Japanese khukuri attempt

firkin

firkin

Joined
Jan 26, 2002
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Picture about 1 screen's-worth down on page.

Overall shape and handle doesn't do much for me.

Click on the picture to see closeups of hamon and steel lamination, though. Those are pretty, to bad the blade shape is so ugly (to me anyway).

http://www.ohyasuya.co.jp/aigo/saji/englishsaji.html



About $230 if I've converted corectly.
 
Actually, that does look pretty good. But I don't know if it is worth 32,000 :rolleyes: :p :confused: .

Matthew
 
But I don't know if it is worth 32,000 .
Click to expand...

Uhhh, that price is in yen, Japan's currency.
About 135 yen to the buck.

Hence, the extimate of $230

I forgot the link, but I'm not dyslexic and dropping zeros, too.:D
 
he prices really aren't too bad, he has quite a bit of stuff that look good.
Click to expand...

I was kinda suprised by how low the prices were, taking into consideration that they appear to sorta be custom-order, and made in Japan. Many well-finished Japanese cooking knives cost a lot more for the same blade size. I've seen a un-handled Japanese pruning knife for the price of this "khuk".

I kinda wonder about the actual steel used, and the tempering employed, at this price.

Some of the other stuff looked nice to me too, at least as a photo.
 
I was pretty much thinking the same thing, a good price is one thing, but some of his prices seem a little too good. The handles on some of his knives are gorgeous, I really like that cherry.

Matthew

I never noticed how many typos I have. I seem to have a thing for leaving out "s"'s :p
 
Glad I'm not alone in these thoughts...

I know little more than jack-squat about Japanese knives/steel other than investigating some kitchen knives. (There's a few links here from a couple of weeks ago, if you're interested enough to search).

They usually had lots of information about final hardness, method of forging, etc. I might have missed it, but not much like that on this site. Somehow, I don't think that the traditional "white steel" and "blue steel" are purchased from a Hitachi mega steel mill.

But I could be completly wrong. I have no idea whether these are really touristy display pieces or real tools. (My suspicious side is winning though)
 
I don't particularly care for the stylized khukuri, but I really do like some of his other blades. The kitchen knives don't look to be all that expensive although I didn't take the time to convert right now.
I especially like the laminated blades!!!!!!!
 
Originally posted by firkin
Glad I'm not alone in these thoughts...

I have no idea whether these are really touristy display pieces or real tools. (My suspicious side is winning though)
Click to expand...

Firkin I saw one place that said the blades were between 62, 65 Rockwell. That's well within the range for Japanese kitchen tools.
62 Rc is a little much for huning and utility knives though.
However an excellent Japanese pruning would be well within the limits specified as they are generally carefully used.
The harder the steel the more apt it is to chipping.
I believe the knives are legit. The laminated steel leads me to believe that and the care with which the knives appear to have been assembled.
Those cherry bark handles are beautiful and I wouldn't think easy to make. They display a great deal of care and patience.
I just wonder about the long term wear..........
 
Yvsa:

Firkin I saw one place that said the blades were between 62, 65 Rockwell
Click to expand...

Well, I did indeed miss it!!

Yes, the kitchen knives weren't too expensive.
I' seen an amazing spread on the ultra-traditional ones like on this site. Other than the prestige and skill of the maker, I suspect that the steel and iron (if used, the super-expensive ones seem to a thick chunk of high-carbon, traditionally made steel) is a big factor.

I wasn't clear, by "well-finished kitchen knives", I was actually thinking of things like the laminated ones I posted links to. The less expensive ones with 10-12 layers went for about $40-60 for a blade around 4-5 inches and were double-beveled. I didn't look at the big pictures of the kitchen knives until now. I didn't think they were laminated. I don't think I've ever seen these very traditional patterns done in laminated steel before (especially the deba). The two-layer iron/carbon steel seemed almost mandatory. The prices seem reasonable. I'm intrigued.

So how come the bigger blades don't cost more than they do? I think that's what made me wonder about his stuff.

I agree, if the "khuk" and other non-kitchen knives are this hard-- that's problematic for a lot of the big blades in particular.

Maybe these are good deal, if carefully selected as to intended use...

If anybody finds out, please report back.
 
If there's no cho it's only khukuri shaped. :)

Some interesting knives though. Has anyone ordered stuff from Japan? What do they charge for shipping?
 
Originally posted by BruiseLeee
If there's no cho it's only khukuri shaped. :)

Some interesting knives though. Has anyone ordered stuff from Japan? What do they charge for shipping?
Click to expand...

They have an "order" page, at the bottom of the Home Page", quoting EMS rates in yen. I believe it was 1,863y for a 700g knife. The final I got was $243.12, or two small Khuks...maybe three UBDOTDs on a good day. Bro was right - 62-65 rc on a "traditionally made" folded blade. A very nice "Khukuri shaped knife", but not a Khukuri.
 
I know both of Mr.Saji and the dealer very well. If you find trouble to order, give me details and I'll transmit the order to the dealer.
And Mr. Saji is a custom maker also. You can throw him a drawing to have your own one. He likes traditional Yasuki steels most, like Shiro-gami, and Ao-gami, composed of same contents as katana analyzed by Hitachi. Those knives ("Nata"s), are very good for chopping woods. However I find Nata is a little bit intolerant for inadequate use, and wrong chopping angle than HI khukuris...
 
I'm with Bro on this one. I'll pass on the khukuri but some of his other stuff is very nice, indeed.
 
Wrongfriend,

Thank you for seting me straight on this smith and his product. I will do my best to remember him when or if I have more money than khukuries to spend it on.

Are his prices lower than usual, or have I only been looking at expensive Japanese examples until now?? I would really like to acquire such a folded (laminated) blade.
 
firkin, roughly guessing the khukuri is around 20% higher priced than his usual lineup. Also guessing it's because of its unique style where Mr.Saji might well got quite sweaty to laminate it and quench it.

As a khukuri I'd take non khukuri shaped blades with straight edge, rectangular blade shape ones. In a skilled hand (not mine hehe), it doesn't chop wood but just cuts and slices wood...

One funny thing when I talked with him. He loves traditional steel, and other high carbon steel of file. He only hates spring steel! "It bounces back to me! Geeee" he said.
He once made me a monster balisong. It's just great. I could've bought tons of his knife if there weren't HIKV in me.
 
Hello. Long time no see.

Thanks for this link. I didn't know Saji was finally online.

I have twice attended the Seki Blade Festival in Gifu Prefecture, which attracts maybe 100 custom makers, in addition to factory knifemakers including a few foreigners such as Ernst Emerson.

Takeshi Saji was one of the Japanese knifemakers who stood out the first year I attended. I purchased his polished large Kamui knife, which can be seen at:

http://www.ohyasuya.co.jp/saji/sub/kamui.html

Right top picture, third down. The brown handled, curved blade.

It is beautiful and handles very well. It is quite light. I would choose it over my Cold Steel Stag Trailmaster if I had to use it for self defense. I use my other knives for cutting, though.

Japanese knife magazine reviews are not Cliff Stamp reviews, and they do not usually subject knives to extreme use, with the obvious exception of that Japanese reviewer who takes Mad Dog or Strider knife toughness claims literally, and performs demonstrations on old cars, steel pipes, other knives, and the like.

I like Mr. Saji's work for its generally utilitarian look. He is also featured in Japanese blade magazines such as KNIFE. As you may see, his knives may not be full tang, and not for use as prybars. One of his smaller outdoor knives was reviewed in recent months for a comparison test. It was used for woodsplitting, cutting small diameter cable, preparing food, etc. It wasn't the performance leader (up against Mad Dog, etc.), but it didn't break either.

I never did ask him why he was relatively cheap for a custom maker who uses traditional methods. You should see the truly outrageous prices on Japanese custom knives.

This so called khukuri is unfortunately not one of his better looking works.

There other makers who make khukuri shaped blades or machetes, but of course not with the same profile or thickness. Then there is one dealer/importer also based in Seki, of what they call genuine Indian Army khukuris, which are even bad to look at. I tried e-mailing them about how to get real khukuris, from HI, of course; but no luck.
 
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