Confidence

Mike L.

Mike L.

Joined
Aug 19, 1999
Messages
1,955
I have two recently purchased Kesar blades. One is a 20" Kobra, the other a 15" PGA Ang Khola.

I couldn't stand any more...not knowing (sorta like the bad guy in Dirty Harry). I took both off the wall this afternoon and attacked a 4" diameter oak branch that had fallen off the huge oak in my front yard. The branch was dead, but not rotten except at the break point.
Full force (or what passes for it coming from my skinny old arms) chops at any angle into the hard wood failed to produce any deformations, rolling or chipping in the edge of either khuk.
The Kobra chops suprisingly well for a blade that is machete-class by HI standards. Both were able to chop through the 4" branch with no problems. Both are just as sharp as when I started.

Well, now I know.:)

No work here for Art Swyhart, and good news for Uncle.

--Mike L.
 
I've gotten three Kesar blades since February. Two (M43 and Chiruwa AK) have been torture tested, third (Chitlangi) has been field tested as thoroughly as I feel is necessary. Winners, all.
 
Good news, but not at all surprising.
Kesar's getting a bad rap because he attempted to make some edges thinner than a traditional hard working khukuri would have. A few of those edges ran into some hard material and did not have the beef to withstand the shock. Think of it as his learning curve. It was an unfortunate set of circumstances that let these thin edges come to us.
Everything else about his work impresses the heck out of me. I wouldn't hesitate to use his khukuris exactly the same way I'd use one from any other kami.
:p :cool:
 
My Kesar chitlangi took some hard blows from a tree I cut down and did not hiccup. It edged sideways, impacted, several times due to poor woodcraft on my part. This did nothing to the edge. The 'soft' 18" WWll I have not had a chance to throughly test as the handle needed some attention. 'Soft' is rockwell of perhaps 57, perhaps 58. I am betting based upon the chitlangi which is 59 or 60 that the other blade chops fine and is easier for a bonehead like me to sharpen. It would not surprise me at all to learn I prefer Rockwell hardness less than 60.

I arrived here just as the extremely limited occurance of blade failures became a problem. I think what I first heard upon arrival is true; that all of them really are masters at what they do. I have wondered if some of you haven't lost sight of that regarding Kesar. He was called 'Old Faithful' when I first heard his name.

There is something else I want to say but don't know how to say it. I feel I know Kesar a little because I own two of his blades. I like him. I would never get rid of the two Khukuri's, unless it is to one of my sons. Perhaps Bura does it better, or just different, perhaps someonelse is nearer to that thing called 'perfect'. But the Kesar chitlangi smacks of character. You can see someone's hands upon it, someone who gave a damn and made it right. I would love to sit next to him and point out a small waver in the metal, saying; 'what happened here?" and for him to tell me. Of all the 'things' I've owned,including some unique and special firearms, none are more alive than this chitlangi.






munk
 
Kesar was the first kami to go to work at BirGorkha. He's produced hundreds of khukuris and until he tried the YCS I'd guess he had 2 or 3 failures. Now he's got 6 or 7 failures out of maybe 750 or 1000 khukuris which is still not bad.

Many thanks for reports from the field.
 
Originally posted by munk
There is something else I want to say but don't know how to say it. I feel I know Kesar a little because I own two of his blades. I like him. I would never get rid of the two Khukuri's, unless it is to one of my sons. Perhaps Bura does it better, or just different, perhaps someonelse is nearer to that thing called 'perfect'. But the Kesar chitlangi smacks of character. You can see someone's hands upon it, someone who gave a damn and made it right. I would love to sit next to him and point out a small waver in the metal, saying; 'what happened here?" and for him to tell me. Of all the 'things' I've owned,including some unique and special firearms, none are more alive than this chitlangi.
Click to expand...

Agreed, all of my HI khuks affect me that way. They are items of high intrinsic value that are humanized by the hands that made them. By humanized I mean that each individual knife represents a day in the life of the man that made it, captured forever in steel. How many other things do we own that are of like quality and represent such effort and attention?

I regard HI khukuris the same way I regard a handmade musical instrument.
 
Well said! I am glad someone captured the way I feel with so elegantly.

These fine tools all have a bit of their maker in them and knowing that a man with a name and a face crafted them with his own two hands makes it all the more treasured. That is rare in today's world of mass production. And knowing that our money is used well by the kamis to support their families is a nice feeling.

Uncle Bill, if it were up to me, you would have a medal from the King of Nepal for running the best aid program in the country. But knowing you, you would rather have a smile and thank you from the grateful kamis than any decorative awards bestowed by strangers.

Andrew Limsk

Originally posted by raghorn


Agreed, all of my HI khuks affect me that way. They are items of high intrinsic value that are humanized by the hands that made them. By humanized I mean that each individual knife represents a day in the life of the man that made it, captured forever in steel. How many other things do we own that are of like quality and represent such effort and attention?

I regard HI khukuris the same way I regard a handmade musical instrument.
Click to expand...
 
Mike,

Your thread inspired me today. I have two favourite khuks that I had never given much of a workout. Part of that was that I didn't want to mark them and partly a doubt in the back of my mind that they might not stand up to rough treatment. One is a Kesar 19 inch Chitlangi, the other a Bura 17 inch BGRS. I took them out today and attacked every tree I could find in our yard that needed trimming, and there were quite a few, the biggest branches were up to 8 inches across (on a tree we call a Cadagi tree in Australia). Enough branches were cut to fill a 7 foot trailer twice over.

I started out tentatively, then got into it. I have a pet fox terrier and it's the sort of dog that the rougher you play with it the more it likes it. These two khukuries were exactly the same. I found that the harder I swung, the better these khukuries were. I had no style at all. A couple of times these knives cut through timber I didn't think they would in one cut. A few times I went close to cutting my own foot in the follow through and that is something I need to think about in the future. The Chitlangi loved the smaller stuff, the BGRS loved the thicker stuff. At the end, I cleaned them up with stuff called Metal Magic, oiled them and there is not a mark on them. My confidence in these knives is sky high at the moment.
 
I understand your urges. When I first got my kukris, I was hesitant to use them. They're so beautiful, and I don't have any more tree in my back year after testing out my first siripati. I'm also didn't want to dull it and then ruin it by my clumsy sharpening techniqe. So I hung my kukri on my wall. But every time I look at them, they want me to feed them. So I chopped up all my yellow pages, junk mail, pieces of wood I found near the dumpster, etc. It's hard being a city boy, I don't have tree around me. If I chop something in the park, I could be fined, maybe get arrested too. I can't even pick up firewood in the parks around here. So I have to pick up pieces of scrap wood and chop them on my desk. :p
 
I have a Kesar Chitlangi that is a superb performer. I have chopped some pretty rough stuff with it, and there is no edge deformation whatsoever. It holds a fine edge extremely well.
 
Many thanks for more reports from the field.

Not to belittle anything said by anybody -- but when a skilled knifemaker says he's impressed with the work of another maker and would not hesitate to use knives made by this maker you can generally count on the quality and integrity of the knives under consideration. Art will see and understand things about a knife that a lot of us won't because that's his business and he's very good at it.
 
I would most likely stand with any of the kamis. Two of my Khuks are by Old Faithful. MY BAS and 20" Kobra. The unsuspecting do not want to hassle with either one. The two Bura's 15"AK an the newest 20" Siru. are very well done indeed. I think that a few years in their profession has much to do with the superior work. Any way you want to cut the pie I have no comoplaints about the blades I have with the Nepal flag on them.
I just haven't bought any bad blades from HI Period.
:D ;)
 
Kesar has 30 or so years experience. Kami kids start hanging around with dad in the shop when they are toddlers and start helping by age six. They will be pounding steel by age 10. By the time they are 21 they have 15 years shop experience under their belt.
 
Now that I have seen for myself how hard this Kobra can strike, it may be replacing my Gelbu Special as the "nightstand khuk."
I've got to admit, I must be a wuss...a couple of weeks ago, something went "bump" in the night, and I grabbed a pistol first. It turned out to be a natural event (the oak tree shedding a branch), but I guess it showed my true colors. :confused:

--Mike L.
 
Well, I reckon that about makes me two wusses then. There are a lot of times I grab one of each.
I don't monkey with the small stuff usually either,like .44 Mag and my remington copy .45 colt. You just never know what is out there past that yard light with all the trees around my place.

I figure the wuss don't have the intestinal fortitude to go out and see what is going on.
 
Hey Pappy, what do you mean your remington copy .45 Colt?

I don't monkey with the small stuff usually either,like .44 Mag and my remington copy .45 colt. You just never know what is out there past that yard light with all the trees around my place. >>>>

Pappy, can they see you in your house beyond the yard light in the trees? A 44 mag or 45 colt small stuff! Whew. Tell me what you consider substantial enough to do the job.

munk
 
Monk, sometimes I don't get things said just the way I want them to come out. I meant that the small stuff like .22, .380, .38 don't often go with me at night. I like the feel of the bigger stuff on my hip that i know can kick some a$$.
Do you understand where I'm at now? Good Khuk on one side and just plain hell on the other side.:D :D
 
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