Random Thoughts #7: I got a Kukri knife ( Finally )

Hey guys, 12-Gauge Chimp here with yet another edition of random thoughts.

This past Saturday I went to a local flea market in a town about an hour or so from my place. They had the usual overpriced garage sale fodder with a few interesting knick knacks thrown in for variety, but one thing that caught my eye was the fact that one vendor had knives and not just the usual crappy knives either. This vendor had a kukri, a knife that I had been looking for ever since I started rebuilding my knife collection.

I might need to explain just what exactly a " kukri " is, just so no one is confused. A kukri is a traditional fighting knife used by the Nepalese Gurkha's, it has a large curved blade and is suited for everyday tasks in addition to being a fearsome fighting knife. There are various sizes and styles of kukris, most blades measure 12 to 18 inches, with some examples being even longer. In fact the British Army still issues the kukri to certain units. Ok, I think thats enough explaining for now, on to the review.

The kukri I purchased is not a traditional styled kukri, in fact it's not even a true kukri. True kukris are made by a Nepalese company whose name escapes me at this moment, but true kukris are imported into the country from time to time. There is a certain process that every true Nepalese kukri must go through to be called a kukri, usually a sacred blessing of the blade by the master bladesmith or a religious official. Anyway, my kukri is made by a company that also supplies blades for numerous high end knife companies, of which I will not name because I don't remember all of them.

My kukri has a relatively heavy blade, the curve of which is very pronounced. This is good since a kukri is mostly used for hacking and other tasks. It has some sort of anti rust coating on the blade and the handle has a very rough textured grip, which is good because you really don't want this knife to slip out of your hands when hacking vines and end up losing a toe or finger. Another thing to mention is the blade is sharp and I mean SHARP. Most factory edged knives need to be sharpened a bit further to get a working edge on them, but this knife has a fantastic edge to it. I've almost cut myself so many times since buying it. While its not exactly " shaving " sharp, it will get the job done, whatever that job might be. My one complaint about this knife lies in the crappy sheath that is provided. Seriously, all the effort was put into the knife and it's like they just assembled a sheath for it as an afterthought. I will be replacing the factory sheath with either a better aftermarket sheath or I'll try to make a sheath for it using some Kydex or leather material.

That's going to do it for this edition of random thoughts, I hope you enjoyed it and I'll see you all later. As always this is 12-Gauge Chimp signing off.