HI kukri question

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Mar 1, 2008
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Hi guys, this is my first post in the HI forum. I've recently developed an interest in kukuris and have been here the past few days, reading the pretty much everything in the Link Library page. Today while browsing a certain auction site I saw a kukri that looks a lot like an AK, with markings similar to what I saw in the kami mark page. Since the price was good I took the chance and bought it. With that said, I was wondering if the knowledgeable members of this forum can confirm if it really is a HI product or not. Here is a {link removed per BFC rules} to the kukri in question. Any help would be appreciated.

I apologize in advance if either inserting the link or asking this type of question is discouraged in this forum. If it is, please tell me and I'll amend it. :eek:
 
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It's PenKnife model.
Kami with the crescent moon? Sounds like Bura to me.
 
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I LOVE the Penknife kukri....You've scored a classic Kukri at a criminally cheap price Sir, congrats !! :cool: As for the Kami, is it Bura ?
I'm sure someone will be along to correct me soon !!....Enjoy your first HI blade.
 
That is indeed a HI Pen Knife model. It got its name from the forumite responsible for its design. His forum name was Pendentive. You may now know him as Dan Koster the knife maker with his own forum:)

The "Pen" knife is a play on words as only a khuk knut would regard a 12-13" knife as "small" like a pen knife. For its size, the PK is a great chopper/slicer. I keep one in my jeep for emergencies. It's dug, chopped, pried, poked, prodded, etc for about 8 years.

The crescent moon sounds likes Bura. It's actually a begging bowl:) Can you see if it is signed at the bolster? If the initials are in english and there is no "U.B." marked on it. It was made before the passing of Uncle Bill Martino.

Use it, but hang onto it. Bura makes an incredible blade. However, illness has caused him to hang up the hammer (probably for good :( ).

I removed the link as it is technically a no-no to link to ebay. It's totally cool. No big deal:)
Anyway, for $35 + shipping, you probably got a great knife.
Please, post some pics and thoughts when you receive it:)

oh, and WELCOME to the forum!:D
 
Thank you for the warm welcome and your helpful replies everyone! I expect I'll be spending a lot more time here in the future. At first I suspected it was a ang khola model, but it does indeed look more like a pen knife. And Steely, thanks for removing the link, I've copied the images and posted it here. It doesnt seem to have any english initials on it from the pictures I can see, but I'll be sure to examine it more closely and post pictures once I receive it. :D

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If I'm correctly remembering the 2 or 3 letters of Devanagari script I know, the first photo says L. B., for Lal Bishwakarma (Bura's name), the 2nd is B. G., for BirGorkha, and the 3rd is U. B., for Uncle Bill.
 
Most likely the Pre-UB days with U.B in Devanagari.The only current model that spots the same is ASTK.
 
Yeah that appears to be from the period when the kamis tended to mark their blades without any English lettering. Before that they tended to "sign" their work with English initials. However some folks spoke up and said that they would prefer the blades to marked in Devanagari for aesthetic reasons.

Upon the passing of Uncle Bill, pretty much all knives coming out of the shop have "U.B." marked on them in English to honor him with the kamis signing their work in Devanagari.

So it looks like it's not an early model of the PK but it also not one of Bura's last pieces before his illness. In short, it's a great piece:)

Congrats!
 
Thanks everyone! Your replies have been very helpful. Now I can't wait to get it and post some pictures for you all...:D
 
Well, I finally got the kukri today, so here are some pictures! :D It's a great blade, and feels very lively in hand. Its certainly seen some use by its previous owner, but is maintained well. Only gripe is that the metal buttcap is slightly loose, is there any way to fix this?

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This is dark line on the metal fitting typical of HI kukris or is it a blemish?
 
The dark line is kind of a blem, but it doesnt hurt the performance at all.
Usually the kami's do better ,but, if one only knew how difficult these bolsters are to make.
If it bothers you you can usually sand it a little a buff it up to make it go away for the most part.

As for the loose buttcap. I would force some superglue under it being careful to wipe away any excess immediately.
If theres any that gets dried on a little judicious sanding will remove it.
After using the glue i would probably get a punch the diameter of the tang and carefully re-peen the end a little.


All in all a very nice find. But as it's a Bura piece. I would not make it a user if it were me.
We are still not sure if he will ever be well enough to pound steel for us.
Which makes it highly collectible.
We miss him dearly.
 
I imagine that's where they braze the ends of the bolster together after shaping... on specimens I have with white metal fittings, the line is usually not noticeable, if at all. Congrats on scoring a Bura!
 
Nice 12/13" pen with satin horn. The line on the bolster is just a brazing line. Use Flitz or Simichrome and some elbow grease, or better yet those polishes on a scotch brite pad and the line should come out. That is a very common thing to see.

I think I had 4 of the Pen's in this size over the years, and two of the larger 15 inchers. A matching set in elk antler in each size, and I just sold the last one, an antler 12" to a good forumite down in Australia, to add to his mounting collection of antler knives.

The prettiest was a 15" in green/brown/gold neem, that looked like green and gold elder burl that Mike Stewart at Bark River uses.

I always like the knives, but the handles were a bit too short for me on the 12's. Just needed to part with some a few years ago or I'd still have one of the big ones. Guys here used to say they were great camp knives because they were perfect flapjack flippers! :)

I don't know if you'll be able to get any super glue under the cap without making a mess, but the peening the buttcap is a good suggestion. Put it in a (padded) vise tip down and use a brass hammer it you have one, and give it a few firm raps. You shouldn't hurt anything and that should stop the wobble.

Here's a pic of the Bura antler pen (12" and 12 oz.) I sold earlier this year.

Best,

Norm

P.S. No idea Bura's were getting so valuable! I just sold a batch of 3 of them. Guess I should have asked for more...! ;)
 

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Thank you all for the tips, I'll have try them in a week or so when I have time and access to a vise.

I have small hands so the handle fits, but only barely. I can understand why people with larger hands can consider the handle short. This is only my second kukri and first HI, my first one was a british service no.1 I bought from john mccurdy. After holding the Pen the handle on the no.1 started feeling too thin, since the Pen fills my hand much better. Needless to say the HI has become the new favorite. :thumbup:

Svashtar, that antler handled Pen knife is gorgeous! I have never seen any antler handles on the HI site. I can certainly see the attraction of collecting these... in fact I think I want another one! If Bura's work is becoming collectable, then maybe buying another HI kuk as a user might be justified...:D
 
Yes, you need one or two for users. Then don't forget a few for display. Of course, you need one for each vehicle you have, and then naturally your wife or GF needs one or two (a little one for her purse perhaps.) Then there are the ones that are strictly defense centric, and the dedicated choppers. And one big maul type, say a CAK, to keep by the firewood pile. Then you need a few just to fondle every once in a while!

Once you have all of those simple basics in place, THEN start on the specialty ones, such as the pen and hasiya and all the bowies, and jure model, pachthar, movie model, kardas, and all the swords and each of the R-series knives.

After those are pretty much in place, then you can start with the handle variants that you don't have FOR EACH OF THE ABOVE: satisal, hill walnut, chandan, horn, carved horn, carved chandan, antler, osage orange, neem, vijaysal wood, sisau wood, karam wood, carved satisal, dab dabe wood, inlaid horn, inlaid wood, scrimmed antler, green buffalo horn, grey horn, bone, stripy chandan, flame chandan, brass, engraved brass, spotted deer horn, rosewood, etc., etc., ETC. THEN make sure you have variants of the all the bolster and handle types, including rat tail tang, and full tang (if you can still find them because of the unintended consequence of the revised warranty) and of course the now standard chiruwa/panawal handles pinned in 15 places... ;)

Naturally, you'll need samples from each of the kamis, just so you can get a feeling for their work you understand.

So, just save yourself the trouble and sign your paycheck over to HI each week, and be done with it! :rolleyes::D

OR, it might be cheaper just to sell your house and cars and get a chunk of money and fly to Nepal, and commission 150 knives or so directly. :cool:

Good luck!

Norm
 
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Norm ....
you always crack me up! Thank you i really really need some humor tonight. It's been a very bad day.
 
That's a great knife:)

The others have addressed the line non-issue very well:)

i would like to point out that on most every PK I've handled, including my Bura, the buttcap is semi-hollow. Not HOLLOW, but not a flat piece of brass like on most. The ends are turned up for a decorative finish which means that they CAN work loose. Karda's fix should be the safest. However, if it weren't a collector piece, I would say to give the peen a couple of careful taps with a hammer. Sometimes that'll do the trick on a user.

My guess is that with the age of the piece and the transportation across the world/country, the horn has dried out a smidge and drawn up a bit. You could also give it a mineral oil (baby oil if you don't mind the baby smell) soak or grease it up with some lanolin (hooflex works wonders. Had a small jar of it for nearly 10 years) and that'll "plump" up the horn a bit.

Great score:)
 
You bring up a good point about the horn handle, I never considered it until now. I guess I'll try soaking it in mineral oil first to see if it fixes the rattling problem before trying to peen it. :)

And Svashtar, you've just shown me how far the rabbit-hole goes, and I can't say I'm not intrigued...:p
 
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