When the Jim's away, the Craig will play, or, Two Durbas beat a full house

C

Cuttin' Craig

Joined
Jun 9, 2001
Messages
346
Alas where is the cavedweller when I really have some salt for his wounds? I'm certain the following would cause him to wring his hands in anguish and type angrily. Oh Well.........:p

Guys, have you ever had one of those rare instances where you actually see the Mailman get out of the truck with the suspicious long brown box. That holy grail of home delivery happened to me today!

Allow me to regress, I recently received a BGRS from Uncle. Durba did a superb job. fit and finish great, scary sharp, and a workhorse. Also, Walosi, the handle ( dark with almost black grain in contrast...Saatisal??) is un-be-friggin-leavable. On my third coat of the patent pending gunstock finish and it looks better than my 40 coat Malla. Yvsa is right about how accurate the BGRS is in swings. I was able to hit the previous cut on several occasions on my initial testing. It also makes a nice mate to my GRS also by Durba.

Ahh, now back to todays happenings, What the kindly Mailman delivered was my Dui Chirra Chitlangi and village model. Merry Crimmus to me! IMHO the Chitlangi is the Chit! I haven't run it through it's paces yet, but what a beautiful piece. The Chainpurri handle is really something that needs to be felt to be believed. 21 1/2 " long, 26 oz. 1 3/4" drop, and the blade is 1 1/2 at it's widest. 3/8" at the spine. Where is Jim, I've got the salt ready! Yep, a Durba.:cool:

The karda and chakma are very nicely done with chos and some checkering. The scabbard isn't the normal flat sided variety. The sides come out to a point in cross section, which forms a ridge down the side. Even the Chape is creased in this fashion. Overall Very, Very Cool Rig. It is a lot-o-knife for the money.

I'll let ya'll know how the Chitlangi and the villager perform when I get a few minutes to test 'em. I don't know, though, 3 Khuks in a week set a dangerous precedent!

-Craig
 
Wednesday I recived my second Kumar Karda from Uncle Bill.:) It's a Durba, just like the last one. Now I have 3 Durba's hehe he he:D:p
 
Whoa, slow down wildman! If you look closely at the end of the third paragraph of my original post you'll see a reference to a GRS by Durba as well, which brings my total ( insert adding machine noise here!) to um....3! That is 1) BGRS 2) GRS, and 3) Chitlangi! hehehehehe :D :p ;)

Sorry for the title to be misleading, but I meant to imply that I'd received 2 Durbas in about a weeks time while, of course, Jim's on Vacation. My current total is three. I dunno, Uncle, 3 of a kind to 3 of a kind, doesn't sound like either is a losing hand!

-Craig
 
Originally posted by Cuttin' Craig
Whoa, slow down wildman! If you look closely at the end of the third paragraph of my original post you'll see a reference to a GRS by Durba as well, which brings my total ( insert adding machine noise here!) to um....3! That is 1) BGRS 2) GRS, and 3)Chitlangi! hehehehehe :D :p ;)

-Craig
Click to expand...

I would like to see a Chitlangi by Durba.:)
It would be interesting to see a Chitlangi made by each of the kamis. Mine is the 1st one done by J&P at BirGhorka and since it was one they wanted to show what they could do on it is very nice, very nice indeed!!!!!!!:D

It's kinda interesting to me with almost everyone having their favorite kami. Me? I am just satisfied to get a good khukuri and they're all good. I have to admit that Bura and Sanu usually do a little better, sometimes more than a little better, on performance but I haven't returned a khukuri on looks or performance or anything else as yet.
Actually I guess I like the variety in order to be able to compare. Mostly the kamis all seem pretty equal to me except on appearance and I think that comes from practice and mindset.
Bura could possibly get a little lazy if it weren't for Sanu to kinda push him along.
Usually shop hands do only what's needed to get the job out huh Bro?:)

Of course there's a lot more to it than the above approaches such as turning Sanu loose on a project or letting him design what *he* wants to do.
That always changes a shop hand's perspective, at least it always did for me.:)
 
Short cuts and hurry will take the best shop hand's work down a notch -- or several -- and Kesar is the only guy in the shop who has learned better. They (we) all know better but some like myself (and I strongly suspect several others here) have not yet learned. It's looking like I never will. The problem is if the short cut works it's like hitting the jackpot and presents a hell of a lure.
 
Yes, Uncle, getting away with a shortcut in production is a sure fire way to break discipline. I wrestle with that tempation quite a bit myself, but I have to temper my impatience with the grim fact that rarely do these "bets" pay off and I'll have to redo whatever I was trying to shortcut. The deck is always stacked in Murphy's favor.

Yvsa: If you're interested I'll take some conventional pix and send them to you of the Durba Chitlangi. ( Don't have the hardware for taking digital pix). To turn a hyper-critical eye to the Chitlangi the only flaws are very very minor and cosmetic. The Sword of Shiva is tails toward the Cho on one side and the cross hatching on the bolster put grooves in the brass where it meets the wood. That's about it. Incidently this was on the same side. This really doesn't detract from it's appearance or function. It is a very lively and graceful blade.

As to Kami preference, I'm fairly Durba heavy in my small collection, but look forward to comparing the different finesse levels of the other kamis as opportunity permits.

BTW how similar are the handling characteristics of the Small GS to the Chitlangi? (Asking because the smaller GS is high on my list )

Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

-Craig
 
I've found that shortcuts always take at least twice the time of doing the job right in the first place. Hurry up -- if it works at all -- generally takes quality down anywhere from 10 to 50 percent -- once in awhile more.

We go 11 months without a tang failure and then get anywhere from 2 to 4 around Dasein. Everybody knows why. But, this year we were down to only one or two which is the best year we've had to date.

Neither route is worth it but most of us still do it. I think it is just human nature.
 
Craig - The handling characteristics of the small GS and Chitlangi are surprisingly similar, for two disimilar knives. Both are "natural" in the hand, light for their size, to the extent that they develop full speed very early-on in a stroke, and accelerate beyond that very easily with a wrist snap at the end of the stroke. It is easy to "drop switch" from forward to reverse grip, and return with both knives - moreso than with any of the others. The difference in balance and handling, for over three inches difference in length, is hardly noticeable except for the additional cutting power of the Chitlangi. With both knives, the location of the sweet spot is instinctively felt in the hand. After you've held the knives for a few minutes, it is just "there", right where it should be, and the only surprise is when you realize this sneaked up on you :)
 
Bro you post just made me realize something. When I got the 1st Chitlangi I mentioned that the sweet spot was harder for me to hit with and I kept hitting behind it unless really focused. You're right it did finally *sneak up* on me.
Now I know what my problem was:)
It's because the Chitlangi feels like a shorter khukuri because of its light weight in the hand. I kept originally hitting where the sweet spot would be on a shorter blade!!!!!
I'll be dayumed!!!!!:D
 
Thanks for the feedback, Wal! I thought they may be similar, but I wanted to hear the voice(s) of experience. I thought the Small GS would handle in much the same way and be a little more totable length for field use. Besides the Chitlangi is too darn purdy to dig up potatoes with ! I'll have to watch and see how the Chitlangi behaves in testing (Haven't been able to take her to the dance yet:( ) Hopefully soon-- Back to Chicago (Work) tomorrow. I'll report my $.02 evaluation.

-Craig
 
..are 'tater diggers!!! Save that for a villager.
I was too lazy to do this before, but had to get up to eat - Add this to the comparison. GS - 1 lb., 1 oz. and 18". Chitlangi - 1 lb., 3.5 oz., and 21 3/4".
 
I do have a villager for that, now. Wow, yeah they are pretty close. looking at the specs on your Chitlangi made me double check mine. Mine is about 6 1/2 oz. heavier than yours, 1 lb. 10 oz. so I'm certain the small GS would feel even lighter by comparison. The fullers are the same pattern as the AKs

I'm certain that the only way I'll ever be satisfied with the answer to this question is to have a small GS in one hand and my Chitlangi in the other............;) :D :D :D

Sounds like a plan to me!

Thanks, Wal, YOU DA MAN!

-Craig
 
..for two Durbas, but I suppose it has to be considered a new blade around the shop, and not that many of them to boot. Bro, what is the weight of your original? Seems Jag and Prem might be the instructors on this blade style, and we're looking at a learning curve.....
 
Originally posted by Walosi
.. Bro, what is the weight of your original? Seems Jag and Prem might be the instructors on this blade style, and we're looking at a learning curve.....
Click to expand...

Bro mine is 1 pound 9 ounces, closer to Craig's. Yours must be really lightning fast!!!!!!
 
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