What first got you interested in Kukris?

Bamboo

Bamboo

Joined
Dec 16, 2004
Messages
2,315
Long before you even knew there was an Uncle Bill, somehow and for some reason, you went looking for kukris.

Why was that?


My first introduction to crooked knives was Jean Claude Van Damme's "Cyborg" movie. He carries a khuk on his belt, and of course, saves the world with it.

After that, some Bando friends (martial arts) said khukuris were the preferred weapons of their art, and they proceeded to pull some out of their closets.

I was hooked after that, although I didn't know it .... :D

What got you started?

~ Bamboo ~
 
A friend of mine in high school was a military history buff, and told me about the Gurkhas. Then by pure chance, another student had a kukri in his garage. He sold it to me for $5. It was like the Atlanta Cutlery "gov't issue" ones.
 
My Dad had a beautiful razor sharp khuk he brought back from overseas. He kept it hanging on the wall with a crossed pair of original Sykes / Fairbairn fighting knives. The spine was at least 3/8" thick, and my Dad really knew how to sharpen a knife. It was the single sharpest thing I have ever held. It had a horn handle, and looking back I'm guessing it was 17" or 18". I last held it when I was a teenager, but I recall it was shaped like an AK, but had no fullers that I remember. The scabbard fit like a glove. I learned the correct way to draw a khuk from its scabbard when I was 12 and cut the living hell out of my hand pulling this knife from a tight scabbard incorrectly.

I loved that knife and my Dad used to let me hold it. Along with most of his guns, $20,000 worth of carpentry and mechanics hand and power tools, all of our shared freshwater and deep sea fishing gear and tackle, tents, backpacks and assorted camping gear, several knives he had made by hand, his expensive refracting telescope, AND most of a 3000 volume library with many first editions, it evaporated like magic within a few weeks after he died in 1982, sold off by his useless druggie POS stepson for coke and whores, and moron second wife. (Not that I'm still bitter after almost 25 years! (-:)

I spent many years off and on looking for "that" knife. I had bought a Cold Steel Gurkha Kukri, a Cold Steel ATC, an LTC, and mini-kukri, as well as the Ka-Bar model, looking for just the right kind of feeling knife, when I finally came upon HI in late '03, and knew that I had finally found the right place and realized that I had been buying pale imitations of the real thing all along.

Regards,

Norm
 
Before I found the Cantina I was a Cold Steel junkie. I had a couple of their hawks, a few boot knives, a trailmaster, and finally a Mini Gurka Lite. I was really impressed by the way the knife would shear through things. i started looking online one day at HI's sight. I saw the villagers page and e-maiedl Uncle Bill to see if he had any villagers in stock for me to try out. He had one of the ever-prized BirGorkha villagers as a deal of the day. he sent it to me no questions asked. Once i pulled it from it's scabbard i knew I liked it. Once i gave it a tru-oil treatment and sharpened it I knew i belonged to it. The CS MGL now rides in the car of some guy i used to work with. Retired after less than a years use. No need for it. No desire to keep it. It took up space other khukuris could enjoy:)

Great topic, B:)

Jake
 
I've always loved knives and guns ;)

I've always loved machetes :D

I used to kind of collect knives when I was a kid in the 70's, then one thing led to another and I just couldn't find anything neat. No big knife shows round here.

Anyway my buddy when I was a kid ordered a khukuri from B & W trading company Newark OH which sold stuff like that in Shotgun News way back.
It was a crappy chrome one but looked cool.

Then with the advent of the Internet and the ability to search I started finding cool knives again. One day I saw the HI forum and thought it sounded like they might have REAL khukuris. I got on here and did a little searching and wow, I became a real fan. These are REAL useable TOOLS, not just stuff to look "bad" but stuff you can actually USE.
 
Thomas Linton said:
King of the Khyber Rifles: "We have these!"
Click to expand...


Thomas has the best khuk collection I have personally seen. If "he who finishes with the most toys wins" we all got a long way to go to beat him ;)

At the KHonveNtion he just kept pulling super cool old choppers out of every nook and cranny, every one more cool and interesting than the one previous!!
 
To be very honest, I've had a very slowly developing love for khuks. As far as how I got to where I am today...

My first exposure to a khuk was at a farmers market in the small town I grew up in, my parents looked at one from India in like...the mid eighties, I thought it was plum ugly. Still hoped they'd buy it, cause I wanted a new brush beating tool (being the only remaining son I was thier number one brush beater) They didn't buy it. Forgot about khuks for a long time, like seventeen years or so.

Then decided I wanted a whomper stomper, holy fock mushroom clouds on the horizon rebuilding civilization kinda knife and started researching them on the General Forums, never quite took with Cold Steel... Busses, Striders waaaay too expensive for this poor boy, had a few Beckers that weren't bad, but for some reason the search still continued. After seeing HI khuks suggested twenty dozen times or so I'd decided to add one onto a "will trade for" list when I was trading off a couple knives. In fairly short order I'd wound up trading Raghorn for an HI Sirupati that FAR exceeded my expectations. HI's site made it sound like a lightweight, but I quickly noticed that HI's "lightweight" was enough knife to chop Cold Steels captain kick A$$ tough man Trailmaster into little pieces.

I still thought Khuks were ugly, but....noticed the Sirupati was well designed to chop, clear a trail, do draw knife duty, light prying, etc. so, as ugly as I thought it was, I still knew a damn good utilitarian design when I saw one.

Decided the Sirupati was nice, but wanted just one more khuk....maybe another.....and maybe just one more....ahem....y'all know how it goes from here... :rolleyes:

When I wandered into the forum here and lurked for awhile, I felt very much drawn in by the ambience here. I really liked the...easy going manner of most here. I liked the topics discussed- culture, values, history, woodcraft, family,religion,politics, humor, and of course lots and lots of knife talk. Eventually I requested a Pen Knife from UBBB's- and stood at my mailbox scratching my head when the knife arrived before I'd gotten around to sending any money. Basically I knew good things when I saw them.

Still thought khuks were ugly though.

Lately I've been reading more about them where I can, lurking here more often, learning more about them, bought a few more etc. Now....I find they're gettin' to be okay looking...infact, downright purty. If I had to sell off every one of my knives, my five HI khuks would be the very last to go.

Not that I'm addicted or anything. As soon as I get an UBE or a Cherokee Rose I'll be finished...really :rolleyes:

I'm really not much of a contributor to any forums around here, I do alot more reading than I do writing, and I don't make friends easily- even online, but...I can still honestly say that this forum is my favorite place on the internet.
 
I don't know when I became or why I've always been interested in most anything with a sharp edge and especially knives and especially knives from all around the world.
My uncle Floyd fought in WW II and was friends with a Ghorka and told me about his knife when I was pretty little.
I never forgot it and then when I saw Atlanta Cutlery's Mil. Issue I got one.
But I knew it wasn't the "real deal" because when I was on my first job several years before a customer showed me a "real one" when we delivered and set up their brand new washing machine much too the dislike of my boss who couldn't say anything because back then the customer was always right.:D :D
Needless to say I was disappointed in the AC offering although it was a decent enough khukuri for what it was.
Atlanta Cutlery at least hadn't lied about it and the one I got was according to what they said the specs were.
As the years passed I kept seeing the ads that Himalayan Imports was putting in some of the knife mags but I just never wrote thinking that they couldn't be the real deal.
Then many years passed and I bought myself a WebTV so that I could get on the Internet.
Found rec:knives and then discovered Knifeforums.com and then Bladeforums.com, the rest is history.:rolleyes: :D :cool:
 
I'm a hopeless hoplophile, historian, artist, edged weapon collector, and martially inclined person. I was looking for the ultimate in modern utility cutting, like an axe or machete...turns out the khuk is kinda a cross between them--heavier built than a machete, yet more responsive and balanced than an axe. At this point, I was done buying cheap stainless junk blades, and had been spending real money on real weapons (500+ USD for a good modern 'munitions grade' sword is not unusual, as some may know). Id' been reading about khuks in Sir Richard Burton's _Book of the Sword_, and the whole idea of them kinda appealed to me. Then I got some great illustrated books on weapons of the world, since Burton's 100+ year-old woodcuts were not really showing the weapons very well... It was at that point I saw the most exquisitely fullered and shaped khukuri, with thick spine shown, and I knew that these were serious cuttin' beasts. I did some internet searhces, one which lead me to the Himalayan Imports sales site. I emailed Bill, and he told me about 'blems' (oh, that was the fist hit of HIKV...) and the forum here. I got an Sher 18" AK with horn handle, grainline blem, for a steal, 95USD!

So, I guess my own search led me to be intrigued by khuks, but I totally blame my interest or obsession with them on Uncle. Once I found out swords and custom runs were fair game, I was totally hooked. Why buy a seax when you could have one made by hand, traditionally, in Nepal? And just TRY to find a kopis or falcata -- a real one (not a Winless Steelcraps F.L.O.) -- that is handmade, tempered and fullered, for under 500 USD. Modern US bladesmiths will laugh in your face.
That, and Bills' 'help-all-out' economics made me ask why I would pay a faceless industrial corp explioting workers overseas for a blade that could be made more personally, with more character, AND at the same time HELP out folks on the other side of the world?

"Thomas has the best khuk collection I have personally seen."

-->Thrue dat, HD! Let's not leave out the impressive customs he's collected, ot the spectacular nihonto...the one with the blue-aged silver...mmmm :cool:
 
I was looking for a throwing hawk, and was in Bladeforums trying to figure if I needed it most to throw or chop, when I happened to stop by HI on a whim.


Didn't take much reading to know the khuk was for me.



munk
 
Me in high school (I think... or shortly after)

me see big nife.

big nife = good

me buy cold steel gurkee nife.

me like.

Years later... a co worker who was in the Indian navy mentioned the khukuri. I sez, " I gots one of thems gurkee nifes". I don't remember the rest of the conversation.

A few years after that, I was looking for a cheap katana and found the HI site.

Came for the knives, stayed for the freaks.

The rest of the story and my bank account is history.

Anyone wanna trade for some Cold Steel Gurkee nifes? I still gots some of thems.

:)
 
The design and shape of a Khukri has always made sense to me
If that makes any sense.
I have wanted one since I first saw one.
I bought one of Atlanta Cutlery first Govt issue Khuks when they sold them for cheap
I lucked on to HI about a year ago and saw an authentically manufactured quality knife for a very reasonable price and six khuks later have began
quenching my thirst for my favorite knives
 
I bought a Cold Steel Recon scout and a LTC Kukri for camping and just never used them but liked the design found HI's site and have been hooked ever since my first was a 12 inch Ak by Bura, 20 inch Sirupita by Bura and 2 JKM-1 one with wood and one with antler. Want more though, many more hehe, think HIKV has set in real good.



James
 
This thread is a great idea... something light. Tx, Bamboo.

My dad's best friend was stationed in India... embassy communications or something was his job, I suspect he may have been a company employee. He monitored radio gear in hot spots & all over the world. A really neat guy. His son was my age, and we spent a lot of time fishing & shooting in the Everglades. Anyways, he brought back a ton of stuff from India- furniture, art, etc. To trim hydrilla (water weed) in the swimming lake behind our houses, he would dive in with this big funny curved knife. It had two little companion knives.... and he hung it up as art when not in use.

Couple years ago I was studying Roman history- reading Livy, Suetonious (my fave), Julius C. & others. As a project I made a Roman gladius from scratch. It took all summer.... made a pilum also- it would go right through 1/2" plywood.

One day a Atlanta Cut. catalog came. I ordered a Quama knife and, since I was ordering, always wanted one a them kukris- $30, can't go wrong. The Q. was backordered but when the Khuk came, I had so much fun with it I cancelled the Q. order. Looked for a better khuk, and found HI.

As a boater, the khuk seemed ideal for chopping fish. To repel boarders & as a pistol substitute the khukuri went to sea...

This pic is of two of my bestest buds, a shark, and their 25' Sea Ray.

And yes, this guy is a HI owner. I gave him a beautiful "USA Wood" 15" Ang Khola for Christmas. Is it on his boat? One of mine always is.


Ad Astra
 

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Gawdern...I just feel downright uncool! I'm one of the only folks that never cared for khuks until just this last year or two, an' that weren't 'till well after I came across HI. 'course now my friends are always chiding me for being obsessed wid dem ugly crooked knives. :D
 
I'm interested in knives, guns and survival. One of my internet friends was always talking about the HI khuks and how great they were. Finally I ordered a 15" horm handled AK. Beautiful blade. I beat the h&ll out of it and it stayed sharp and undamaged. I'm totally sold. Its an almost ideal survival blade. More khuks in my future.

Ice
 
It was during a period when I was searching for helpful info on Chinese swords

Don't recall anything more

Probably doing a sword or related search thru these here forums
or a google search linked directly to a thread in this forum

either way
probably the pix in 'sale' threads caught me eye
& from there I happily ascended into the maelstrom.


~
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<> Tips <> Baha'i Prayers Links --A--T--H--D
 
About 30 years ago a marial arts teacher visited the school I was training at he was a very interesting man from Nepal. He showed me his Khukuri and we started to talk, we became friends and soon I left the school I was training at and became his student he taught me how to use it and a lot more
 
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