Genuine Khukuri

H

hurleynig

Joined
Jul 13, 2000
Messages
1
I have been given a Khukuri recently and was wondering is anyone could give me any information on it?

The Blade is 12” long and ¼” thick
The handle is made from wood
The pommel and bolster are made from aluminium
The scabbard is leather-covered wood and has a crossed khukuri and ‘8’ badge fixed near to the top
It has made in India stamped on the blade.

Many thanks
Nigel
 
Is it genuine? Yes, but not a real "using" khukuri. It's a tourist, paper weight sort of thing. Understand that to be genuine, all that is required is that it be made of steel and have thie right sort of blade shape.
Dan

[This message has been edited by Dan K (edited 07-13-2000).]
 
I'd side with FNG on this one, although chances are that an "india" stamped khukuri probably is not the highest quality khukuri. Most modern Indian made khukuris are either cut out of sheet metal, cast from melted steel surplus, or something else. Generally speaking, the best khukuris come from Nepal. The definitive bit of evidence would come from a picture. If you can submit one, that'd be great.
 
Nigel,
I agree with Craig that without a photo it is almost imposssible to give an accurate assessment of your khukuri. The crossed khukuri badge with an 8 in the upper angle is the emblem of the 8th Gurkha Rifles, which were transferred from the British to the Indian Army in 1947. This does not mean your knife was necessarily military issue, as regimental devices are not uncommon on tourist pieces. The stamp "Made in India" rather than merely "India" makes it more likely the piece is commercial. If it is in fact stamped rather than scribed with an electric pencil, that could be indicative of a higher quality piece. If you can't post a picture, let us know if the pommel is cast (usually in a shape meant to suggest a lion's head) or of flat sheet. The 3 most common patterns of Indian khukuris are shown here, here, and here. Since these are eBay auction items, most of the information in the descriptions, at least in the first two cases, is incorrect. Hope this helps.
Berk


[This message has been edited by Berkley (edited 07-16-2000).]
 
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