Khukuri Club

[Northumbriman]

I looked extensively at kukuris before I made my own knives. The problem is getting a good one. Before buying check you are not buying a tourist item as they are now made in their thousands in nepal from inferior materials and then coated in a glossy shiny coat of white metal to make them pretty. The real ones are the service issue type given to the ghurkas. Again you need issue not ceremonial blades. The main benefit of the kukri to uk survivors is the weight of the blade. Unlike a patang machette which is light and good for jungle undergrowth the kukri is almost 1cm thick on the back edge and is made from the leaves of truck springs. It has sufficient weight to take the place of a hatchet and can also be used as a large camp knife. The shape is distinctive and has pos and cons but perhaps the one feature that put me off is the handle. These knives are made for nepalese hands which are considerably smaller than most adult UK males. The tang is only a 3/4 tang and so the handle to blade connection can be an area of weakness. I designed and made my own version from a piece of spring lots of work but the result is amazing.