Khukri
 

Since we all miss khukri talk, I thought I'd post his one for comment.

When I got it off ebay I thought the pics looked a lot like those taken by Spiral, so I thought it might be one of his. May not be.

Anyway, it's a nice ang khoala with a 14" blade, about 1cm thick at the bolster. The handle is very interesting as it is very big in comparison to all other khukri I have and it has an elongated oval cross-section. It feels very nice in hand and and very well balanced, not top heavy. (bottom one in the pics)

I can't weigh it due to lack of scales, and I'm not home at the moment, also forgot to measure the POB.

The blade surface has uneven undulations accross its entire length, seems like someone took a buffer to it in an attempt to clean it.

It reminds me of some of the older khukri Spiral showed in his picturs from a Kathmandu museum. Thoughts?

Emanuel

Unfortunately that has been the fate of all too many older kukris at the hands of sellers who believed (often correctly) that western buyers wanted nice shiny blades. In the process, sharp detail and lamination are often lost. Still, a very handsome old kukri, congratulations.

Hi Emmanuel, yes indeed that was in my collection for about 5 years, persdonaly I thought the undulations were left from the sledge hammer when it was originaly forged, as I could not see any sign of the metel bieng dragged by a buffer?

Glad its in a good home. ;)

Spiral

A good friend of mine came back from Nepal 2 weeks ago and brought me a NEW Kukri, selected for him by his sherpa, a 20 year veteran of the Gurkha unit. Same undulations. No doubt, Spiral is correct: hammer blows.

All right, I'm cool with that explanation.
Spiral what would you say about the age of this piece. Is Victorian to ~1900 fair? Also, what can you say about the beefy handle - why exactly do you think it's so much thicker? I remember you writing at some point on IKRHS about the people "reserved" for palace guard duty being bigger. So are we talking different size users?

Ariel, can you post the khukri, i'm curious to see how good new khuks are made...all I know are the Indian ones on ebay and those sold by Hymalayan Imports.

Yes Emmanuel I would imagine it was made for someone with fingers long enough that it was a perfect grip for them. ;) Not a wide hand though so not a giant.

At one time the taller men from the Khatmando vally were used to stock the Nepal army, The king let the much smaller {but very tough.} hillmen join the British army.

I would say in my opinion its either late 19th or very early 20th century.


Many higher quality kukris of that era & older have similar size & sometimes the more egg shaped cross sectional handle profiles.

They make for an excelent grip I find. Much more ergonomic!

Spiral

Hello Manalo :)
Thanks for sharing these nice older kukris.
I wonder if the ang koala is a candidate for etching?

Cheers,

Dan

Thanks for the Kukri fix. Here's one of mine with the same type of hammer-marks.
Cheers,
Shawn

DhaDha (love the name) are those silver dots on the hilt?

(Thanks) They're not magnetic. A silver alloy I assumed.
Shawn