YCS Components and one I have a question over

Kohai999

Kohai999

Second Degree Cutter
Joined
Jul 15, 2003
Messages
12,554
Hi all,

Used to frequent this SF back in the day when Uncle Bill was still with us. Miss our chats a lot, he was a great guy!

Have gotten and kept a few over the years, a sweet Kothimoda, WWII, nice Villager, this mystery one(mystery just 'cause I can't remember what it is) and the "Grail" for many of us, the YCS....got it from a fellow Forumite in 2005

Now the Khukuri itself is packed away where I can't get to it, but I thought you would all appreciate seeing the rest of the package, if not, than please accept my humble apologies....(and if you know what the wood is, please let me know, the coloring is pretty darned close to the photos)
2ikbqd5.jpg

30tie11.jpg

111melj.jpg

66vggi.jpg


Please tell me which model this one is and who made it?
2hhd5w1.jpg

5b45fp.jpg


Thanks much in advance, and I do hope you like the pics! Thanks to all of the other H.I. enthusiasts who have posted their YCS models as well!

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Nice knives, STeven. The wood on the YCS pieces looks like satisal to me. (Edit: Gehazi might be right on the chandan wood.)

I don't think the other khuk is made by H.I. Where did you get it?
 
philllll said:
Nice knives, STeven. The wood on the YCS pieces looks like satisal to me. (Edit: Gehazi might be right on the chandan wood.)

I don't think the other khuk is made by H.I. Where did you get it?
Click to expand...

I got it from Uncle Bill.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Kohai999 said:
I got it from Uncle Bill.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
Click to expand...


Might be one from the village Kamis that Pala hand picked in Nepal. Sometimes he will buy knives from other shops around there that he thinks are up to HI quality standards. I have one from Yangdu that is similar, from the Dharan region, although it isn't marked like that one.
 
philllll said:
Might be one from the village Kamis that Pala hand picked in Nepal. Sometimes he will buy knives from other shops around there that he thinks are up to HI quality standards. I have one from Yangdu that is similar, from the Dharan region, although it isn't marked like that one.
Click to expand...

It's a beast, almost 1/2" at the spine, 10 1/8" long blade and only weighs 1 lb, 5 oz.

I probably have 8 khuks, got one at a gun show that I sent pics of to Uncle Bill and he said it was made for tourists, but still a nice one, and one of the Atlanta Cutlery models that came from Nepal, not the Windlass models....never messed with any from anywhere else, but had the fever back in the day, and if it was up for grabs on the DOTD, I purchased it....couldn't find any paperwork on this one.
Gehazi said:
pretty sure that ycs is chandan wood with bone inlay
Click to expand...

Sorry, I should have been clear....the inlays are buffalo horn and bone, just not sure what the wood is, thanks!

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Oh wow it doesn't look that big in the photos! The shape looks a lot like a BAS, although it sounds like it's bigger than a typical BAS.
 
Kohai999 said:
...
Please tell me which model this one is and who made it?
2hhd5w1.jpg

5b45fp.jpg
...
Click to expand...

That's evidently an early Shop 2 khukuri, Serial Number 26, made by somebody at Shop 2, and initalled by KGR ("whoever he was"), according to this interesting story from Berkley:


Berkley said:
Uncle Bill asked the kamis to put serial numbers and kami initials on the early Shop 2 khukuris. Here is the result, marked "SN1 Made KGR". Cool, huh? Only two problems. KGR,whoever he was, didn't make it. He was the only one in the shop who could write in the Roman alphabet, so his initials were on all the khukuris. And SN1 actually arrived in the second or third shipment; the concept of sequential serial numbers does not translate well to the process of khukuri-making as practiced in a small shop. The attempt didn't last long before it was abandoned, and the extra effort required went into perfecting the quality of finish for which BirGorkha is now known.
15o87fd.jpg
Click to expand...
 
It looks to me like Satisaal, as Chandan usually is more red. But this could be dark chandan or the pic is too dark to tell the difference.
The khukuri is interesting. It is early.It is serial #26 at a transition time when the khukuri were serialised and marked with western script.
At first the khukuri were not marked and they were primarily sold thru ad's in magazines.
Then there was a time where they were only marked "Made in Nepal" to satisfy customs.
Then the "made in Nepal" was dropped and they were serialized.
Then the western script was added (this is where your khukuri fits in)
Then the serialsation was dropped along with the western script in favor of devangari.
The devangari script along with the other marks were adopted about 2002, so your khukuri was probably sold in the early to mid 1990's.
In 2005 the UB mark was added in honor of Uncle.
 
philllll said:
Oh wow it doesn't look that big in the photos! The shape looks a lot like a BAS, although it sounds like it's bigger than a typical BAS.
Click to expand...

The scabbard looks like the BAS, and if it is this model, I picked it up back in 1998, so the dimensions could have been a little different?

Thanks again!

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Karda said:
It looks to me like Satisaal, as Chandan usually is more red. But this could be dark chandan or the pic is too dark to tell the difference.

The devangari script along with the other marks were adopted about 2002, so your khukuri was probably sold in the early to mid 1990's.
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Hey Al,

It is a very red wood, not brown, so I just cannot be sure.

You are correct about the dating, as I wrote above. What you guys are telling me indicates that this is the first H.I. Khukuri that I purchased....pretty cool that it is almost 20 years old!

Because Uncle Bill was so cool, I had sent about 3 of the models that I purchased to different Forumites that were uniformed of the differences between H.I. and other companies making products not as authentic or well made, so I got some pieces jumbled together, and couldn't figure out what was what. One of these days, I'll pull all of them out for a photo session and post them up here.

Interestingly enough, the one that I never fell in love with was an 18" Ang Khola....it was just too heavy and forward balanced for me....that one I happily gave away, but there is a Villager I picked up in the light sandalwood color that I vastly regret sending out....but like I said, Bill was so cool, it was worth it. I ordered a Bilton once, and he sent me a Kagas Katne at no charge because he wasn't happy with the Bilton I ordered. I tried to pay for the second one, and he sent me back my check.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
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News flash about KGR: he was the son of Sgt. Karka, and he didn't make any of the knives.

When Pala was getting BirGorkha on the air he hired Sgt. Karka -- a 30 year vet in the Nepal Army who knows where to get things and how to get things done. Sgt. Karka got a 6 month leave to help us. His kids helped, too. Oldest boy was just entering college and we helped him with books and tuition. He's the one who "signed" all the khukuris. --Bill Martino, 01-23-2002
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/186849-Anybody-know-what-this-writing-is?p=1530118#post1530118

Mentioned in the archives was a "Big BAS" model that had Serial Number 30 and was made in 1999:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/125489-Best-buys-from-shop-2-pix?p=977300#post977300
 
Steve Tall said:
Mentioned in the archives was a "Big BAS" model that had Serial Number 30 and was made in 1999:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/125489-Best-buys-from-shop-2-pix?p=977300#post977300
Click to expand...

Alright, cool!!!

I guess I got a Big BAS model before they were calling them that.....actually Big BAS was 16" OAL, standard BAS is 15", this one is 15 1/2" OAL, probably sort of a transitional variant....I know I purchased it as a BAS, but it seemed a little.....bigger?

Thanks so much for the help!

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
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Timeline sounds right. Shop 2 started up sometime around '98-99. I had a 20" sirupati with similar markings.

Another indicator is the scrolled buttcap. Once they got BirGorkha up and running they went to the plain buttcaps, though they made a few with hand engraved, thicker brass pieces like on the Uncle Bill memorial Salyans.
 
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