Your first Khuk?

J

Jack M

Joined
Feb 2, 2000
Messages
240
What was everybody's first exposure to Khukuris? About 20 years ago (ACK, I'm getting old!), I picked up one of those cheepo Indian Army models at a gun show, for about $15, it was a pretty good camp chopper. The blade chipped really easily, but for the money I liked the thing. Obviously, it did not compare to the real deal, but I got quite a bit of use of it.
 
First one, hmmmmm......
The closest would be the one I pounded out about 40 years or so ago. A real one wasn't to be had, not even that junk stuff. So to the forge I went. With only a few (not very good) pictures out of a National Geographic, I think, magazine.
I remember that I tempered it throughout. Looking back on it I'd say that I came fairly close for shape. It looked like the first batch of villagers, except that I used a "Flatter" on the blade so that I didn't grind much for a flat-ground profile. It was about the size of a BAS. I made it out of an axel from a '39 Desoto.
Dan
 
My first khukuri was brought at a local fair when I was very young. It was cheap tourist junk and suffered damage quickly.

Will
 
First khukuri I saw was 35 years ago when I was a wee lad of almost 5 years. Happened to see an episode of the Avengers where these were used by the bad guys and liked sharp objects ever since.

Harry
smile.gif
 
It was 1972, I was living on the Costa del Sol(Torremolinos,Spain) back then. My parents owned a night club. We had a guy come by every week to sharpen the cooks knives.

He used his motor cycle to do this. Took the chain off and attched a belt from the stone wheel bolted unto the back of the bike. The night club was in the basement of a rather large hotel.

I was there to get a hunting knife sharpened too. One of the guests of the hotel showed up with a Khukuri. He didn't speak a word of either English or Spanish so I couldn't find out where he got it or what it was.

But I never forgot it! That image is still burned into my mind of that beautifully shaped knife. I have loved khukuri's since then, even though I didn't know what it was.

And you know what? Now that I know, I love them even more! And I always will! Some day I'll go there and see the country and meet the people. I feel it.


Vince

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Stay sharp and be Safe!
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That which does not kill us only makes us stronger.
F.W. Nietzche

[This message has been edited by V.Oller (edited 04-11-2000).]
 
I picked my first khukuri up from a street vendor in Kathmandu in 1979. It was comparable to Bill's village khukuris. It was a good honest knife.

I gave it to my Aikido sensei a few years after I returned to the states. I kept my eye out for a decent replacement for the next 15 years. I did not find one until I stumbled upon the HI website.
 
Bill,
No, I'm sorry to say. By the time I came back from the Fleet, almost everything I owned prior to the Service had vanished.

I don't know how tough it was, since I didn't use it for a prybar, chop up cars or other stuff like that. But it was hell on dried Sunflower stalks, vines and Silver Maples. It dug up weeds good as well. Using the flat of the blade on the snout changed the mind of a boar about to put the tusks to me one time.
Dan
 
The 1st time I know about Khukuri was about 30 yrs ago - couple of Nepalis always came to my home town - selling traditional handicraft, beads & stones - among those displayed items for sales were medium size Khukuris (I think 15" OAL) - but ... I am penniless ...

About 1 1/2 year ago I came across with "Kukri" in CS website. I started searching for it at Kuala Lumpur - I got one from an antique shop - it was an Indian made - chipping!

Then suddenly I came across with Khukuri ... Himalayan Imports ... Uncle Bill ... when I made a search thru Yahoo! After few emails to & fro ... finally I received my 1st real Khukuri! It is an AK 15" ... what a great knife!

NEPAL HO!


[This message has been edited by mohd (edited 04-12-2000).]
 
The first i saw was at age 10, about 30 years ago. We were playing in the street when a boy of about 12 years, who was a friend of a friend showed up and told us to look at what his father brought to him from a working trip to nepal. It was a big, well made khukuri, very impressive for boys of this age.

Well, i always thought of buying one, but i never saw anything close to the quality this first khuk had. Most of the stuff you can see here in Germany is the usual indian junk. So after i got started with forging knives some years ago, i decided to give it a try and made one from a Mercedes truck leaf spring, brass and courbaril wood. Here it is:

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=575309&a=4202329&p=19340882

Yeah, i know, no cho and a little long, but it works. Overall length is about 60 cm, blade thickness 8 mm.

Achim

[This message has been edited by AchimW (edited 04-12-2000).]
 
Overall length is about 60 cm, blade thickness 8 mm.
Click to expand...

Hi Achim,

Whow, that's a big one! (it's still some 6 inches shorter than the 30" monsters though ;o)

It's quite heavily curved (or, actually, "bend"). Could you please describe it's handling characteristics? Where is the sweet spot of the blade for chopping (is it narrow?)?

Best wishes,
kai
 
A never issued(or even sharpened) Indian Army issue. That's what I was told anyway. It would qualify as the cheap tourist junk that is turned out by the thousand from India. It 's way too soft and has a cheap scabbard that bleeds bootblack anytime it gets wet.
Always a pleasure Uncle Bill
Sutcliffe
 
I had seen the "military issue kukris" advertised for years but, gratefully, never succumbed to the temptation to order one. My first khukuri-shaped tool was a Cold Steel LTC model. The LTC is nice enough for what it is, but it didn't really hook me on the genre.

My first real khukuri came a short while after discovering this forum about a year ago. It was one of the first village models that Bill offered. That was all it took -- it was only the first of many! Since then, I traded the LTC & gave that village model to a close friend.

An 18" WWII remains my favorite & I'm currently looking forward to receiving a 30" King Kobra. I know it won't be a workhorse like my AK & WWII, but it should be just the ticket when I don't really want my neighbors at camp to hang around uninvited.
wink.gif


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Cheers,

--+Brian+--

He who finishes with the most toys wins.
 
My first was the same type of cheap kukri (I refuse to call it a khukuri) that Sucliffe had. I bought it a couple of years ago from U.S. Calvary.

Bob
 
My dad ordered what turned out to be an Indian piece of junk.

My first real one, took me a while to recall - that's because I gave it away. A 15" HI AK blem. When Swiss Colony didn't arrive in time for christmas the same guy got a second 15" AK.
 
Well, my story isn't nearly as cool as the ones above. The first I heard of khukuri knives was from a friend in elementary school whose family had traveled all over the world on their sailboat. They traveled to Brunei(sp), and somehow (memory faded)were escorted through the jungle by Gorkhas, who used the knives for everything. I'll never forget him talking about the "giant curved knives that could chop off your head in one swipe!". Then 20 some odd years later I discovered HI and got the 20" AK as my first knife--still my favorite in the long run!

Rob
 
A college friend of my father's was a major in the Gurkhas in WW2. After the War he became a schoolteacher, & I was sent to the school he taught at.

His khuk hung on the wall of his study, and whenever I was in there, I couldn't help gazing at this thing... According to my father, he had a very distinguished war record and saw a lot of action.

He spent all the school holidays in Nepal with his army buddies and their families. After he retired from teaching, he went back to live in Nepal, in the village where his men came from; last I heard, he was still there. He always said that Gorkhas were the bravest, most loyal and most honorable people he'd ever met, and he was proud that so many of his comrades-in-arms called him their friend. He himself was one of the finest human beings I've ever had the privilege of knowing; if he says the Gorkhas are OK, they're OK.

I figure he earned his khukuri. Anyway, ever since then I've had a soft spot for the bent knife and the people who make them.
 
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