Is there a website listing of the variety of woods used for the grips of these knives? i have found them to be a wide variety and quite nice. If this has been posted before just link me to it ! share any knowledge you might have -- the satisal is the reddish? or is it all satisal varieties? ( completely ignorant of woods and grains, or what is what.) but i think they are all wonderful!
Satisal (sometimes spelled satisaal) is the reddish brown wood. A variety of rosewood. Technical name: Dalbergia Latifolia. See, for example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalbergia_latifolia
Neem Wood (or at least parts of the tree) is used in some traditional medicine. In my (limited) experience, khukuri handles made of neem wood are a kind of dull greyish color, not very impressive, but if you take them up to a high polish by sanding (say, to 2000 grit or higher), a beautiful grain and color appears. Well worth the effort. Technical name: Azadirachta indica. See, for example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azadirachta_indica
Dhar wood is also used for HI knife handles (though I haven't seen much of it lately). I've been unable to find any info about this kind of wood. The name might be a shortening of "Dharma" but web searches on that string or even "Dharma wood" produce million of hits, most of which have nothing to do with our subject.
Some of the older HI khukuris had handles done in red chandan wood, which is very beautiful, a kind of dark reddish brown with a fine grain that allows intricate carving. I don't think this has been used by HI in recent years, either because it is too costly or of limited availability due to being an endangererd species. Chandan is a kind of sandalwood. See, for example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandalwood This link shows a photo of some beautiful chess pieces carved in red chandan. As to the cost, the same article makes this point:
"Sandalwood is expensive enough that, unlike most trees, it is harvested by removing the entire tree instead of sawing them down at the trunk close to ground level. This way, wood from the stump and root can also be used."
The closest thing to the red chandan handles today would be satisal, which is quite beautiful in its own right.
-- Dave
