Laminated Kukri
 

I am very pleased to share the latest Kurki to enter my collection. The lamination was a pleasant surprise, as the seller's images were very poor. It is quite a hefty piece, although in no way unwieldy. All thoughts and comments appreciated.

Total length: 56 cm (22")
Blade length: 44.5 cm (17.5")
Spine thickness: 11.5 mm
Weight: 727 g

Russel

repairs
 

I should also mention the rather lovely repair job which Robert did on the handle. Here are the original seller's images and a close-up of the handle after Robert performed his magic.

Thats an interesting and excellent piece Russell!

With a blade length of 17.5 inches I would speculate that your kukri may fall into the Maar Hani catagorey: that is to say a sacrificial blade for festivals such as Dashain.

At that length it could easily be used to sacrifice goats and small buffalo.

The blade decoration would also suggest a kukri made for a festival, although that is certainly not the norm.

A very good find, and excellent repair work, congratulations!

All the best,

Chris

The damascened lines are supposed to suggest the hairpin pattern popular in the neighboring Tibet. This is done by arranging steel/ iron rods, bending them 180 degrees backward at the future tip and forging them together.


However, I can see no bend and the lines obligingly go under the fullered area (suggesting to me that they were introduced AFTER the entire blade was forged).

From here is my question: is the blade truly laminated in the hairpin technique or were these lines in effect superficial mini-fullers designed to imitate the above technique? There are known blades of such a variety, so that might not be a surprise.

As I have handled this piece I can tell you that the lamination is evident throughout the entire blade including the fullers and as I had to remove the hilt for repair I can attest that it is also present on the tang. If you look at the original photos (the before photos) you can see that the lamination was not showing very well and I used an enchant to bring it out to where it is now.
When doing the repair to the wooden hilt the damage was such that instead of replacing the hilt with a new copy I decided to try to make the repair look like an old one (even leaving a small chip untouched) and then tried to match the finish to what was already on the wood.

Best,
Robert

Nothing to add, other than that is one very nice Kukri which would be the pride of any collection.

Hello Russel,

great catch! Agree with Ariel that the lamination is similar to Tibetian blades. I never before have seen a kukri with such a lamination.
And like usual a very good restoration from Robert! :eek:

Regards,
Detlef

Great job Robert!

Also I have seen this type of lamination on kukris, though very rarely.

pattern welded kukris
 

A really good one! The laminations on this are actually finer than on most Tibetan blades. Most collectors don't think to polish kukris thinking them to be rather unremarkable, merely functional blades, but I've encountered surprises in my career in polishing. Though Nepal's proximity to Tibet suggests that this might be a local production influenced by a neighboring, dominant culture, there are others that show the influence of India. Like several with the "pools and eyes" pattern weld seen on a lot of talwars, and wootz examples as well. The most beautiful one that I worked on, once owned by the kukri expert John Powell, was finely forged in a way that the laminations looked like a forest of pine trees covering the entire surface of the blade.

All around great khuk and a very nice repair. I agree with Jose, laminated khuks are quite rare.

Thank you all for your thoughts and comments.

I am very pleased with this Kukri. Collecting these was my start in this game, but it is rare for me to buy them these days.

This one somehow beckoned me. A (small) gamble that seems to have truly paid off. It has certainly entered the top four or five of my collection.

Russel