- Joined
- Sep 30, 2005
- Messages
- 580
Something I would like to share with you khukuri knife fans.....
Let me first start off by saying that I am no knife expert and that my interest in knives is to simply collect as a hobby. My knife buying usually consists of acquiring something that for whatever the reason catches my eye. I sometimes cant explain what draws me to a particular knife, or any other object that I may collect, but the draw is there just the same. There are probably countless numbers of folks that have the same draws to collecting as I do.
The khukuri knife has been one of those items that has long intrigued me. I recently decided to no longer fight off my desire to purchase some of these knives. Ive made a plan to not just purchase from one source, but to actually acquire many different khukuri knives from a variety of vendors. Some of what Ive looked into possibly buying are specimens from the Nepalese Khukuri House, Himalayan Imports, Khukuri Palace, Khukuri House, Windlass Steelcrafts, and even possibly some antiques. In other words, my intention is to have a diverse collection of khukuris. There is no doubt that quality will probably vary considerably from knife to knife when one speaks of this sort of diversity.
While looking on ebay to see what might be available through there, I noticed that an ebay store had just opened up for the sole purpose of selling Khukuri House knives. In fact, this new store was actually selling the knives under the ebay store name of Khukuri House USA. After doing some reading on their site, I learned that the gentleman running the store, Mr. Robert Robillard, had actually set up a special arrangement with the Khukuri House in Nepal. This arrangement allows Mr. Robillard to be the sole authorized Khukuri House outlet on ebay. My reading also exposed the fact that Mr. Robillards Khukuri House USA store is only one of two ebay stores that he currently operates (with the other store specializing in misc. Asian imports). Since he carries a 100% positive customer rating on that other store, it made me feel very comfortable about ordering some knives from him.
Now that we are through the primer, I can get to the issue of these two Khukuri House knives that I ordered and received from Mr. Robillards ebay store.
The two knives were the Khukuri House Service #1 and the Ceremonial Service #2.
These knives are the same knives, with the only difference being their scabbards. The Service #1 scabbard has an almost matte black finished leather covering, while the Ceremonial #2 has a scabbard that is wrapped in shiny black (patent) leather.
Both knives were sent to me in a appropriately sized cardboard box. Once the box was opened, I removed some newspaper that was used to help protect the items during shipment. I then found two separately wrapped knives. This consisted of each having an outer layer of bubble wrap, another layer of Khukuri House branded lokta (indigenous Nepalese paper), and each knife being inside a final plastic bag. After taking these knives out of their plastic bags, I carefully extracted each knife from their scabbard. There was a light coating of oil on the blades, so I carefully removed this preservative with a soft clean cotton T-shirt.
Thats when my disgust began. The Service #1 had what many folks like to call freckling (light surface rust). Nothing I hate more than to see rust on a brand new item. After about 45 minutes of using a soft cloth and some Flitz metal polish, I was able to remove the rust from the blade. Under careful inspection one can still see where the rust had left some light etching, but the rust itself was gone. Ok, now I have a clean blade, so my inspection continued. Just around the same time that I started feeling a little better about having to remove surface rust from this knife, I find a small fracture in the blades cho/kaude area. It is small, but to find any fracture was totally heartbreaking to me. I finished my inspection of the blade and proceeded to carefully inspect the knifes Water Buffalo horn handle. I quickly discovered a few defects, both sides of the handle had small fractures. At this point I figured that there couldnt possibly be anything more wrong with this knife! Well, I was wrong!
I moved on to the two small accessory knives, oh boy, a BIG fracture in the chamaks buffalo horn handle. Moving on to the scabbard inspection, I discover that there is pretty heavy rust on the rear scabbard rivets. After some serious effort using Flitz metal polish and a soft cloth, I was able to remove most of it, but the rust had already done some permanent damage.
I could see that I was not going to be all too happy with this Service No#1, but maybe the Ceremonial Service No#2 would be the charm? I mean, the Ceremonial Service No#2 is supposed to replicate the British Gurkhas parade dress knife. I figure maybe more care is taken with this model. I was wrong!
Being that I had already removed the preservative from the Ceremonial Service #2 khukuri, I began my close inspection of it. The first negative thing I noticed was a fracture on the spine of the knife. Further inspection showed the cho/kaude area having two small fractures similar to the one I found on the other knife. Then came the inspection of the two small accessory knives, which quickly and obviously showed that the chamak had a blade fracture that ran the entire length of the blade. This fracture is so bad that most of it can also be seen on the blades other side! The scabbards rivets also had rust, but it was much less so then on the other scabbard, so I was able to pretty easily remove most of it using some Flitz metal polish.
My final thoughts:
I am a person that truly appreciates hand craftsmanship. I perfectly understand that such items will show deviations and small flaws, but these two knives go beyond what should or would be considered acceptable. If a blade is a bit thicker than another, maybe a hair bit longer, a hair bit shorter, a bit less polished, a little heavier, a little bit differently shaped, etc, these are things that one can expect and even accept as being proof that each piece is truly handcrafted. But, the blades having rust and fractures, finding fractures in the handles, the scabbard rivets having rust, these are simply not just handcrafted item deviations, but rather a sign of poor quality. Again, these two knives simply and loudly say POOR QUALITY CONTROL and in so many regards!
I contacted Mr. Robillard to explain my disappointment to him. Mr. Robillard definitely seems like a professional person. He offered to do whatever was necessary to make things right. I told him that I truly appreciated his customer service, but I will admit to initially declining his offer to send the knives back to him.
I looked at it this way, if this was what the Khukuri House company wanted to send out as being representative of their work, then maybe I should just keep these two knives as examples of their lack of quality control.
Its hard for me to even imagine that the Khukuri House would have even considered supplying Mr. Robillard with such shoddy items, especially since one would imagine that they would probably like to see him succeed in this new arrangement with them.
If it had been just one single knife, I could possibly have considered it a fluke. It would have been a big fluke having had so many flaws, but a fluke nonetheless. But, this was no fluke my friends. What we have here is two for two, with neither having just one minor issue, but various issues, with some not being so minor. There is no way that I can see how these issues could have simply been overlooked.
I own other bladeware, including hand forged fixed bladed knives and swords, and can honestly tell you that I have never run across such blatant flaws. The flaws seem almost amazing when one considers that they were all found on just two khukuri knives. As for the handles and blades having fractures (some that would be better called full blown cracks), I find that situation to be completely unbelievable!
Once I realized that my impressions of these two knives were going to add up to a negative review, I felt very bad that it may also have a negative affect on Mr. Robillards khukuri sales, but since the review is an honest one, my conscience is clean.
Do I believe that Mr. Robert Robillard is a decent man to deal with? Yes, I do!
I did finally take him up on his offer to send these two knives back to him, Im currently awaiting a full refund so I can do just that.
I guess if one is hell bent on rolling the dice and wants to buy a Khukuri House knife, then Mr. Robillard would be the way to go. At least you will have someone based stateside to help you out if your not happy with your purchase (which may very well happen if these two knives are any indication).
I could not personally recommend that anyone buy a knife made or offered by the Khukuri House company of Nepal. Therefore, I also can not recommend someone buying a knife from Mr. Robillards Khukuri House USA ebay store. This is not about Mr. Robillard and his customer service, it is simply about the obviously poor quality control of the Khukuri House products that Mr. Robillard is selling.
Click onto this link to see a large image of the khukuri that I spent 45 minutes polishing with Flitz to remove its surface rust. At a distance this knife looks okay, its only upon closer inspection that one starts to see the knifes many defects (which the other photo links will show):
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/9431/dscn03784le.jpg
Click for a large photo of one of the small fractures in khukuri knife handle. This is only one of two such fractures in this handle, with the other fracture being located on the opposite side.
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/2470/dscn03554bz.jpg
Click for a large photo showing a large fracture in one of the chakmak handles.
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/9172/dscn03613wk.jpg
Click for a large photo of some of the scabbards rivets. This photo shows these rivets after considerable time was spent cleaning them with flitz metal polish to remove most of the rust (they truly had quite a bit of rust prior to using the flitz).
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/3614/dscn03639mn.jpg
Click for a large photo of the chakmak with the fracture that runs the entire length of the blade. This same fracture runs almost the whole length of the blade on the opposite side as well.
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/5388/dscn03656dg.jpg
Click for a large photo of a small fracture in the kaude area (cho). Both khukuris have these small fractures in these areas, one having two such fractures.
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/1651/dscn03772mq.jpg
Click for a large photo of a fracture in the spine of one of the khukuri blades.
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/9083/dscn03911iv.jpg
As I continue to purchase other khukuri knives for my collection, I will again share my visual impressions of them with you.
Let me first start off by saying that I am no knife expert and that my interest in knives is to simply collect as a hobby. My knife buying usually consists of acquiring something that for whatever the reason catches my eye. I sometimes cant explain what draws me to a particular knife, or any other object that I may collect, but the draw is there just the same. There are probably countless numbers of folks that have the same draws to collecting as I do.
The khukuri knife has been one of those items that has long intrigued me. I recently decided to no longer fight off my desire to purchase some of these knives. Ive made a plan to not just purchase from one source, but to actually acquire many different khukuri knives from a variety of vendors. Some of what Ive looked into possibly buying are specimens from the Nepalese Khukuri House, Himalayan Imports, Khukuri Palace, Khukuri House, Windlass Steelcrafts, and even possibly some antiques. In other words, my intention is to have a diverse collection of khukuris. There is no doubt that quality will probably vary considerably from knife to knife when one speaks of this sort of diversity.
While looking on ebay to see what might be available through there, I noticed that an ebay store had just opened up for the sole purpose of selling Khukuri House knives. In fact, this new store was actually selling the knives under the ebay store name of Khukuri House USA. After doing some reading on their site, I learned that the gentleman running the store, Mr. Robert Robillard, had actually set up a special arrangement with the Khukuri House in Nepal. This arrangement allows Mr. Robillard to be the sole authorized Khukuri House outlet on ebay. My reading also exposed the fact that Mr. Robillards Khukuri House USA store is only one of two ebay stores that he currently operates (with the other store specializing in misc. Asian imports). Since he carries a 100% positive customer rating on that other store, it made me feel very comfortable about ordering some knives from him.
Now that we are through the primer, I can get to the issue of these two Khukuri House knives that I ordered and received from Mr. Robillards ebay store.
The two knives were the Khukuri House Service #1 and the Ceremonial Service #2.
These knives are the same knives, with the only difference being their scabbards. The Service #1 scabbard has an almost matte black finished leather covering, while the Ceremonial #2 has a scabbard that is wrapped in shiny black (patent) leather.
Both knives were sent to me in a appropriately sized cardboard box. Once the box was opened, I removed some newspaper that was used to help protect the items during shipment. I then found two separately wrapped knives. This consisted of each having an outer layer of bubble wrap, another layer of Khukuri House branded lokta (indigenous Nepalese paper), and each knife being inside a final plastic bag. After taking these knives out of their plastic bags, I carefully extracted each knife from their scabbard. There was a light coating of oil on the blades, so I carefully removed this preservative with a soft clean cotton T-shirt.
Thats when my disgust began. The Service #1 had what many folks like to call freckling (light surface rust). Nothing I hate more than to see rust on a brand new item. After about 45 minutes of using a soft cloth and some Flitz metal polish, I was able to remove the rust from the blade. Under careful inspection one can still see where the rust had left some light etching, but the rust itself was gone. Ok, now I have a clean blade, so my inspection continued. Just around the same time that I started feeling a little better about having to remove surface rust from this knife, I find a small fracture in the blades cho/kaude area. It is small, but to find any fracture was totally heartbreaking to me. I finished my inspection of the blade and proceeded to carefully inspect the knifes Water Buffalo horn handle. I quickly discovered a few defects, both sides of the handle had small fractures. At this point I figured that there couldnt possibly be anything more wrong with this knife! Well, I was wrong!
I moved on to the two small accessory knives, oh boy, a BIG fracture in the chamaks buffalo horn handle. Moving on to the scabbard inspection, I discover that there is pretty heavy rust on the rear scabbard rivets. After some serious effort using Flitz metal polish and a soft cloth, I was able to remove most of it, but the rust had already done some permanent damage.
I could see that I was not going to be all too happy with this Service No#1, but maybe the Ceremonial Service No#2 would be the charm? I mean, the Ceremonial Service No#2 is supposed to replicate the British Gurkhas parade dress knife. I figure maybe more care is taken with this model. I was wrong!
Being that I had already removed the preservative from the Ceremonial Service #2 khukuri, I began my close inspection of it. The first negative thing I noticed was a fracture on the spine of the knife. Further inspection showed the cho/kaude area having two small fractures similar to the one I found on the other knife. Then came the inspection of the two small accessory knives, which quickly and obviously showed that the chamak had a blade fracture that ran the entire length of the blade. This fracture is so bad that most of it can also be seen on the blades other side! The scabbards rivets also had rust, but it was much less so then on the other scabbard, so I was able to pretty easily remove most of it using some Flitz metal polish.
My final thoughts:
I am a person that truly appreciates hand craftsmanship. I perfectly understand that such items will show deviations and small flaws, but these two knives go beyond what should or would be considered acceptable. If a blade is a bit thicker than another, maybe a hair bit longer, a hair bit shorter, a bit less polished, a little heavier, a little bit differently shaped, etc, these are things that one can expect and even accept as being proof that each piece is truly handcrafted. But, the blades having rust and fractures, finding fractures in the handles, the scabbard rivets having rust, these are simply not just handcrafted item deviations, but rather a sign of poor quality. Again, these two knives simply and loudly say POOR QUALITY CONTROL and in so many regards!
I contacted Mr. Robillard to explain my disappointment to him. Mr. Robillard definitely seems like a professional person. He offered to do whatever was necessary to make things right. I told him that I truly appreciated his customer service, but I will admit to initially declining his offer to send the knives back to him.
I looked at it this way, if this was what the Khukuri House company wanted to send out as being representative of their work, then maybe I should just keep these two knives as examples of their lack of quality control.
Its hard for me to even imagine that the Khukuri House would have even considered supplying Mr. Robillard with such shoddy items, especially since one would imagine that they would probably like to see him succeed in this new arrangement with them.
If it had been just one single knife, I could possibly have considered it a fluke. It would have been a big fluke having had so many flaws, but a fluke nonetheless. But, this was no fluke my friends. What we have here is two for two, with neither having just one minor issue, but various issues, with some not being so minor. There is no way that I can see how these issues could have simply been overlooked.
I own other bladeware, including hand forged fixed bladed knives and swords, and can honestly tell you that I have never run across such blatant flaws. The flaws seem almost amazing when one considers that they were all found on just two khukuri knives. As for the handles and blades having fractures (some that would be better called full blown cracks), I find that situation to be completely unbelievable!
Once I realized that my impressions of these two knives were going to add up to a negative review, I felt very bad that it may also have a negative affect on Mr. Robillards khukuri sales, but since the review is an honest one, my conscience is clean.
Do I believe that Mr. Robert Robillard is a decent man to deal with? Yes, I do!
I did finally take him up on his offer to send these two knives back to him, Im currently awaiting a full refund so I can do just that.
I guess if one is hell bent on rolling the dice and wants to buy a Khukuri House knife, then Mr. Robillard would be the way to go. At least you will have someone based stateside to help you out if your not happy with your purchase (which may very well happen if these two knives are any indication).
I could not personally recommend that anyone buy a knife made or offered by the Khukuri House company of Nepal. Therefore, I also can not recommend someone buying a knife from Mr. Robillards Khukuri House USA ebay store. This is not about Mr. Robillard and his customer service, it is simply about the obviously poor quality control of the Khukuri House products that Mr. Robillard is selling.
Click onto this link to see a large image of the khukuri that I spent 45 minutes polishing with Flitz to remove its surface rust. At a distance this knife looks okay, its only upon closer inspection that one starts to see the knifes many defects (which the other photo links will show):
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/9431/dscn03784le.jpg
Click for a large photo of one of the small fractures in khukuri knife handle. This is only one of two such fractures in this handle, with the other fracture being located on the opposite side.
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/2470/dscn03554bz.jpg
Click for a large photo showing a large fracture in one of the chakmak handles.
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/9172/dscn03613wk.jpg
Click for a large photo of some of the scabbards rivets. This photo shows these rivets after considerable time was spent cleaning them with flitz metal polish to remove most of the rust (they truly had quite a bit of rust prior to using the flitz).
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/3614/dscn03639mn.jpg
Click for a large photo of the chakmak with the fracture that runs the entire length of the blade. This same fracture runs almost the whole length of the blade on the opposite side as well.
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/5388/dscn03656dg.jpg
Click for a large photo of a small fracture in the kaude area (cho). Both khukuris have these small fractures in these areas, one having two such fractures.
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/1651/dscn03772mq.jpg
Click for a large photo of a fracture in the spine of one of the khukuri blades.
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/9083/dscn03911iv.jpg
As I continue to purchase other khukuri knives for my collection, I will again share my visual impressions of them with you.
:foot: . You'll never find a TJQ khuk here.
But I get your meaning.