What khukuri is this?

J

Johan van Zyl

Joined
Oct 11, 2000
Messages
372
Hi there from this newbie. I got this little khukuri and would very much like to know more about it. This one is a mystery to me at present. It is a kagas katane, but seems to be quite old.The overall length is 9 inches, while the blade is 6 and a quarter inches. The blade seems to be chromed. In some places small blemishes have formed. The kami who made the blade put a number of small punch marks on the right hand side, arranged in a pattern. The word INDIA is also formed by punch marks. The cho does not look the same as on my other khukuri. Instead of having one point in the middle, it has three points. The handle is made of water buffalo horn. The handle rings seem to be done according to the rigid configuration, but where the second pair of rings should have been, there is one ring only, with next to it a thin band of what seems to be tin plate. A second band occurs immediately on the buttcap side of the ridge. The buttcap has a lion's head on it, with the point of the tang visible between the eyes. There are two handle rivets. The buttcap, rivets, bands and bolster are made of a shiny chrome-like metal. The sheath, made of buffalo leather, shows definite signs of aging. Unlike most sheaths, this one has thin lines impressed into the leather. The patterns are little diagonal blocks and lines, and large crosses in squares. Provision is made for the karda and chakma, but these are unfortunately missing. The pointed sheath tip is not made of brass, but seems to be tin plate. Can you help please?
 
Johan,
Welcome to the forum - may your khukuri collection continue to grow.
The knife you have described in excellent detail is typical in every way (except size - most are 15-16", though they range up to 30" or so) of kukris produced for the tourist market in India. The lohars who produce these knives (kami is the Nepalese term for blacksmith) turn them out by the thousands annually, being paid by the piece, not for quality. They have been made since roughly the 1920's, so the total number of such pieces still in circulation is easily in the hundreds of thousands. The lion buttcap is derived from the Lion of Ashoka Gorkha Battallion. Gurkhas in the British Army prior to Indian independence were usually based in India, and most Gurkha service kukris were made there, at government depots and armories in Dehra Dun, Rawalpindi, Cawnpore and elsewhere. The "lion head" kukris, however, were never issued for military service but have always been tourist items. They can be dated to some extent by the quality of the workmanship, especially the casting of the pommel; more recent specimens, to the extent they resemble any animal, look more like pig heads than lions
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Berk

[This message has been edited by Berkley (edited 10-11-2000).]
 
Berk, I want to express my sincerest appreciation for your reply to my query. It was not good news, but I wanted to know. (I did think the lion head looked somewhat like a pig.) Thanks again.

Now this might be a stupid question: I have khukuris (procured at a second-hand sale) made by Khukuri House in Nepal. This forum is about Gurkha House. Is there some kind of comparison that I should know about? I suppose Gurkha House is merely the name of the forum. I must say I like the products of Khukuri House, and have received a kind and enlightening e-mail reply to a query which I sent them, from the proprietor, name of Lalit Lama (or something like that).
 
Berk, I want to express my sincerest appreciation for your reply to my query. It was not good news, but I wanted to know. (I did think the lion head looked somewhat like a pig.) Thanks again.

Now this might be a stupid question: I have khukuris (procured at a second-hand sale) made by Khukuri House in Nepal. This forum is about Gurkha House. Is there some kind of comparison that I should know about? I suppose Gurkha House is merely the name of the forum. I must say I like the products of Khukuri House, and have received a kind and enlightening e-mail reply to a query which I sent them, from the proprietor, name of Lalit Lama (or something like that).
 
Khukuri House is where the khukuris for Gurkha House are made. Gurkha House is the name of Craig's company. Latit is the owner of Khukuri House. Craig or anyone else, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Bob
 
You hit it right on the money Bob.

Johan, If you go to the GH Website you can find some pics of Lalit and some of the Kami's at work in Nepal. There's another thread here someplace with a bunch of photos. I'll try to dig up the url and post it.

BTW Johan, welcome to the GH forum. Stop by often, the coffee pot is always on.

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Blackdog
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[This message has been edited by Blackdog (edited 10-12-2000).]
 
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