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HI does. Attached is a photo uf me with my hasiya. It came with the semicircular carrier. This sees a lot of use.
View attachment 357149
In support of the Hasiya
- Thread starter Gehazi
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HI does. Attached is a photo uf me with my hasiya. It came with the semicircular carrier. This sees a lot of use.
View attachment 357149
sweetcostarica
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Hey John T. I have not seen anyone use that type before. Because of you motivational comment please post some pictures or even better a short video of you using yours in the field or garden on plants and even some bushcraft. That would be the best recommendation for the Nepali Hasiya/Aanchi we could have.
Looking forward to this. Thanks in advance :thumbup:.
Looking forward to this. Thanks in advance :thumbup:.
sweetcostarica
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That's a dynamite picture of a Hasiya/Aanchi worthy of praise. Thanks Howard I will buy that type if Himalayan Imports puts them out. In my way of thinking using your hard earned money on a product is the best way of supporting it.
Howard:
This photo, and another photo of a Nepali woman with a hasiya, seem to show a different design than the HI model. In the photos the belly of the blade is more or less at right angles to the handle, whereas in the HI blade the belly is parallel to the handle.
It looks like the HI hasiya would be swung like a knife, whereas the other model would be pulled toward the wielder as part of the swing.
Is the HI model also a "user" or is it more ceremonial? Certainly the ones I've seen are too pretty to be users, but I'm wondering about the design itself.
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The blade in my photo is from HI. I'm not sure there is a single "HI model." There is variation in the hasiya coming out of HI, just as there is variation in the hasiya used in Nepal.
Mine is a user. It is no frills and also very handy. It is sharp along the parallel as well as the perpendicular parts, allowing knife-like chopping as well as cutting towards oneself as with a sickle. I haven't used other variants so I can't comment on those.
sweetcostarica
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Here's video footage of women Harvesting wheat in Nepal using a sickle.
By the way, in Nepal I'm told women do most of the hard work.
[video=youtube;06edzfeznHM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06edzfeznHM[/video]
Also, a great video below on the role of the sickle in Nepal.
[video=youtube;i3FkROO_hIY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3FkROO_hIY[/video]
The sickle is an old simple design and because of this it is very reasonable in price. I would buy many differing designs and use them in the field to find the one that best suits your lifestyle. The shiny half moon style doesn't seem as useful but I haven't used one of that type before. Hopefully John T or someone else will show us it's use.
The below picture shows a person wearing a basic Nepali sickle:
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sweetcostarica
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Thanks for the compliment Gehazi.
The sickle and "sickle technology" is/was very important to the transition to agriculture in the history of the World.
Today in developing nations (3rd World) the sickle is still indispensable. In developed nations (1st World) people use them much less
because of city life and Supermarkets.
Ahah, the sickles in this photo have the same "half-moon" design as the HI model, and they are clearly users. That answers my previous question. Thanks, SCR.
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as stated in another thread I plan on taking up the sickle and scythe to tend my own land instead of using machines beyond my body, just feels right, thats why I want a couple of hasiya , definitely some in villager finish, but I also want a display model.-- im still learning how to use stones right, but practice makes you get mildly better !
Bawanna
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Out of curiosity, how much land do you have to tend too. This could be a real workout if we're talking a big spread.
More power to ya of course regardless. I do tend to love the old ways doing most things, many say I was born a 100 years too late. Course my mother often says I wasn't born but found under a rock. Guess I should feel hurt but I'm ok with that too.
More power to ya of course regardless. I do tend to love the old ways doing most things, many say I was born a 100 years too late. Course my mother often says I wasn't born but found under a rock. Guess I should feel hurt but I'm ok with that too.
sweetcostarica
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Early American pioneers had only a sickle or scythe to cut their grain. Again they were for the most part very simple tools. Like davidf99 who seems very partial to the "half-moon" sickle design as in the ones on the Nepali farmer's shed, people should make up their own mind on what works best for them.
I like presenting the facts and examples (like the ones above) for the use of these tools from all logical perspectives so informed choices can be made based on their effectiveness.
Being a practical man a tool should be effective for my money but I can see some folks buy all kinds of tools that are "fancied up" for display. Not one thing wrong with that so please don't take me wrong. I'm not against this at all but I will always make a distinction between real use and "just for display".
Note a fun example below.
Daniel Craig's 007 is displayed on film.
US special forces officer named Cowboy used in the field.
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oh yeah , I want both kinds because one is to appreciate the art of the blade on its architecture while in use you feel its art in the movement! I definitely would not toss around silver and jewel mounted horn khukris like field working blades! I only have about 8 acres and its a living forest, I dont allow my trees to be cut , so i really just have a small meadow to tend too and then lots of poison ivy and oak, im immune but my family is not, I live right at the edge of a much greater forest though, an old oxbow off the last un channeled river in the USA - the Hatchee outside memphis, its a wonderful place if you ever get a chance to see it , just a great swamp river. My plan if i can ever stop buying kkhukris is to buy the rest of the forest and not let anyone in. ( but the great thing about HI is that you know your fancy khukri's could definitely be used if you ever needed to get into a medieval battle with another king on equal terms.)
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Alright, let’s see what I can do to help you all out here.
A little background may be in order so you’ll understand where I’m coming from. I’m not a bushcrafty guy. I started out (and still am) primarily a sword guy. I collect and use modern production swords. If you’re not familiar with modern sword culture there are many “divisions”; I fall into the back yard cutter category. (Check out United Backyard Cutters on youtube or their forum or the Sword Buyers Guide forum if you want to know more about this topic.) What this means is I take my blades into the backyard and cut stuff up—“stuff” usually being water bottles, milk jugs, tatami mats, produce (pumpkins are hella fun!!) and other stuff that doesn’t fall into the category of sword abuse. The goal is fun and improving technique and appreciation of the blade. Along the way I fell in love with HI and the style they bring to the variety of blades they make. I have a couple kuks I use for yard work, but the rest of my HI blades are for cutting or simply appreciating.
I picked up my hasiya on the secondary market about 9 months ago, I think. I bought because I liked it, not because I thought it would be useful.
Length From one end to the other in a straight line it is about 14 inches.
Handle 5 5/8 inches including bolster and butt cap.
Thickness ¼ inch
Width varies but averages 1 ½ inches
Edge: Bevel starts about 1 inch from the spine and goes straight to the edge. There is a geometric formula that could give us the edge angle but I don’t want to bother looking it up.
Weight: 15.9 oz
The hasiya has a very obvious forward balance but because it isn’t very heavy it isn’t difficult to handle. It feels like a chopper rather than a slicer.
It has an eye on the end that came with a dangly brass curlicue kinda thing in it. I took this out when using it because it annoyed me.
It came paper cutting sharp. When I got it I tried it out on a few water bottles, some hedge (mostly thin branches no more than 1/4 inch in diameter) that I needed to cut back and a rose bush that needed pruning. I used it in a swinging/chopping motion with a wrist snap and it performed very well. My yard doesn’t have any of the thick grass type plants that I would normally think of as scythe cutting material.
That’s probably more and less than you were hoping for.
I’ll see what I can do about pictures and maybe putting it through a few paces this weekend.
Oh, yeah. Mine was made by Tirtha.
A little background may be in order so you’ll understand where I’m coming from. I’m not a bushcrafty guy. I started out (and still am) primarily a sword guy. I collect and use modern production swords. If you’re not familiar with modern sword culture there are many “divisions”; I fall into the back yard cutter category. (Check out United Backyard Cutters on youtube or their forum or the Sword Buyers Guide forum if you want to know more about this topic.) What this means is I take my blades into the backyard and cut stuff up—“stuff” usually being water bottles, milk jugs, tatami mats, produce (pumpkins are hella fun!!) and other stuff that doesn’t fall into the category of sword abuse. The goal is fun and improving technique and appreciation of the blade. Along the way I fell in love with HI and the style they bring to the variety of blades they make. I have a couple kuks I use for yard work, but the rest of my HI blades are for cutting or simply appreciating.
I picked up my hasiya on the secondary market about 9 months ago, I think. I bought because I liked it, not because I thought it would be useful.
Length From one end to the other in a straight line it is about 14 inches.
Handle 5 5/8 inches including bolster and butt cap.
Thickness ¼ inch
Width varies but averages 1 ½ inches
Edge: Bevel starts about 1 inch from the spine and goes straight to the edge. There is a geometric formula that could give us the edge angle but I don’t want to bother looking it up.
Weight: 15.9 oz
The hasiya has a very obvious forward balance but because it isn’t very heavy it isn’t difficult to handle. It feels like a chopper rather than a slicer.
It has an eye on the end that came with a dangly brass curlicue kinda thing in it. I took this out when using it because it annoyed me.
It came paper cutting sharp. When I got it I tried it out on a few water bottles, some hedge (mostly thin branches no more than 1/4 inch in diameter) that I needed to cut back and a rose bush that needed pruning. I used it in a swinging/chopping motion with a wrist snap and it performed very well. My yard doesn’t have any of the thick grass type plants that I would normally think of as scythe cutting material.
That’s probably more and less than you were hoping for.
I’ll see what I can do about pictures and maybe putting it through a few paces this weekend.
Oh, yeah. Mine was made by Tirtha.
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There are at least 3 different Hasiya varieties made by HI:
The HI Hasiya:
from http://www.himalayan-imports.com/one-time-knives.html
Another version from HI, I think that Howard Wallace has one:
from http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/783761-HI-ID-Help?p=8793147&highlight=hasiya#post8793147
I read on another site that those are actually what many people carry and use in parts of Nepal. Probably small ones, anyway. It seems khuks are not legal to carry in some larger cities. I have a mini Hasiya from Auntie which I use as a letter opener. It is pretty dang handy in it's little carrier, which seems to be designed to carry around the neck. Howard could probably provide some information on this. I found a pic of mine.
sweetcostarica
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Thanks John T for the information on your HI tool. The second Hasiya (picture below) is the ONE. It looks like it would work the best in the field and in some bushcraft activities. That's something that you can use and display with pride. Good post Steve.
Bear in mind that one should not judge books by their covers. The Hasiya in the first pic is just as capable of hard work as the villager style models in the second and third pics. Let your own preferences be your guide. Whether polished or villager style, for use or display, all HI products are built to strict standards for toughness and usage. Highly decorated/inlayed specimens should not be used for chopping, as the shock of the work may dislodge or break the embellishments.