It’s that time of the year again.
(Voice off camera) Time to start using some hand lotion?
Christmas time, and this year my stocking is filled with Kukris due to a visit from
Santa Lynn.
Instead of Milk and Cookies, you leave him a tray of loose ammo, any round ill doo…
Ok that’s not true.
I mean Lynn’s always down for a few extra rounds if you have any.
Sometimes he drops em.
So Dave from Knifenuts podcast sent me one… you listen to the podcast right.
You do?
Well that’s why your on Santa Lynns nice list.
I mean he sees the naughty stuff too, but that’s kinda his thing.
And the other one was sent to me by a guy named Kirk.
Both are a little different, but both made by the Santas elves working for Himalayan
Import.
Ok their not elves, they’re called kamis.
They have a sub-forum over at blade forums, where they post hand made kukris to buy, and
then donate to a Youtube channel years later.
They also have a website I’ll link too.
They range from about $40 from blemish models and up before shipping.
I think these were above $100, which most of the good ones are.
But before we do any more of that, let’s look at the dimensions like the overall lengths
and weights, with and without the sheaths.
You may be wondering where the blue lines went.
Well a few of you have been real shits this year.
Blade size and cutting edges.
Santa was watching, he saw too little of the good kind of naughty and a whole lot of the
bad.
Handle size and grip area.
In the old days he’d just hid in your closet and watch, but nowadays he just hacks into
the camera on your phone or computer like your government.
Spine thickness and handle thickness.
He of course has to run it by the SISA court first.
Talnesseseseses.
You can make up for the horrible human being you’ve been this year by rewatching all
the videos.
The beer ones twice.
Not as many beer reviews lately, sorry.
Don’t worry I’ve still been drinking.
Ok Himalayan Import kukris.
First off it’s really great to see the word Himalayan it’s one I’ve heard in real
life.
While I mispronounce things a lot I don’t feel an ounce of shame.
I have a simple phonetic last name, with only six letters that native English speakers have
been mispelling my entire life.
So if I can spread around some misery, well isn’t that what Christmas is all about?
Now these are hand made blades, so no two are exactly alike.
So since there’s something usually wrong in my dimensions it won’t matter much anyway.
Since I first bought my Budk kukri years ago, they have become my favorite chopping instruments-
even more than gross axes.
They have heavy curved blades shorter than you might want on a machete but longer than
hand axes- the right amount for neighbors to stare though.
Despite having curved blades like a relatively useless karambit (what about self defense
bro), they work well for chopping woody branches limbs and logs.
The shinier of the two is one of their more popular models the Chiruwa Ang Khola, so much
for pronouncing things right.
This one is slightly shorter than the one Dave sent me which he called one of their
one offs called the Deradune.
Would it surprise you the longer one is my favorite.
So basically the Kukri blade isn’t a replacement for a machete or axe, but a effective combination
of both.
Here is a chart on HI imports that show how you measure kukris- from the handle to the
butt as the bat flies.
The grind is a convex which is works well for chopping.
Oh yeah, and this thing here is called the Cho, and as an FYI I didn’t look up pronunciation.
I didn’t have the time.
But the Himalayan Imports website says it’s a ceremonial or traditional, or some shit.
It might also be called a blood drip, which if it’s anything like calling a fuller a
blood groove, at least three assholes will show up in the comments lamenting all the
assholes calling it a blood groove.
According to various people though- mainly the website, it symbolizes either the clitoris
of the Kali or the penis of the Shiva.
So that’s good.
The handle.
The handles both here are of different designs and made from different materials.
My favorite of the two is the buffalo horn handle.
It has less rings, and just smoother overall.
I know the rings are the hallmark of the kukri, but on my wood handled one, the rings are
not only scales but the tang.
They’re edgy, and as I chopped my tender yet dry hands became sore around the ring
area.
The solution would be to do some damn work for a change, wear gloves, sand it down a
bit, or just continue to complain.
So call me a young whipper snapper, but the larger and smoother or the “not there”
style of rings are the best.
Both handles fit my hand well.
The flared butt cap keeps the blade from flying out of your hand when whacking.
If you remember anything from this review it’s butt hands whacking.
The sheaths.
Like most Kukris you get a sheath that has a wood or sometimes cardboard core with a
water buffalo or whatever they have laying round leather covering.
These are water buffalo, with wood… and they have the two little utility blades up
top.
One is a small knife, and the other is a sharpening steel.
My BudK however just came with two sharpening steels, because BudK.
The sheaths are nice, but they ride kinda high so since the blade is heavy they will
flop around a bit.
My favorite kukri sheath is you guessed it because I can’t shut up about it- my Zombie
Tools, which while isn’t traditional is functional… because the handle butt rides
lower and it attaches to the leg.
So the sheath doesn’t move and bounce when walking, skipping, or practicing karate in
the back yard, and it’s a fairly easy draw.
Comparisons.
First the Himalayan imports.
Remember of the two I prefer the longer blade of the buffalo horn one, as well as the less
ringy handle.
The Arg Kohla is probably the nicer looking of the two, because it’s shiny.
A good metic on whether a knife is worth a shit.
It’s lighter and shorter, and some out there may prefer that.
Now the Zombie Tools Vakra.
This one has a thinner blade stock and is overall longer than the bone handled one.
One might say there might be a bit more chopping power in the bone handled one because of the
thicker stock, but I think they’re similar.
From a sheath perspective, a handle perspective, zombie in name perspective, and just better
chopping experience the Zombie Tools is still my favorite yard instrument.
It costs about $270 though, which should be fine since your saving rent money by rooming
with your parents right now.
How about the $20 Bud K.
My original chopper…
I’ve had this according to my Amazon account, July 10, 2012.
The blade has been dinged, and beat up, but it’s still very usable.
There’s no doubt the Himalayan imports are much nicer overall… and also the BudK may
have hidden breaks in the tang.
That one is made in India too, so I guess it’s ain’t a real kukri as I’ve been
told.
Now some I haven’t reviewed yet.
The Cold Steel Kukri, courtesy Santa Lynn.
Ok he didn’t visit me, I had to buy it, This has a thin blade stock, think machete
thin.
It’s the lightest and thinnest, and until I check it out I would guess the weakest chopper.
But since it runs only $20, that’s like 2 shitty Pizzas, or one good one.
And finally the Ka-Bar Kukri, this one costs about $50… thicker than the cold steel very
comfortable handle, nice sheath.
Haven’t used it much though.
Ontario had a half off sale and I paid about $35- so I got a good deal.
Unless you come at it from the angle that I own about 6 of basically the same type of
knife now.
Ok let’s wrap it up.
If you want authentic handmade kukri ones made in Nepal like the Himalayan Imports are
the best.
I have seen Kalish Blades on Instagram, and those also look amazing, and if play the long
game and keep liking their photos- maybe they’ll send me a free one, one day.
Or maybe I’ll get drunk enough one night to buy one.
I think the latter is more likely.
Like I said earlier, I like the water buffalo horn more, but I might sand down the handle
of the wooden one, in case I decide to double fist them.
Maybe I’ll give one away on my Instagram I don’t know.
Not of course before I whooped on it a bit though.
So like the video, leave a comment, follow me on Instagram.
Also download the knife nuts podcast, and thanks to Dave for the Kukri and the beer.
Hopefully I won’t chop anything off.
I’ll link that shit in the description as well as links to buy this.
Oh yeah, subscribe and click the bell.
Thanks for watching!