Bura's Cho

[Walosi]

Chris's Mystery Blades, My Crazy Cho, and, IIRC, one other one during the PGAs have all had this cho. It makes me think of Uncles's pics and story of the old master kami who visited the shop, and said "Make the cho this way, so they will know I had something to do with this blade".

I've spent a lot of time filing slag out of chos, and stoning them until they were clean and true. Bura has done that with this cho - even the inside surfaces of the "pistil" were buffed to a shine. The file marks have been stoned almost smooth where the buffer could not reach them. Except for a cracked handle, this knife is nearest to perfect of all my blades. The fitting is meticulous, steel to brass, and brass to wood. There are NO hammer marks or waves - absolutely none. As Uncle says, everyone has good and bad days, but earning on a per-blade basis, Bura has spent a lot of extra time on this one, and I'd bet the others are a step above, also. Mine appears to be very like Chris's top blade, in his pic of the two mystery blades, except for handle style. I'd call them larger, heavier BAS. Bura is saying something with this cho. I'd like to know his name for it, and why it pops up here and there on his blades.I think he, like Sanu, is playing with something - shaping out an idea.

 

[Bill Martino]

Wal, I'd guess that an apprentice did the finish work -- a burr hand. Bura has classically worked alone but I think he got tired of being outproduced by kamis who used apprentices and took on a couple of apprentices himself for the first time in his life. His production has gone up and the small detail work like that cho has improved. And, he is becoming the high tech champ of BirGorkha and uses all the power tools more often and more skillfully than anybody in the shop. The Royal Kami is changing with the times and I view it as a positive change.