"Tourist" vs "Traditional" Kukris

[EChoil]

Hi Echoil,

From what you say it sounds like your piece was made by a kami following the patterns/style of my earlier kukri and the many others like it.

With kukri there are many styles, shapes and motifs that are used over a broad time range and wide geographical area. The ringed handle style like the one in my pic seem to have been associated with Derhdun and also Garwhal kami during the first half of the 20th C (they're quite far apart and also in modern India (though have borders shifted a great deal over the centuries). But kukri styles seem to spread and merge from area to area. This is one of the things that makes collecting kukri so interesting, it is extraordinarily hard to place and date them!

If the steel is good then you know you have a user not tourist piece. Though I personally wouldn't use that one, I'd keep it for the memories.

Yeah, the steel is good...great in fact. I keep it up. I think I will either leather or para wrap it or put an inner tube piece over the handle soon to give me a little better grip. It's slightly small for my hand.

Thanks a lot for the info.