beer mug one. The rest, not a clue...
Cosmetic Flaws
Prior to buying this Bowie, I fully intended to do this review but what I didn't expect to do within this review was go over this blade's unfortunate cosmetic flaws. There are several issues that I'm not all too happy about but I'm happy to say, it wont prevent the Bowie from being a bowie knife. But it does alter how I look at the Tirtha Bowie overall, it's future functions and so on.
First up will be the fact that parts of this blade has been machined and drilled/cut in various places. It has not been done the old fashion way by hand as I was previously under impression such has been done for all Himalayan Imports. The following pictures will show saw-cut lines on both ends of the handles on both sides as well as a drilled hole at the end of the handle.
Based on my observation, the maker of this blade was in a hurry to make this bowie, so much so that he seem to have decided to use machines to cut the wood handle after it was on the blade on both ends, thus causing saw-cut marks. Then he used a drill of some sort to create the hole at the end of the handle. I wasn't too happy about that kind of attention to the handle, making me wonder why he would approach it that way after all of his other work was shown to be top notch. But that's not the end of it...
The next image shows the brass lining within the handle next to the full tang/Chiruwa. Looking at the handle, I can see how wavy and not quite so linear the brass lining is. One thing the picture cannot show is that on both ends of the Chiruwa handle, the brass lining is out by perhaps half a centimeter more or less, giving my palm an odd sensation that I'm constantly moving my palm over a bladed edge that wont cut. Needless to say, it's slightly unpleasant especially when your hand and blade is in motion and crashing into trees, thus causing the handle to rotate or adjust from the impact.
The next issue is how he polished the blade. This one is not too big a deal to me at all but in face of the above issues, it only made me wonder...
When I moved the blade in sunlight, the below pictures happens:
Overall, I cannot but help feel like this Tirtha Bowie has been a rushed job full of half-assed approaches. I took a look at a previous Tirtha Bowie that was up during a Deal of the Day and noticed how much more attention that has been spend into the knife making as shown below.
So I've come to conclusion that, since I'm well aware that this knife is basically "as is", that this will have to end up as a beater knife since the maker of this blade did not give it his full quality attention as he has done in other blades. I'm not a fan of half-ass approaches by cutting corners, even if it's rushed. That's pretty much how I was raised and one of the main reason why I was attracted to Himalayan Imports in first place; the quality of the Kami's attention to the blades...
Onto happier things! The Sheath
Having always been seeing this kind of sheath in so many pictures, histories, stories, etc I've always been a little "Eh..." over the design, thinking that it's more cosmetic than function. I was wrong. My western thinking was wrong. This thing is full of functions, high quality functions. I can easily see why this design has been around for hundreds of years and to use this saying as an image reference point "fits like a glove" is something that lives up to it quite literally. Never have I came across a sheath that embraces a knife the way this one does. It feels like the sheath is constantly hugging the blade, hugging as in giving affection. The design is doing quite a good job making me feel like I should savor the experience of drawing it out and back in. It's quite surreal.
I also had my doubt about the brass plating at the tip until I finally had it in my hands and I can see why they're protecting the tip. One is to protect the stitches from the environment and another is because, due to the fact that the blade is heavy and the sheath points downwards with all that weight, the tip is the first to be in contact with anything around it. Just the fact that it's shiny and pretty to look at was probably just a bonus all those hundreds of years.
I then decided to examine even more closely the physical property of this sheath out of curiosity towards such an exotic item. That's when I noticed that it's in two pieces instead of one!
Looking closely, I noticed something jutting out and I realized that it was what held the smaller belt loop piece in place.
Back to the belt loop object, I noticed that it was just as equally well made, a solid entity that seems like it will do it's job quite well for years of heavy use.
I have new found respect for this Nepalese-style sheaths and never will I again doubt it. Now I'm tempted to preserve it but since I've decided that the Tirtha Bowie is a beater knife, I'll have to treat the sheath the same way and push it's limit to see how far it will go.
The Encore!
A review of an unusual bowie knife that I have chosen to be my first Himalayan Imports knife, the Tirtha Bowie which I named my Tiny Bowie.
The Tirtha Bowie
I don't have to mention that Auntie has Superman in her back pocket when it comes to delivering Himalayan Imports products since that's already widely known in this community.
I have to admit that when I got the package (a triangular tube) I had not a clue what to expect; pictures are one thing, having it finally in my hands is something else entirely. The package was pleasantly heavy (I like heavy tools) and when I jiggled it back and forth, I could feel something sliding back and forth inside, giving a solid hit at each end. After giggling like a kid on a Christmas morning, I flick out my Kershaw knife and promptly opened up the well taped package (thanks a lot Auntie as it took me a while to open that darn thing without stabbing it with a bigger knife just to get it open
). Out slides a well wrapped object in heavy duty packaging paper ("Yes yes yes, protect it from shipping" *Mumbles while ripping said paper off my knife!*). Lo and behold! Here's what I found within.
I was quickly hit by a certain smell that smells rather much like industrial oil of some sort but that was secondary as I pulled out the knife with anticipated joy. I was not disappointed.
(Note: The image above shows blade being used as I used it for several days before this review. I left it looking used as I liked the "I used this! Bawhaha" look. Will clean it up at a later date.)
Holding it in my right hand, I just stood there enjoying the heavy weight, letting my palm feel the woody handle that has been crusted with metal linings. After spending about 5 minutes feeling the balance and optimal placement of my hand, I did as anyone would; I pretended that there were zombies in living room. Swinging it as I did, I quickly learned that this blade is made for chopping primarily and yet with practice over a period of time, it might be an interesting self defense weapon. But I'm under no stretch of imagination that I have any skills in wielding it in any martial art fashion. This is the kind of blade that you must earn it's respect by observing it's ingrained created characteristics. If you don't, you will get hurt to put it mildly.
("Foolish human" glares my cat next to my pumpkin experiment)
Tirtha Bowie stat
Overall lenght --17''
Weight -- 27 oz
Spine thickness--1/4''
Chiruwa US Cherry wood handle with brass fitting
Villager fit and finish
Black leather scabbard with brass tip
Done by Tirtha
Tirtha Bowie Up Close and Personal
Holding it in my hand, I realized one thing about this blade. There are only 2 places on the handle that I can hold onto and feel some sort of balance. First would be right up to the end of the handle towards the blade which will help with the chopping balance while the second location would be directly in the middle of the handle for more nimble movements of the blade. It seems that if I go all the way back to the end of the handle away from the blade, the whole thing becomes unbalanced.
The Cherry wood handle is such a smooth well done yet very simple work which feels homely in my hand while I was testing the blade out. The pins are all leveled with the wood handle on both sides. I can surely imagine the wood aging gracefully over the years after many outdoor work.
The spine is one heck of a thick thing, quite thick that I can't imagine what it would take to break this thing at any points on the blade, even the handle is well endowed with plenty of steel despite a tampering towards the end which I do not think is a weakness.
Using the Cold steel Rajah II as a size reference point, one can appreciate the size of this thing. It gleefully dwarfed the Rajah II and to think I once thought the Rajah II knife was a pleasantly large knife. Well, I have been unceremoniously shown the error of my ways and perceptions.
The blade is such a fun thing to look at, fun to direct and aim. Just watching it bite into wood like a beaver out of hell makes me want to bubble with giggles. But then again, overkill is such a happy coping skill of mine that I don't mind at all! As you can see, the sweet spot of hitting wood with the Tirtha Bowie is towards the end, mostly upon that curve section of the blade. Of course, my aim is not always perfect but that's where I try and aim it at and when I do get it right, boy does it take a chunk out of the wood.
To show how much of a chunk, I'll use the Bowie vs Rajah II with about 7-10 hits each on the same branch (I idiotically didn't think to count as I happily went chopping away with the bowie before I even thought to count...)
If I want a tree to go down (should it ever be needed), I can see quite clearly that the Tirtha Bowie will get the job done.
The Kami Symbols
Beats me what any of that says. But I do see the beer mug one. The rest, not a clue...
Cosmetic Flaws
Prior to buying this Bowie, I fully intended to do this review but what I didn't expect to do within this review was go over this blade's unfortunate cosmetic flaws. There are several issues that I'm not all too happy about but I'm happy to say, it wont prevent the Bowie from being a bowie knife. But it does alter how I look at the Tirtha Bowie overall, it's future functions and so on.
First up will be the fact that parts of this blade has been machined and drilled/cut in various places. It has not been done the old fashion way by hand as I was previously under impression such has been done for all Himalayan Imports. The following pictures will show saw-cut lines on both ends of the handles on both sides as well as a drilled hole at the end of the handle.
Based on my observation, the maker of this blade was in a hurry to make this bowie, so much so that he seem to have decided to use machines to cut the wood handle after it was on the blade on both ends, thus causing saw-cut marks. Then he used a drill of some sort to create the hole at the end of the handle. I wasn't too happy about that kind of attention to the handle, making me wonder why he would approach it that way after all of his other work was shown to be top notch. But that's not the end of it...
The next image shows the brass lining within the handle next to the full tang/Chiruwa. Looking at the handle, I can see how wavy and not quite so linear the brass lining is. One thing the picture cannot show is that on both ends of the Chiruwa handle, the brass lining is out by perhaps half a centimeter more or less, giving my palm an odd sensation that I'm constantly moving my palm over a bladed edge that wont cut. Needless to say, it's slightly unpleasant especially when your hand and blade is in motion and crashing into trees, thus causing the handle to rotate or adjust from the impact.
The next issue is how he polished the blade. This one is not too big a deal to me at all but in face of the above issues, it only made me wonder...
When I moved the blade in sunlight, the below pictures happens:
Overall, I cannot but help feel like this Tirtha Bowie has been a rushed job full of half-assed approaches. I took a look at a previous Tirtha Bowie that was up during a Deal of the Day and noticed how much more attention that has been spend into the knife making as shown below.
So I've come to conclusion that, since I'm well aware that this knife is basically "as is", that this will have to end up as a beater knife since the maker of this blade did not give it his full quality attention as he has done in other blades. I'm not a fan of half-ass approaches by cutting corners, even if it's rushed. That's pretty much how I was raised and one of the main reason why I was attracted to Himalayan Imports in first place; the quality of the Kami's attention to the blades...
Onto happier things! The Sheath
Having always been seeing this kind of sheath in so many pictures, histories, stories, etc I've always been a little "Eh..." over the design, thinking that it's more cosmetic than function. I was wrong. My western thinking was wrong. This thing is full of functions, high quality functions. I can easily see why this design has been around for hundreds of years and to use this saying as an image reference point "fits like a glove" is something that lives up to it quite literally. Never have I came across a sheath that embraces a knife the way this one does. It feels like the sheath is constantly hugging the blade, hugging as in giving affection. The design is doing quite a good job making me feel like I should savor the experience of drawing it out and back in. It's quite surreal.
I also had my doubt about the brass plating at the tip until I finally had it in my hands and I can see why they're protecting the tip. One is to protect the stitches from the environment and another is because, due to the fact that the blade is heavy and the sheath points downwards with all that weight, the tip is the first to be in contact with anything around it. Just the fact that it's shiny and pretty to look at was probably just a bonus all those hundreds of years.
I then decided to examine even more closely the physical property of this sheath out of curiosity towards such an exotic item. That's when I noticed that it's in two pieces instead of one!
Looking closely, I noticed something jutting out and I realized that it was what held the smaller belt loop piece in place.
Back to the belt loop object, I noticed that it was just as equally well made, a solid entity that seems like it will do it's job quite well for years of heavy use.
I have new found respect for this Nepalese-style sheaths and never will I again doubt it. Now I'm tempted to preserve it but since I've decided that the Tirtha Bowie is a beater knife, I'll have to treat the sheath the same way and push it's limit to see how far it will go.
The Encore!
.
my antique (non-HI) nepali bowie watches TV with me too.
