Yo!
Apologies for a longwinding post. Being brief is not one of my strong traits!
A few weeks ago when planning the jobs for this summer I realized I should get something long and sharp to clear some underbush at the missus' holiday place, an old house from the 1920s with partially overgrown surroundings. So I got a couple of cheap yet likely serviceable machetes (gifting one to my dad). Wilst in this acquisitional mode and giving in to my old love and fascination for knives, I stumbled across the khukuri and started doing a bit of research on them. Of course I'd heard about them before being a history buff, but getting one never really occured to me. I didn't know they where still made "properly" and though all there was to get was tourist crap. Then I came across the HI store and bladeforums.com....
Now, I am no stranger to the usual kind of knives. My pops gave me my first sharp one when I was about 4 1/2 years old and since then knives have been standard issue for me. I even got letters home from school about this once when my Victorinox folder dropped through a hole in my pockets and landed at the teachers feet. Dad also gave me all kinds of tools the next few years after that, like a small yet proper prybar, saw, hammer, axe and so forth so I'd get used to handling them at a young age. He's an excellent (but not professional) carpenter always working on some kind of project from renovating houses to carving wood, thus I grew up with the smell of sawdust, paint and wood. I'll never get anywhere near his skill with tools and wood, but I love using my shaky hands. I'm a city dweller and photographer/designer/IT-person these days and before that clerk at a hardware store and I just have to face the fact that Photoshop became my "craft". I never leave home without at least a small pocket knife of some kind though. In fact something sharp, duct tape and clamps are essential for photographers, one often need to improvise and rig lightning for instance (hmm, can I carry a khukuri openly under the pretense of being a tool of the trade like carpenters and other craftsmenn do?
). All my knives are users though, I can't afford display stuff, nor does it make any sense to me.
The khukri struck me as an interesting tool for camping, limbing trees (I got a whole little pine forrest that I'm slowly working on taking down to let more light in and a chainsaw isn't always practical for limbing in rough terrain) and similar. I'd been thinking to get a somewhat long and heavy variety of the traditional sami-knife which is a simple yet sturdy kind of knife traditionally used by the sami people of northern Norway/Finland/Sweden. They are normally made from old leaf springs just like the khukuris and the larger ones do chop quite well, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_knife). The Finnish "Pukko" (HI got a variety of it too) is a small relative of the sami knife. Obviously the khukuri appeared better suited for this purpose, also it was a great excuse to acquire one
The initial model I settled on was a "15 Ang Khola. I don't like nedlessly large/heavy blades. Comfort, handling, usability and controll are much more important and frankly, many of these "20-25 khukuris seems excessive unless you'e planing to do really heavy chopping or want them for display or the gadget factor. Well, at least that was my reasoning when ordering...
The AK Auntie sent me is a bone handle one with no cracks and no apparent shrinkage. Shipping was unusually fast for comming from the US (I live in Norway) but the package inevitably got stuck for 4-5 days in customs. Overall fit is good, high grade polish, blade looks and feels excellent although clearly hand forged. It came pretty sharp, but I gave it a little bit of work and brought forward an impressively sharp edge. We'll see if it chips on first heavy use. The handle is large enough, if only just. I think I have normal sized hands for an 185cm/6f "6 guy. I had to file, sand and polish the rear a bit to get rid of some rough edges on the brass. No biggie. I think it's gonna work ok in the field, if not I'll do something more serious with it. From lurking on this forum I sort of expected this. I can't measure the weight (it's around 1.5lbs), but the whole "system", khukuri, scabbard, karda/chakma is not too heavy for carrying in a belt and also easy to stick in the the backpack. The scabbard fits nicely (gave it a treathment with a beeswax based wax, same as I use on my boots), the karda and chakma is as expected, but the sharp one came with a bent tip. Some tinkering with a hammer and a grindstone sorted this out. Very sharp now. I like this khukuri/karda/chakma-concept!
However, I can already foresee an M43 in my future, not really because I think chiruwa style tang is the best thing since sliced bread, but the overall shape and weight distribution is intriguing, at least in theory plus a slightly larger handle than this 15" Ang Khola. The many praising posts on this forum don't help either. Hello again GAS (Gear Acquisitional Syndrome, common term on the many photo forums, also known as CAS and NAS - Canon/Nikon Aquisitional Syndrome). I was thinking of a "12 khukuri, but I don't think that is going to happen now after handling the "15.
I have to thank Auntie, the great craftsmen in Nepal (kamis, sarkis plus their helpers) and this forum for getting, making and guiding me to my first khukuri, it won't be the last, that's for sure. I'll be putting this first one to good use, no question about that!
Now, the customary shots. 1. Nice Trio! 2. Impressive 11mm spine! 3. My high-tech lab-like workshop (I live in a small appartment)
4. & 5. Markings.
Apologies for a longwinding post. Being brief is not one of my strong traits!
A few weeks ago when planning the jobs for this summer I realized I should get something long and sharp to clear some underbush at the missus' holiday place, an old house from the 1920s with partially overgrown surroundings. So I got a couple of cheap yet likely serviceable machetes (gifting one to my dad). Wilst in this acquisitional mode and giving in to my old love and fascination for knives, I stumbled across the khukuri and started doing a bit of research on them. Of course I'd heard about them before being a history buff, but getting one never really occured to me. I didn't know they where still made "properly" and though all there was to get was tourist crap. Then I came across the HI store and bladeforums.com....
Now, I am no stranger to the usual kind of knives. My pops gave me my first sharp one when I was about 4 1/2 years old and since then knives have been standard issue for me. I even got letters home from school about this once when my Victorinox folder dropped through a hole in my pockets and landed at the teachers feet. Dad also gave me all kinds of tools the next few years after that, like a small yet proper prybar, saw, hammer, axe and so forth so I'd get used to handling them at a young age. He's an excellent (but not professional) carpenter always working on some kind of project from renovating houses to carving wood, thus I grew up with the smell of sawdust, paint and wood. I'll never get anywhere near his skill with tools and wood, but I love using my shaky hands. I'm a city dweller and photographer/designer/IT-person these days and before that clerk at a hardware store and I just have to face the fact that Photoshop became my "craft". I never leave home without at least a small pocket knife of some kind though. In fact something sharp, duct tape and clamps are essential for photographers, one often need to improvise and rig lightning for instance (hmm, can I carry a khukuri openly under the pretense of being a tool of the trade like carpenters and other craftsmenn do?
). All my knives are users though, I can't afford display stuff, nor does it make any sense to me. The khukri struck me as an interesting tool for camping, limbing trees (I got a whole little pine forrest that I'm slowly working on taking down to let more light in and a chainsaw isn't always practical for limbing in rough terrain) and similar. I'd been thinking to get a somewhat long and heavy variety of the traditional sami-knife which is a simple yet sturdy kind of knife traditionally used by the sami people of northern Norway/Finland/Sweden. They are normally made from old leaf springs just like the khukuris and the larger ones do chop quite well, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_knife). The Finnish "Pukko" (HI got a variety of it too) is a small relative of the sami knife. Obviously the khukuri appeared better suited for this purpose, also it was a great excuse to acquire one
The initial model I settled on was a "15 Ang Khola. I don't like nedlessly large/heavy blades. Comfort, handling, usability and controll are much more important and frankly, many of these "20-25 khukuris seems excessive unless you'e planing to do really heavy chopping or want them for display or the gadget factor. Well, at least that was my reasoning when ordering...
The AK Auntie sent me is a bone handle one with no cracks and no apparent shrinkage. Shipping was unusually fast for comming from the US (I live in Norway) but the package inevitably got stuck for 4-5 days in customs. Overall fit is good, high grade polish, blade looks and feels excellent although clearly hand forged. It came pretty sharp, but I gave it a little bit of work and brought forward an impressively sharp edge. We'll see if it chips on first heavy use. The handle is large enough, if only just. I think I have normal sized hands for an 185cm/6f "6 guy. I had to file, sand and polish the rear a bit to get rid of some rough edges on the brass. No biggie. I think it's gonna work ok in the field, if not I'll do something more serious with it. From lurking on this forum I sort of expected this. I can't measure the weight (it's around 1.5lbs), but the whole "system", khukuri, scabbard, karda/chakma is not too heavy for carrying in a belt and also easy to stick in the the backpack. The scabbard fits nicely (gave it a treathment with a beeswax based wax, same as I use on my boots), the karda and chakma is as expected, but the sharp one came with a bent tip. Some tinkering with a hammer and a grindstone sorted this out. Very sharp now. I like this khukuri/karda/chakma-concept!
However, I can already foresee an M43 in my future, not really because I think chiruwa style tang is the best thing since sliced bread, but the overall shape and weight distribution is intriguing, at least in theory plus a slightly larger handle than this 15" Ang Khola. The many praising posts on this forum don't help either. Hello again GAS (Gear Acquisitional Syndrome, common term on the many photo forums, also known as CAS and NAS - Canon/Nikon Aquisitional Syndrome)
. I was thinking of a "12 khukuri, but I don't think that is going to happen now after handling the "15.I have to thank Auntie, the great craftsmen in Nepal (kamis, sarkis plus their helpers) and this forum for getting, making and guiding me to my first khukuri, it won't be the last, that's for sure. I'll be putting this first one to good use, no question about that!
Now, the customary shots. 1. Nice Trio! 2. Impressive 11mm spine! 3. My high-tech lab-like workshop (I live in a small appartment)
4. & 5. Markings.
It's a craft it takes decades to master though. I'm going to make some studio type product glam shots of this khukuri once I get around to it, preferably before I force a patina on it. Always interesting to photograph and light shiny objects, you learn something new with every new object, they all behave and reflect differently and at times it is incredibly challenging - like threading a needle with boxing glowes. 
. So from your situation in Oslo if you do get a Kukri for $200 it better be a good one. 