There have been a few HI knives on eBay recently, and when they sell, they sell for decent money. What could be done to improve the aftermarket on them? The famous knife makers do limited runs of certain types of knives to ensure aftermarket supply is always smaller than demand, but that style of business wouldn't work for knives that are "traditional" in the sense that they have time-test designs and manufacturing techniques.
As it is, my best guess is that the unpredictable supply of new blades is what might encourage people to buy them in the aftermarket, but only once awareness of HI quality leads to an increase in demand. Perhaps there could be improvements in the consistency of each blade, but even more important would be modern handle designs. I tried to buy someone's rehandled HI kukri, and I offered silly money. You know what the guy said? "NO!" Seriously, the guy was selling blades that cost hundreds of dollars, and the one he wouldn't sell for any amount was his modern-rehandled HI kukri. Hint, hint...
Here you can see photos of the WWII I bought from this forum:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1000346-Three-blems-for-10-12
Here is what it looked like right after I put a patina on it:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...Khukuri-patina-photos?p=11437780#post11437780
My patina has mellowed a lot, and it's more even and attractive now, but I don't have photos of it handy yet. Maybe later... [Edit: added photos!]
I love my WWII, even with its goofy traditional palm-poker handle. I figured out that a looser grip let's the kukri do the work, and also allows the palm-poker to slip past my palm without leaving its "mark". Choking up on the handle is a lot more comfortable too. That, and leather work gloves seem to help a lot. Eventually I'm probably going to get a big belt sander and grind the palm poker off.
Although I don't like the traditional handles, I've spent hours examining the subtle beauty of the blade on my WWII. It has curves on its curves, kind of like many other beautiful things in this world (1979 Corvette!). The shape of the edge grind varies from razor-like hollow grind to convex, depending on where it is on the blade.
The parts that get the most force on them have a the strong convex grind, in the sweet spot where the curve near the tip of the blade strikes its target. The tip of the blade has what looks more like the saber grind that you see on swords and other thrusting weapons like spear heads, which need a compromise in strength and cutting ability.
Closer to the handle, you get the razor-like convex edge that is also well suited for precision cutting of less tough things. I use it for cutting fruit that fits there perfectly.
Once my blade had a mature patina on it, you could clearly see what was hardened and how much it was hardened, in addition to the areas that weren't hardened at all. The patina shimmers with glossy blue, gray, and red colors. It's gorgeous how the colors change in the light, and photos don't do it justice.
The tip is hardened, but not as much as the convex-edge sweet spot further down that does most of the heavy-duty work. The sweet spot is hardened a bit deeper into the blade, which probably gives the knife greater longevity over decades of heavy use and resharpening. The razor-like convex edge portions of the blade are just as heavily hardened as the sweet spot, but it is hardened much shallower to ensure plenty of strength to support hard edge and keep it from cracking. You can see the hardened areas quite clearly with the patina. For whatever reason, the hardened areas patinate quite differently from the rest of the blade, which is quite attractive.
Although the knife blade is quite thick - it looks to be about 3/8 of an inch to me - it is still flexible enough that I can get it to bend a very tiny amount by hand. It is spring steel, after all. Obviously, this knife is meant to bend instead of break when it is abused. I would love to try cutting open tin cans and mangled highway vehicles. I have no doubt this blade could do it if I ever need it in an emergency. I laugh when I see guys in suits and ties with their dinky little "glass breaker & seatbelt cutter" gadgets in their cars. My WWII could chop it to powdery bits and that's after it cuts apart the entire car!
Some higher quality blades have grooves on them to prevent sticking after chopping or cutting something flexible and/or wet. The Dui Chirra kukri shows that design quite well, with 2 wide grooves along the length of the blade. From photos, you can't see anything like that on the WWII blades, and when I first got mine, I saw and felt nothing more than flatness. But, after slicing up some gooey avocados, I noticed that they didn't stick to my WWII blade. I put it on flat glass, and I could see that my WWII had 2 long and very slight depressions that are very similar to the Dui Chirra!
Those grooves are the reason that my fruit was not sticking to the WWII blade, and although I haven't chopped wood or greenery with it yet, I'm sure that is why my WWII's bladesmith ("kami") decided to put such slight grooves into the blade. At first I thought the grooves are far too subtle to be intentional - there's so slight that you can't see or feel them - but they're on both sides of the blade, and they were hammered into the blade somehow, so they're definitely intentional. I would guess that they are no deeper than about 0.015 inches - that's 15 thousandths of an inch. It's too little depth to see or feel, but it's definitely there, and the fruit and wood will not be able to get a tight grip on the blade because of them.
It is absolutely obvious that these blades from Himalayan Imports are made to be used, and they are about as perfect as a blade can be. They have features like those slight grooves I discovered that make the blade a more efficient tool, but that you could never see in marketing photos. People who own these blades are supposed to judge their quality by how well they WORK, not by how expensive they are or how pretty they are, or by who is selling them.
If people were more aware of how refined and perfected these blades are - not because someone says they're the best, but instead because I can point out to you all these fancy hard working features that the kami put into the blade - then I think the demand for these knives would create a stronger aftermarket and improved resale values. If I knew that I could sell my HI kukri for nearly the same price I paid for it (or more), then why should I hesitate to buy as many knives as I want to collect?
For now, my WWII is MINE, so I won't get to test its resale value any time soon. I love it - I've always wanted a kukri, and I think I got the perfect one for me. It was blem with a cracked handle, so I got it for a good price that makes me feel comfortable with using the blade, and exploring its capabilities. Honestly, considering its quality, it was a fantastic bargain. Knives of inferior detail and quality can easily cost 10 times as much from a well-known maker.
That is probably why Himalayan Imports has such a fiercely loyal collector base. It appears I have been baptized into the ranks
As it is, my best guess is that the unpredictable supply of new blades is what might encourage people to buy them in the aftermarket, but only once awareness of HI quality leads to an increase in demand. Perhaps there could be improvements in the consistency of each blade, but even more important would be modern handle designs. I tried to buy someone's rehandled HI kukri, and I offered silly money. You know what the guy said? "NO!" Seriously, the guy was selling blades that cost hundreds of dollars, and the one he wouldn't sell for any amount was his modern-rehandled HI kukri. Hint, hint...
Here you can see photos of the WWII I bought from this forum:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1000346-Three-blems-for-10-12
Here is what it looked like right after I put a patina on it:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...Khukuri-patina-photos?p=11437780#post11437780
My patina has mellowed a lot, and it's more even and attractive now, but I don't have photos of it handy yet. Maybe later... [Edit: added photos!]
I love my WWII, even with its goofy traditional palm-poker handle. I figured out that a looser grip let's the kukri do the work, and also allows the palm-poker to slip past my palm without leaving its "mark". Choking up on the handle is a lot more comfortable too. That, and leather work gloves seem to help a lot. Eventually I'm probably going to get a big belt sander and grind the palm poker off.
Although I don't like the traditional handles, I've spent hours examining the subtle beauty of the blade on my WWII. It has curves on its curves, kind of like many other beautiful things in this world (1979 Corvette!). The shape of the edge grind varies from razor-like hollow grind to convex, depending on where it is on the blade.
The parts that get the most force on them have a the strong convex grind, in the sweet spot where the curve near the tip of the blade strikes its target. The tip of the blade has what looks more like the saber grind that you see on swords and other thrusting weapons like spear heads, which need a compromise in strength and cutting ability.
Closer to the handle, you get the razor-like convex edge that is also well suited for precision cutting of less tough things. I use it for cutting fruit that fits there perfectly.
Once my blade had a mature patina on it, you could clearly see what was hardened and how much it was hardened, in addition to the areas that weren't hardened at all. The patina shimmers with glossy blue, gray, and red colors. It's gorgeous how the colors change in the light, and photos don't do it justice.
The tip is hardened, but not as much as the convex-edge sweet spot further down that does most of the heavy-duty work. The sweet spot is hardened a bit deeper into the blade, which probably gives the knife greater longevity over decades of heavy use and resharpening. The razor-like convex edge portions of the blade are just as heavily hardened as the sweet spot, but it is hardened much shallower to ensure plenty of strength to support hard edge and keep it from cracking. You can see the hardened areas quite clearly with the patina. For whatever reason, the hardened areas patinate quite differently from the rest of the blade, which is quite attractive.
Although the knife blade is quite thick - it looks to be about 3/8 of an inch to me - it is still flexible enough that I can get it to bend a very tiny amount by hand. It is spring steel, after all. Obviously, this knife is meant to bend instead of break when it is abused. I would love to try cutting open tin cans and mangled highway vehicles. I have no doubt this blade could do it if I ever need it in an emergency. I laugh when I see guys in suits and ties with their dinky little "glass breaker & seatbelt cutter" gadgets in their cars. My WWII could chop it to powdery bits and that's after it cuts apart the entire car!
Some higher quality blades have grooves on them to prevent sticking after chopping or cutting something flexible and/or wet. The Dui Chirra kukri shows that design quite well, with 2 wide grooves along the length of the blade. From photos, you can't see anything like that on the WWII blades, and when I first got mine, I saw and felt nothing more than flatness. But, after slicing up some gooey avocados, I noticed that they didn't stick to my WWII blade. I put it on flat glass, and I could see that my WWII had 2 long and very slight depressions that are very similar to the Dui Chirra!
Those grooves are the reason that my fruit was not sticking to the WWII blade, and although I haven't chopped wood or greenery with it yet, I'm sure that is why my WWII's bladesmith ("kami") decided to put such slight grooves into the blade. At first I thought the grooves are far too subtle to be intentional - there's so slight that you can't see or feel them - but they're on both sides of the blade, and they were hammered into the blade somehow, so they're definitely intentional. I would guess that they are no deeper than about 0.015 inches - that's 15 thousandths of an inch. It's too little depth to see or feel, but it's definitely there, and the fruit and wood will not be able to get a tight grip on the blade because of them.
It is absolutely obvious that these blades from Himalayan Imports are made to be used, and they are about as perfect as a blade can be. They have features like those slight grooves I discovered that make the blade a more efficient tool, but that you could never see in marketing photos. People who own these blades are supposed to judge their quality by how well they WORK, not by how expensive they are or how pretty they are, or by who is selling them.
If people were more aware of how refined and perfected these blades are - not because someone says they're the best, but instead because I can point out to you all these fancy hard working features that the kami put into the blade - then I think the demand for these knives would create a stronger aftermarket and improved resale values. If I knew that I could sell my HI kukri for nearly the same price I paid for it (or more), then why should I hesitate to buy as many knives as I want to collect?
For now, my WWII is MINE, so I won't get to test its resale value any time soon. I love it - I've always wanted a kukri, and I think I got the perfect one for me. It was blem with a cracked handle, so I got it for a good price that makes me feel comfortable with using the blade, and exploring its capabilities. Honestly, considering its quality, it was a fantastic bargain. Knives of inferior detail and quality can easily cost 10 times as much from a well-known maker.
That is probably why Himalayan Imports has such a fiercely loyal collector base. It appears I have been baptized into the ranks
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