What's Your Ugly Duckling Khuk?

J

Josh Feltman

Joined
Feb 12, 2001
Messages
4,501
I have a chiruwa WWII that is pretty beat up. The bolster was loose, and my attempts to fix it made it very ugly. The handle slabs aren't the prettiest either. In addition, it always gets weird mottlings when I put a patina on the blade. That said, it's a great khukuri. Murali really put some skill into its construction. It's well balanced, and takes and holds a very keen edge. A friend was over last night, and he picked up my WWII to look at it. I found myself thinking, "why did he have to pick up that khukuri when I have others that look much nicer?" I made some comment about it being pretty beat up, and then I noticed that he was really admiring the khuk with a big smile on his face. As he slid it back into the scabbard, he said simply, "Utility duty." It's funny because I do find myself using the WWII for tasks that I wouldn't normally perform with my other khukuris.

So, what's your ugly duckling khukuri, and do you find that you use it more because it's ugly and you worry less about damaging it?
--Josh
 
While it hardly deserves to be mentioned in the same thread, my REALLY ugly khukuri is a "genuine" "military kukri" I bought in 1977 (narrow arrow above "KED" above "1975" above small "INDIA").

One wood handle scale is loose despite many efforts, so it "clicks" each time the knife is swung. Fold marked above crude "cow hoof" cho. 17" OA x 5 mm w/ convex edge that was SO DULL. It boldly goes where no better khukuri has gone before (at least in my hand). Ugleeeeeeeeeee.
 
..yeah yeah..my child was honor student of the millenium at Blue Balls Elementary...

I have a 2O" Villager by Sher. This was procurred during the great Villager craze of a year ago. Villager Villager Villager..I'm sure the chant will reappear shortly.

The living Sht has been beat out of this one. The arrival out of package showed a blade with numerous pockets and depressions. The handle was good wood, though unfinished, naturally. After a couple too many flat sided blows the handle split. With good advice from HI forumites I put in a brass pin. One side of the pin was almost a half moon; I saw then if a guy knew what he was doing a pin could actually be a work of art- like some of Kumar's almost perfectly round pin faces.

I once used a hammer to pound the Khuk through a small stump. This left craters on the top strap. There was a plan to grind this flat, almost like a Baby Ganga Ram I have, but this never happened. I use wood as a hammer now, but this makes special marks too.

The edge is not as durable as some of the better finished khuks, and Bill once said it was possible the Villagers had Toyota spring metal instead of nobler birth like the Mercedes truck. I'm glade
She's flexible, though; She needs to be.

I like this Khuk. I once left it embedded in a stump, 6 miles up the fireroad. The sheath was on the floor of the Pick-Up and fooled me into thinking the blade was along too. The Sun was setting, but you can bet I hauled ass back there to get it. There She was; dull gleam in the wood.

She's out in Beater Truck now. Its going to get way below zero tonight and the next few days. But she'll be waiting and ready to work next time I reach for her.

Actually, the two of them, Beater Truck and Beater Khukuri, are friends. They're both in the wood business. I paid 500 for the truck and 125 for the khuk. The truck needed 500 more just to get started; the Khuk never quit.


munk
 
my ugly dhukling?

:eek:


Go ahead, fellas and try to beat this one...

uglydhuk.jpg

That's not glare on the blade either...it's covered in sap!
 
Wrap the handle with duct tape, and she's better looking than my Villager. Pen, the blade looks good!!

What did you do to the handle?






munk
 
HAHAHAHAHA
Sorry Bruise that REALLY made me laugh!

Probably my WW2, but thats only because it hasn't arrived yet, the waiting is killing me!!!
 
If this one is an ugly duckling I don't know what one is. I like this knife. Has a sort of seax shape to it but it's not really a seax. Have called it the oooopppsseax. Well here's a link to a pix:
oooopppsseax
Well there it is. ;)
 
I remember that knife. No one knew what to call it.

How do I post a pict here of my villager? I have a digital dvd camera.




munk
 
Mine is a 20" Sirupati out of the very early shop 2.

Anybody remember the ones marked "Made By K.G.F. S.N. 64"

The kamis had not yet learned to use the buffing wheels. Still had the scroll embossed buttcap, and the sword of shiva was underbuffed one place and overbuffed two inches farther. They hadn't figured out how to polish the horn handles either.

Been behind the truck seat all these years. Brought it in and now it seems to be begging for a little attention. Got dropped on the tip and I guess I ought to redo the tip and edge.

Oh, yeah. The horn is intact without cracks, but has shrunk away from the boster a bit. Superglue gel fix.

This is one sirupati that retains the convex edge. Not pretty, but would probably outcut an 18" WWII. For practical purposes it's unbreakable without mechanical devices, i.e. with just your hands.
 
:barf:

Okay Bruise...you owe me a keyboard!

;)
 
Yep...Bone...a few heavy thwacks did it in... :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top