Whistlinbill's Collection #6: Khukuri

whistlinbill · 15th February 2012, 12:16 AM

Well, the "religious rituals" comment was from Ben Lowe, who was head of
pocket knife production for Joseph Rodgers in 1971, when I spent a fairish amount in Sheffield. He had worked at Joseph Rodgers during World War II.
I feel that Ben didn't know much about Hindu religious rituals (he was an old-time Yorkshireman, through and through) but that was likely the excuse that the Rodgers management had used for not getting the contract.

The drawing you show is, I believe, the same one we sent out with the kukris
we bought off Windlass; there was also a smaller kukri, that had a horn handle
and, they said was worn mostly by officers and on guard duty (in the Gurkha regiments in the Indian Army) That kukri is considerably lighter than the
one in this drawing.) The drawing is an exact copy of the original drawing, which was lent to us by Windlass. We also included a copy of the Indian
Govt. specs that Windlass had lent us.

And, incidentally, the steel used in the Mk 3 is a British spec--and it's the same steel used for railroad rails. Sudhir Windlass said that (a number of years ago) for kukri steel, they would buy railroad rails and send them to be rolled out in a rolling mill down in the Punjab.

Regarding the styles made during World War II, by the time I had gotten
to Dehra Dun, Mr. Windlass had cleaned out the offices of all the old paperwork. I would feel sure that whatever he made at that time would
be the regular military spec. He was in business as a military contractor.
As an aside, Mr. Windlass told me that he had been to Dharan many times, but never to Kathmandu, which would cause me to believe that he was delivering kukris to the Gurkhas in Dharan. I wish I'd have asked him.

The Mk 3 is issue to the Gurkha regiments in the Indian Army. We bought them from Windlass, and they were a military contract overrun. Sometimes
I think the overrun was a little bigger than the contract! We always thought
the Mk 3's we got from Windlass were "rough", but Windlass said the Indian
Govt. wanted to pay less and wanted less finish. The troops were expected
to clean 'em up.

The Dushera kukri we had was also a military one; it was used for the
Dushera festival, when the strongest guy in the regiment has to cut the
head off a buffalo with one stroke. If it doesn't work, the regiment will
have bad luck for a year (and he'll probably have KP for the same period!)

Windlass made very few of these of these extra large kukris--after all, how many Gurkha regiments would the Indian Army have? And how many of these special kukris would they use? This was an "accommodation order" for the regiments; Sudhir Windlass was tickled that we would order a few dozen now and then--he said we were buying more than the Indian Government did!
Thanks,
Bill

15th February 2012, 12:16 AM	#30
whistlinbill Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 24	Well, the "religious rituals" comment was from Ben Lowe, who was head of pocket knife production for Joseph Rodgers in 1971, when I spent a fairish amount in Sheffield. He had worked at Joseph Rodgers during World War II. I feel that Ben didn't know much about Hindu religious rituals (he was an old-time Yorkshireman, through and through) but that was likely the excuse that the Rodgers management had used for not getting the contract. The drawing you show is, I believe, the same one we sent out with the kukris we bought off Windlass; there was also a smaller kukri, that had a horn handle and, they said was worn mostly by officers and on guard duty (in the Gurkha regiments in the Indian Army) That kukri is considerably lighter than the one in this drawing.) The drawing is an exact copy of the original drawing, which was lent to us by Windlass. We also included a copy of the Indian Govt. specs that Windlass had lent us. And, incidentally, the steel used in the Mk 3 is a British spec--and it's the same steel used for railroad rails. Sudhir Windlass said that (a number of years ago) for kukri steel, they would buy railroad rails and send them to be rolled out in a rolling mill down in the Punjab. Regarding the styles made during World War II, by the time I had gotten to Dehra Dun, Mr. Windlass had cleaned out the offices of all the old paperwork. I would feel sure that whatever he made at that time would be the regular military spec. He was in business as a military contractor. As an aside, Mr. Windlass told me that he had been to Dharan many times, but never to Kathmandu, which would cause me to believe that he was delivering kukris to the Gurkhas in Dharan. I wish I'd have asked him. The Mk 3 is issue to the Gurkha regiments in the Indian Army. We bought them from Windlass, and they were a military contract overrun. Sometimes I think the overrun was a little bigger than the contract! We always thought the Mk 3's we got from Windlass were "rough", but Windlass said the Indian Govt. wanted to pay less and wanted less finish. The troops were expected to clean 'em up. The Dushera kukri we had was also a military one; it was used for the Dushera festival, when the strongest guy in the regiment has to cut the head off a buffalo with one stroke. If it doesn't work, the regiment will have bad luck for a year (and he'll probably have KP for the same period!) Windlass made very few of these of these extra large kukris--after all, how many Gurkha regiments would the Indian Army have? And how many of these special kukris would they use? This was an "accommodation order" for the regiments; Sudhir Windlass was tickled that we would order a few dozen now and then--he said we were buying more than the Indian Government did! Thanks, Bill