Secrets of the Khukuri Handle (With pics!)

Uncle Bill will probably shlt a little ring around himself when he sees this!:eek: :(
Every stick tang that I've removed the handle on has had the tang all the way through and that's the way ALL of THE HI KHUKS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE MADE!!!!:grumpy:
Actually I understood that to be why the warranty included the handles as well as the blades.
It's very disappointing that of all people Bura was the one that pulled such a stunt. I would expect it more from one of the younger kamis cutting corners and getting a tang too short. It was probably made for a Nepali's hand and would've been fine had Bura just shortened the handle accordingly.:rolleyes:
I think I could tell the difference between one that was nailed on and one that's properly peened over. The peened ones blend right into the brass or steel keeper while the nailed ones are usually a flat head, that is unless Bura disguised it thinking it would never be found and it probably wouldn't have if it had not broken.:grumpy:
Sad news and especially with Uncle Bill in the shape he's in.:(
 
Just wanted to throw in that I too found no rudeness to your post KM. There's no shame in speaking the truth politely which is all you did.
 
Roadrunner said:
Just wanted to throw in that I too found no rudeness to your post KM. There's no shame in speaking the truth politely which is all you did.
Click to expand...
Hayv! It is true, neither did I. I'm glad it was brought to everyone's attention.
 
Not that I'm trying to defend this, but for my own education, would a full tang with a rod of small diameter extending to the buttcap really help?
 
This is a recent Bura, I bought it in April of this year. It was a blem, maybe it was made for locals and was never supposed to be shipped to the US?

And, Yvsa, I'm not totally sure I understand what you are saying about being able to tell the difference (between a nailed on and peened on buttcap), but I don't think there's any way I could have told the difference. The end of the nail looked peened over and rounded, and I had to grind it off in order to pry off the buttcap. Of course, I never examined it closely.
 
I wanted to add, I don't think Bura was trying to "hide" anything by peening over the end of the nail... if it wasn't peened over wouldn't the buttcap just fall off?
 
when you peen the tang of a khukuri into the buttcap, there is a smooth round transition from the silver steel to the brass butt cap.

where as wehn you have a nail, its normally a square head rather then round, and the transition may not be as smooth. it may be that bura iether used a round head nail, or hammered the nail to look like it was a peened tang so as to hide that it wasnt.
 
yikes...:eek:

'tis a shame - to be sure.

Hope Uncle sends over the pics you "discovered".

Pala won't be too happy either. Perhaps one of Bura's helpers made the screw-up and he just signed his name to it? who knows....

I'm curious to hear what the response will be.
 
You know, I was somewhat skeptical that this was made by Bura, because the fullers on each side of the blade don't line up. One of the fullers doesn't extend as far back as the other. Of course, everyone makes mistakes, but I figured Bura's work would be more likely to be close to perfect.

And the nail was hand-forged, the head was round-shaped.
 
Wish someone with a sizeable collection had access to an xray machine...or one of those old foot inside the shoe viewers...
 
one of those old foot inside the shoe viewers...

FLUOROSCOPE

If I remember correctly. Bunch of us kids on the south side of Chicago should have had our feet melting off by now. We used to plague the Sears store and sneak on to the machine to see our foot bones through our shoes.

There is a special place in heaven for the old Sears Shoe Department salesmen.
 
Here's a scenario;

Kami forges blade,
with the full length tang finished last,
At the last minute of forging the tang,
a forge flaw causes the tail to break.
Or
when he starts peening the tail breaks
Either way
Kami decides that rather than throw away all that work
or reforge the tang
he knows that a partial tang really is good enough.
[as evidenced in this case]
He sets in the partial tang
& uses the broken bit as a nail.
Smooths it down as usual.

~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<>call me 'Dean' :)-FYI-FWIW-IIRC-JMO-M2C-YMMV-TIA-YW-GL-HH-HBD-IBSCUTWS-TWotBGUaDUaDUaD
<> Tips <> Baha'i Prayers Links--A--T--H--D
 
This khukuri was not made by Bura. My best guess is that is was made by one of his helpers who conned everybody including Bura with the finished product.

This is a good example of why Bura always worked alone doing even detail work that could easily be accomplished by a helper or apprentice. When he had his stroke and could no longer use his left arm he was forced to take helpers or produce nothing (we kept him on a stay alive salary but not nearly as much as he earned when producing). He opted for a couple of helpers but has never been very happy with the arrangement.

I'm sending over pix from this thread to alert Bura, Pala and Pradeep to the shenanigams. My guess is the helper who made this khukuri will soon be looking for another job.

Many thanks for very good help and information.
 
Nasty said:
Wish someone with a sizeable collection had access to an xray machine...
Click to expand...
Used to be
if you were on friendly terms
you could get a local vet or college to x-ray objects
if you paid for the film
& they weren't busy with business.

Don't know if laws are more restrictive these days.

Dentists might be a possibility
if the tiny film they use is big enough for the project.

! Or, chiropracters............
they used to do full-size back x-rays.

Sounds interesting.

~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<>call me 'Dean' :)-FYI-FWIW-IIRC-JMO-M2C-YMMV-TIA-YW-GL-HH-HBD-IBSCUTWS-TWotBGUaDUaDUaD
<> Tips <> Baha'i Prayers Links--A--T--H--D
 
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