village quality khuks

Rusty

Rusty

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You may remember my posting on the 20" chainpuri blem I got from Uncle Bill a while back. It was much like the 20" Sirupati, except lighter ( difference in spine thickness that of BAS and WWII ) other than cho.

I loved it so much that Uncle Bill relented and sent me a couple of 17" chainpuris of village quality, imported mostly to demonstrate the difference between HI and the knives made by the village kamis. Nicely polished, good solid blade and handle, but workmanship comparatively crude.

One weighed 20 ounces, same as the BAS and similar blade shape, only 2"s longer. The other weighed in at only 14 ounces. Think of a 12" Sirupati shaped blade stretched about 4" longer ( from 8" to 12" ), and a handle maybe an inch longer. Same spine thickness as 12" Sirupati.

If the 20 ouncer is kind of a 17" BAS, that's not a bad thing.

It is the 14 ouncer that has replaced the 12" Sirupati in my affections. It handles like the 12" and nearly as quickly. If the 12" Sirupati moves like lightening, and the 20" Chainpuri handles like a dream, the light 17" would have to be likened to a wet dream. I keep thinking the Bagwell Hell's Belle's aren't in the same class as fighting knives compared to this one. That ought to start an argument, Uncle Bill - the forum's been too quiet lately. Let's get a free-for-all going here!
 
You'll get no argument from me. The Hell's Bells may be the ultimate culmination of the fighting bowie, but the lighter khukuri's are still more efficient. given a choice between the hell's bells and the 20 inch sirupati, I would go for the sirupati any day. More reach and much more power.
 
The thing is, I've been suffering from what I suspect is arthritis in my right elbow, just the last five or six weeks. You are bigger and stronger, Cobalt, the 20" Chainpuri ( haven't weighed it ) would be a religious experience to you. Pick up an all steel pistol ( that's the Sirupati 20" ) then pick up an otherwise identical airweight aluminum framed pistol ( that's the Chainpuri 20" ).

But it's the light 14 ounce 17" Chainpuri with a 12" blade shaped like a 12" Sirupati's 8" blade except stretched out 4" longer I was referring to against the Hell's Belle. For a little guy like me, it's like having not just a religious experience, but having a religious experience during sex! Absolute ecstasy.

( Of course the "heavy" 20 ounce Chainpuri that I liken to a 17" BAS has no flies on it either. I think it'll be the most used as a tool of all my khuks. )

Someone posted on another thread in another forum that he now trains with a single edge blade since he discovered he could not change the direction of a slash as fast as he could rotate the edge diection, so backslashes with a single edge were as fast as those with a double edged blase anyway. And now if you'll pardon me, I'm going to go fondle the 14 ouncer.
 
Interesting observations, Rusty. Personally, I have a fondness for village knives but they do not sell well. Although incredibly strong they are not as pretty as the HI models and pretty helps sell.

Uncle Bill
 
Would there be any chance of offering some village quality knives to us? I really want a Khukri, but can't afford one in the near future
Aaron

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aaronm@cs.brandeis.edu
I like my women like I like my knives: strong, sharp, well-formed and pattern-welded!
 
I agree with you Bill. Give me some hammered out village knife every time. They're the ones with a story. I use my pristine, perfect HI BAS to show interested friends what a great khukuri looks like before it starts on its' journey, then take them back thru history via the older and older knives.

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JP
 
I'm going to start a thread on village khukuris and see what happens. We can certainly get them if enough people understand what they are really getting and want them.

Uncle Bill
 
OOOPS: Meant to start an argument over Bowie
(ala Ontario/Bagwell's Hell's Belle) versus Khukuri, not village versus HI quality.

That said, the fact remains that the chainpuris are markedly lighter and faster than other khukuris I've seen. The 20" chainpuri blem is beautiful all around. But the two village quality 17" chainpuris, although polished up, still show hammer marks and uneveness here and there. Where their beauty comes through is in the using. As another thread, possibly in another forum said, they may "have a few grind marks on them, but so do I!". Somehow that personal- izes them to me.

It also makes them more using instead of admiring to me. I took the heavier 17" out this afternoon and cut down some smaller tree shoots with it. I was using it in cramped quarters so I couldn't get a good swing in, the things had 3/4 inch thorns all over them, and most of the shoots were an inch or less thick so they "gave" instead of taking a solid shot. Regardless, and with a bad elbow to boot, it worked so well, and made such smooth clean cuts I had a 3 foot high pile and the job was done before I even got tired.

The khuk has been scrubbed clean, steeled, and annointed with clove oil as I write this. The few scratches now complement the grind marks and glisten beneath the oil. The ugly duckling is metamophosing into a beaustiful swan in my eyes. Pretty is as pretty does, they say.
 
Thanks for input from the field, Rusty. Most of the work done by khukuris in Nepal is done by the old faithful ugly ducklings.

Uncle Bill
 
Have to admit my new 15" AK is so pretty that I don't want to use it. Maybe after that first scratch, I'll feel "pretty is as pretty does." 'Til then, let me admire the scintilillating youth and beauty of this blade in her lovely brown dress.
smile.gif


sing



[This message has been edited by sing (edited 27 April 1999).]
 
Rusty you will have a hard time starting a debate here with "Hells Bells" vs khukuri. It would seem we are all khukuri fans. The khukuri can be an awesome cutter, and decent stabber, as well as chopper.

As a cutter, many have mentioned that the curved blade increases cutting. I would agree, my CS Gurkha, WWII, BAS, etc. are excellent cutters.

Unfortunately, my khukuri's are the heavier models so I don't know how well the lighter more fighting oriented ones stab. The CS kukuri also has a slimmer tip profile than many bowies.

Rusty, do you own an Ontario "Hells Bells"? I am interested in what they are really, like, weight, feel, handle material, ease of cutting, etc..

Will
 
No, Will, I own a BlackJack 1-5, and the Ontario Spec Plus "Survival Bowie", and "Marine Raider" Bowie. I'm sure the Hell's Belle is an awesome fighter. I'd like to fondle it myself. But the HI forum's been pretty quiet and I wanted to stir things up and get an argument going and people posting.
 
Rusty is either trying to give up smoking or is facing that task. He needs to get back on his medication.

Uncle Bill
 
The village khukri is a good idea.I suspect that the double edged,leaf shape predates it.The smatchet would be a more recent incarnation..Too bad that 90% of the cost will be in logistics.Until WW11 people made many of their own things.I have tools here that vary from,I need this now, to some pretty fine finish.There are tools in the barn and machine shed,where the forge is,that I can`t imagine what they were for.One is for cutting red iron.The chisel edge alone is tempered.It`s handle is a spliced lid lifter from a wood range.No one ever got around to grinding the splice very well.A better finished hatchet was made of iron,folded over for the eye and a strip of steel forged in for the edge.Iron was cheap,steel was dear.My family has had this farm since 1852.I know where what little they ever through away is.I just went to a 1950 parts car for a carb.stud that I twisted off.I picked up a nut as well,it looked better than one of mine on the PU..By golly,it fit.A rough finished khukri would not look out of place next to a paint scrapper made from a horse drawn mower tooth.Still have the mower,of corse.

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