Kailash Khukuri Review Megathread!

A glowing and comprehensive review from a recent customer on facebook!
"Dear Ladies and Gentlemen:
This is my first post on this forum. I am a fairly new fan and collector of handmade khukuris and did not have anything to contribute to this group of enthusiasts so far. My knowledge is still quite limited, but I have learned a lot from the khukuris collectors and researchers like Mr. Levan Dadiani, Mr. Timothy McLaughlin of Dragonfly Khukuri & Knives, Mr. Andrew Lucas from Kailash Blades, Mr. Viking Krishna Kunwor from Heritage Knives, Mr. Simon Hengle from Tora Blades and quite a number of group and forum members. I consider myself blessed to call some of them my new-found friends.

Since I received my delivery of a number of semi-custom khukuris from Kailash Blades I would like to take the opportunity to share pictures of them with you.
The Khukuris made by Kailash Blades here specifically are: Historical Service Issue (HSI), Panawal, Fort William MK1 and their great Pensioner. The HSI, Panawal and Fort William MK1 feature blades in satin finish, while the Pensioner is polished. The latter appears to have a blue tone to it, though this is a lightning effect. Of course, in reality it is a semi-glossy "silver" finish.
All of the blades, excpect for the HSI, do have the standard grind. The HSI I did order with the Heavy Duty grind for heavy chopping. Since the latter will go to hunter who will use it for heavy wood work, I consider it a good, durable choice. That said, I guess "Standard Grind" would be have been quite sufficient, though, and perhaps even the "Performance Grind". I admit that the differences are still a bit confusing to me and therefore it ain't as easy to me to select on the "right" type of grind that takes into consideration a specific or a possible future applications I might use the khukuri for…

kailash kydex sheaths.jpg

Each one came with Kailash Blades excellent Kydex sheath (shown here) as well as a traditional dap (not shown). If you look close, one of the Kydex sheath is for a "Southpaw" - a left hander, which was a special request by me, which the good guys at Kailash Blades were happy to accommodate. For the Pensioner I even had a third scabbard - their Salyani - Rubbed Leather - made. The latter is the most aesthetically beautiful looking, in my opinion. It is pretty similar to those really nice and traditional ones many D.K&K. khukuris are supplied with.
As you can see I ordered all of the blades either with robust Micarta wrap handles or handle slaps (like in case of the Panawal), because I consider this material much superior to either wood or horn especially for a "hard use" blade. Micarta is quite impervious tot he elements and does not require regular care and maintenance as organic materials would. Furthermore, the rougher but great feeling external structure allows for a very secure grip.

What I also like are the circumference of the grips and their length which provides for a lot of good control over the blade. Also, on downward sweeps with the khukuris I won't get stung by the edges or tips of the buttcaps. There are khukuris from top makers on the market (I own some by now) with relatively slender and sometimes short grips as well as sharp and/or pointy buttcaps which, over the long haul, make using them pretty uncomfortable and sometimes downright painful/torturous.
🥺
Interestingly enough, I have neither read, nor heard a lot about these deficits in khukuri grip design…

These Kailash Blades shown here DO NOT have any of these problems, especially not with the longer 5.25 inch handle size, which I choose for all of them. Before ordering I was unsure whether or not to go with the medium length, which is 4.75 inch, but Iam glad I did select the longer 5.25 inch handle. Even though I have small to medium sized hands myself, after this experiences I would always go with a longer handle size, if offered by the respective makers. While many makers probably can and will do them on special request, to my knowledge only Kailash Blades literally "asks" on their product pages on their website which one you like to get, so it is impossible to miss out on this important option.

By the way - and this will come as a surprise - I won't keep any of these blades, as they were intended as gifts. All of the khukuris shown here will be gifted to friends, a business associate and last not least my younger brother. However, included in the same delivery, I got me three (3) more khukuris from Kailash Blades - a MK1, a Pensioner and the fantastic Mutiny - which I have ordered for myself and which I will never get rid of. Once they are cleaned up I will photograph them and also show them here.

kailash khukuri review collection.jpg

After this experience I am thinking strongly about ordering the Angkhola Dui Chirra in full tang with black Micarta handle panels from Kailash Blades to be as a "heavy duty" khukuri. Let's see… And, thanks to khukuri enthusiast Mr. Levan Dadiani and his inspirational videos, that damn Salyani blade from Kailash Blades also does not go out of my head anymore either!!!
😄

Lastly I would point out that Kailash Blades has among the best customer service and fasted speed of communication I have ever experienced - not only among the top khukuri manufacturers but all companies I have ever dealt with! I don't know whether Andrew ever sleeps or rests, as his responses are unbelievably quick, very detailed, personal and contain information that is actually helpful for the customer. That makes selection from among the various models and countless options that much easier. As a customer you really feel that you are in extremely good hands with this company.
😇


Let me thank Andrew, Bisnu and the whole crew at Kailash Blades for an outstanding job done here! If you read this post here: You went beyond the call of duty and exceeded all my expectations, which is just great!
👍
"
 
Scholagladiatoria uploaded their first full Kailash Review:


Awesome! We're really enjoying talking with him and discussing khukuri design. There could be a collaboration in future, who knows? ;)
 
Our Tin Chirra Angkhola just got a review by some great guys called Unsheathed Sword Reviews.


While it's a new channel they have a great energy and banter- excited to see more from this team :)
 
We've got a pretty interesting two parter here:
This customer has had 3 very different khukuris over his life- a cold steel kukri styled machete, an EGKH afghan freedom nepali made blade with modern design and finally our Pensioner.
He talks abut his journey with this blade style and makes comparisons between them. In the first video it's discussion and in the second video it's testing.


To summarise he says "Yeah I am 100% satisfied with this blade... I just love this knife. It's great. It just goes to show that the traditional designs do work and you don't need to reinvent the wheel."
 
A great review from within this very forum!
 
And another= this time of a mutiny.
 
A written review of the 15.5" mutiny here. Great to see some feedback on it in outdoors applications.

"Have to say, after having using it to cut down dead trees, pruning my whole backyard and splitting some firewood, I am pretty stoked with the Kailash blades Mutiny....Overall it’s really refreshing to see there are still those out there making tools with intricate grinding and use of all the space on a blade, I will be buying at least one smaller one for now, and can recommend Kailash blades product."

Full review including pictures here :)
 
Interesting to see the intense fuller on the new pattern Mutiny.
Yeah she's a little thicker on the spine now so the effect is a bit more pronounced. Strong lighting also :)
 
A beautiful photo of a pensioner here with a lot of different peoples' thoughts on Kailash khukuris being used in a bushcraft context. Some very good things being said!


"This is a Kailash Blades Pensioner, handmade in Nepal. I’ve only had it for a few months but I love it! I felled this dead fir on my dads property a while back with an axe, and I wanted to see how the kukri performed at limbing. Of course compared to the axe it was less efficient, but it performed amazingly well for its weight class. I did get a small blister in my palm from the ridge in the handle, which I already ground down a bit and intend to grind down even more. I got this mostly as a collectors piece, but I think it will actually just take the place of a hatchet for certain outings."
 
And here we have a few different writeups from inside this very forum! Talking about Sirupates, handle sizing, micarta, HSI and mutiny.
 
A short review of a full length chitlange with guard here- not a lot of these in the wild so great to get some opinions.
 
Congrats, if Kailash khichuri's can handle the way that guy treats his blades, I believe I need at least one of them. Dang, he beats the hell out of his blades with hunks of wood from the blades to the handles. That's quite the testament to your blades and the way their made. 👍
 
Congrats, if Kailash khichuri's can handle the way that guy treats his blades, I believe I need at least one of them. Dang, he beats the hell out of his blades with hunks of wood from the blades to the handles. That's quite the testament to your blades and the way their made. 👍
Yeah he certainly isn't kind to his knives! it goes to show though just because we can't warranty using a stump to baton a rat tail blade through another stump doesn't mean they can't handle it.
 
Ontario Knife Company kukri testing here followed up by a dui chirra. I've long been a supporter of the OKC interpretation but maybe that won't be the case going forwards.
 
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