The Khukri - Myth or Fact ?

[spiral]

Thanks Fearn interesting,,,A fascinating read.

As the auther says though....

"I did not use real values for the geometry. I used generic structural steel material properties and did not account for the variation in modulus from the differential heat treatment or hardening. I did not check for mesh convergence, or verify my results were in accordance with the beam equations. I did not apply realistic loading conditions. In other words, please take these results with a grain of salt!"

As many of those factors are critical in the design & forging of kukris I think his advice to take with a grain of salt is correct.

But Many good points raised especialy re. reduction in transmited shock & vibration I think. I hadnt considered that before. I am sure thats a valuable hypothisis.

Spiral

[fearn]

There's a master's thesis waiting to be written here, really.

A few of things that can be done:

1. Creating a proper model of a khukuri, with the three dimensional shape, bend, and differential hardening of the cutting edge.

2. Playing with the tip angles, blade size, bend angle, thickness, cho shape, etc., to see how these affect the properties of the blade.

There's such a variation in khukuri shapes and sizes that someone really could have a lot of fun. If there are simple conclusions, they could even feed these back to the kamis who make those blades, so that the kamis could play with new blade shapes suggested by the model.

Best,

F

[kronckew]

fearn,

i fixed the missing tacoma narrows video at bladeforums

[spiral]

Thanks Fearn, Kronckew.

All good stuff!

Spiral

[sirupate]

These three have by far the most common kaudi

But many early kukri didn't have kaudi at all, this kukri of Prithvi Narayan Shah, potentially lends itself to the blood dripping theory near the bolster;

Even the Gurkhas are unsure about its signifigance, check 13.36 in on the vid;
Gurkhas 'In the Highest tradition'

[spiral]

A clearer Life size photo taken in 2005 by myself showing the slight vestige of the kaudi on the same kukri.

This is typicle on the so called "kaudi less" pieces of this era.

The older the kukri the smaller the kaudi does seem to be generaly true...

Spiral.




Heres a karda based on the same style as many of these old kukris, with the minute kaudi still visible.



{courtsy of Runjeet at Akall arms.}

There are many other examples in Kathmando national museam...

[sirupate]

Interesting point of view about what a kaudi is Jonathan;

In the Nepalese army they refer to the kaudi as the kauda, and their explanation of its function (in both 2008 and 2009) is the notch in the blade that acts as a blood dripper, as did the 3rd Gorkhas when I was invited to have tea with them in 2008.
3rd Gorkhas base


I would also refer you to this link I put up in a previous post, about 13.30 in;
Gurkhas 'In the Highest Tradition'

Here are some notch-less kukri from the National Museum