Understanding Length

[BubbaGump]

Hello. How is the length of a kukri measured?

With a straight blade, it is simply the length of the knife from tip to the end of the grip.

If a kukri is stated as being 18 inches in length, does that mean that the measurement is from the end of the grip to the longest part on the blade?

 

[Jens Schuetz]

Yep. That's it. Not measuring the curves. Just straight line from tip of the blade to bottom of the handle.

 

[davidf99]

Just to add to what Jens said, when Yangdu posts the length of a khukuri, she always means overall length, not blade length.

I mention that because in other parts of Bladeforums (such as the Exchange), people often use "length" to mean blade length, but in HI terminology it means overall length.

There are some other ways in which HI terminology is a little different, but I won't get into that here so as not to sidetrack the thread.

 

[Scara]

The reason for this difference being that it is very difficult to measure curved blades consistently and accurately, especially as HI blades vary in curvature.