What makes it a "hanshee?"

ahh.....brain's starting to work again....I do remember talking to Bill about the hanshee a while back. IIRC, he echoed what was said above - that is, that there are several terms we have "applied" to khukuris, whereas in Nepal it's big, small, old, new style, etc. Sometimes, villages can create their own style. Hanshee apparently had a more generic meaning covering several different ideas.

When I posted earlier, I saw that Yangdu was browsing this thread - perhaps we could ellicit a post from her? She might know....


I also remember Bill talking about the khukuri patterns that were hung on the walls in the shop and how they had to be labelled in english, because our names for the knives didn't mean anything to them. They are all khukuris (except for swords, etc.) - just some bigger, smaller, curvy, straight, and so on.


I hope I haven't :footinmou...
 
Svashtar said:
As for the hanshee, the one I really want that I have only seen a few of is the "hybrid hanshee." It definitely has the curve shown in the pictures. There were a couple sold during the President's Day sales that I missed that were very nice. Thomas (Linton) got one and wrote about it. I bought a Manjushree that day instead, so was tapped out anyway.
Click to expand...

I believe that I got one of them, Norm. The reason I pounced on it was because it was so unusual compared to the other models; I'm no expert, but it looked more like what I expected a hanshee to look like than the hanshee did. I may be missing the point. :)

hybrid.jpg


Pictured left to right: 20" sirupate, 16.5" ang khola, hanshee hybrid. I tried to line up the handles more or less parallel to one another to show the difference in sweep. Note the more gradual arc and thinner waist than the other two. It's that shape that got me. The handle doesn't look too curved in the picture, or even in person, but when it sits in the hand the more forward curve is even more pronounced.

It balances very well in the hand and is very quick. The tip doesn't drag it forward like you'd think. It worked wonders on beer cans and passed the Yvsa test which is the extent of what I've put it through - between my distrust of partial tangs and the scarcity of the model, I'm reluctant to put it to work. This is one that I do not want to break.
 
Hanshee apparently had a more generic meaning covering several different ideas.
Daniel Koster

I can easily see this to be the case.

You know how species of tree are sometimes mixed up? Misnamed, misgrouped, unbrellaed?

I think there are larger versions of the 'hanshee' that do not fit the idea of a 'womans blade'.

This thread has been great. I've my Hanshee on the desk.


munk
 
Satori said:
I believe that I got one of them, Norm. The reason I pounced on it was because it was so unusual compared to the other models; I'm no expert, but it looked more like what I expected a hanshee to look like than the hanshee did. I may be missing the point. :)

hybrid.jpg


Pictured left to right: 20" sirupate, 16.5" ang khola, hanshee hybrid. I tried to line up the handles more or less parallel to one another to show the difference in sweep. Note the more gradual arc and thinner waist than the other two. It's that shape that got me. The handle doesn't look too curved in the picture, or even in person, but when it sits in the hand the more forward curve is even more pronounced.

It balances very well in the hand and is very quick. The tip doesn't drag it forward like you'd think. It worked wonders on beer cans and passed the Yvsa test which is the extent of what I've put it through - between my distrust of partial tangs and the scarcity of the model, I'm reluctant to put it to work. This is one that I do not want to break.
Click to expand...

Satori, very nice! That wood really leaps out at you. Traditional bolster, and the handle looks just like that on a Dui chirra or Junge that come sans buttcap. I would take it easy on that one myself. I have my share of fairly hard to get khuks, so should be content (rather than a khuk obsessed fanatic!), but that is one model I wish I had been able to snag. It's only been 18 months though, so maybe I'll get lucky on one of these in the future!

Regards,

Norm
 
Here is a pic of my Rod Allen Hanshee as she appears today.
The curve is continuous, the blade narrow with a wide fuller near the top of the blade.
(YCS and kerambit also shown)
 
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