Old Steel

[rhrocker]

Not sure if anyone will be insterested or not, but I have 8 Nepalese Kukris in my collection that were carried by Gurkha Warriors before the 1890's. I'm in the process of writting up a small story on them, and am also taking some pictures. Be in a few days.

[TexasJack]

I can say that I'm interested, Robert.

As long as we avoid any embarassing exchanges about someone's wife or mother!

Seriously, I would be interested. I understand those cats were pretty deadly with those knives.

[rhrocker]

Good TexJac! Those things seemed to be multi-purpose weapons/shovels/axes, and so on. I would have loved to have seen how they actually made them. We better quite ridding Don, he's going to think we don't love him! BTW, I can't believe we missed each other at the show! I was there about the same time you were I think. Of course since we didn't know what each other looked like, we may have been standing next to each other )

[TexasJack]

I took my son to the show with me and we had a great time. We went out to watch the cutting exhibition - which was TOO funny - and stayed too long. By the time we went back in, we were hot, sweaty, and hungry and decided not to hang out with folks as long as I had planned. Went downtown to the Texas Chili Parlor and got lunch. Boy thought he was tough and ordered the XXX chili. Bad move! 8 gallons of water, 20 packs of crackers, 2 tortillas, and 40 napkins (for tears and snot) later, he managed to finally polish off that bowl of chili. I had warned him, but a 16 yr old doesn't believe Dear-Old-Dad knows anything. I was suffering with just the XX chili, but of course wouldn't dare admit that either.

We did have fun at the show and did run into a few folks. I meant what I said about Don's knives, and about Sandy's sheaths. In my seldom humble opinion, that table had the best of the show. (In fact, I've struggled since then trying to see if I can 'stretch' enough to go for that folder!) Took a few pictures of that miniature collection for my mother, who at one time was a big miniature collector (though not of knives). I noticed that many tables had only one or two knives. I wasn't sure whether they had sold out or were just odd. There was a terrific crowd for such an odd location.

I'll be out your way one of these days and I'll be sure to stop by this time!

[hammerdownnow]

Robt, were your Kuk's part of that big military sell off Nepal had awhile back? I would bet some gems came out of that source.

[TxCop312]

Yep, them gurkhas are some bad dudes. In the Falklan War, several Argentine soliders ran from a detachment of SAS(probably rightly so, they are some rough customers as well). They had the misfortune of running toward a gurkha detachment. The gurkha will not sheath his kukri without spilling blood once drawn from the sheath(or so I'm told). Needless to say, those poor fellows were more than ready to surrender to the SAS. Nasty business.

[suthincomfort]

the kukri is one of my very favorites i would love to get one or make one with a guard , in fact if i ever get back to making knives that will be one of my first projects . right along with the .35 whelan garand i want to build . it's right up there with the bowie in my estimation in fact if old jim had ever ran up on one he might have adopted it. tom

[Don Robinson]

Thanks, TJ, but which folder are you talking about?

I had an old kukri years ago. Don't remember where I got it, but it was old.

The story about drawing blood is true. Even if you have to draw your own.

The old originals like I owned had another smaller kukri hidden inside the sheath by your belt. That's what the owner drew to eat with or other chores. To save having to cut himself before sheathing the big knife.

The sheaths were made of wood covered with leather.

The Gurkhas were the fiercest fighting force in WWII. They never ran.