That said, I'm open to suggestions from the crew, because it's going to happen anyway. The itch will be scratched.

I can lay hands on a Condor model immediately, for $90ish. 1075 steel, 5/16" thick, hardwood handles, full tang, leather sheath. I think I could pull the trigger on this one and be happy, because it meets most of my criteria. In my limited experience with kukris, I've seen two of the traditionally glued-in blades come loose from the handle. I call that a liability on  knife that gets swung vigorously, so a full tang is a requirement for me.

I have no emotional need to own a genuine kukri from Himalayan Imports or the like, unless they are genuinely better tools. If one goes through bladeforums.com, there's a link to HI's "blem" page; at the present time, none of the blems offered meet my criteria.

The Cold Steel offerings look like kukri-shaped machetes. I have machete-shaped machetes that work just fine in that role.

That's a generous offer, but I'll have to decline. I'd feel like crap if jacked up your knife

My own funny kukri story.... When I was in high school in the early 80s, I was getting into buckskinning in a big way. I acquired a kukri for my kit because I reasoned that there had to be kukris available in the 1840s, however unlikely it was that one would find it's way into the hands of a fur trapper in the Rockies. The knife was on loan, with the warning that it had been brought back from the China-Burma-India theater of operations in WW2. It had the little sharpening steels and a leather sheath that looked like polished cardboard and smelled like wet roadkill (turned out be urine-cured buffalo hide). I decided to do some impromptu field teasing of the piece because I had to know how it handled just in case I actually had to do stuff with it, right? So I set to trimming some of the excess limbs from the mesquites and palo verdes in the desert next to the house. It was doing ok, but wasn't holding an edge for long, and those little steels were next to useless. I put  better edge on it and lopped off some more branches, then got the bug to knock off a 2" thick palo verde limb. On the third swing, the blade parted ways from the handle and flew into the brush. It took me a half-hour to find it. I epoxied the handle back on, called the buddy who owned it and told him I'd be bringing it back to him. Turns out he wasn't cleared to loan it out in the first place, so there were ass-chewings all around and the knife was tucked away.

This is why I insist on a full tang; I still see that half-pound on steel zipping through the air and can just imagine what kind of damage such a missile could do if it hit someone. Turns out that my pal's grand-dad had bought the thing at a bazaar because it looked cool. It had been made to sell to tourists, not actually use, explaining why it wouldn't stay sharp. Our dry Arizona air had shrunk the handle, and the "laha" glue wasn't able to hold the thing together. I got a good Green River knife and moved on.

I have the condor you speak of.

It works really well if you fix their edge.  But if you are expecting it to be a good performer out of the box, don't.

I fixed my edge and it sings through wet wood, saplings, and such with ease.  I've delimited the lower 8" of a tall pine tree near my house so it wouldn't touch the house, and it was quite effective.

I love Kukris, but they do range widely in styles.  Yes, I own a couple HI Kukris and they have a solid value in performance and history than just manufacturing price...take that for what it's worth.  That said, I did pick up the Condor Kukri and as most mentioned, I spent some time on the edge and picked up a Kydex sheath for it...I simply love it.  It won't have the kami-touch or uniqueness, but for a similarly-performance based tool, the Condor is pretty good.  I also still have my Cold Steel Gurkha Kukri in their original Carbon 5 formula; Tim Wagner of Blade Tech made me a sheath way back when his shop just moved out of his garage...that knife is a serious beast of a cutter.  

If you can get an HI blemished model, do it.  If not, the Condor is great at scratching the Kukri itch.

My personal story and introduction to the Kukri was back in '89 or '90.  We were doing some joint exercises with the Canadians, Brits and the Brits brought along their Gurkha buddies.  I was young and naïve and learned the old tales from the Gurkhas that if you unsheathe their Khukuri, they must draw blood before they can put it away.  Needless to say they all laughed after I was looking at it and accidently cut my thumb...

ROCK6

I do NOT need a kukri either.  I WANT a kukri!

Thanks for the recommendations.   Does anyone have any experience with kukri's made by Ex Gurkha Khukuri House Nepal?

Love my H.I. that I picked up 2 yrs ago fo 50 bucks. Found out after a lil research it was made by Bura, a Royal Kami who does not make any Khukuri's anymore. Been offered way more than I paid by collectors. Looking for a H.I. villager model to beat on and do work around the yard.

I have this one, have had it for years.
It's a fricking beast, never had a problem.

Not pretty, but full tang and unpolished.

https://nepalkhukurihouse.com/default/categories/full-tang-blade-unpolished-raw-kukris/10-inch-panawal-rough-kukri.html

Attached File

I have a full tang Kukri, and have no idea who made it.
I've had it for a long time, around 1970 or so.

I did a bunch of work on the edge, and it works as advertised.
I had an aftermarket sheath made for it out of leather by a guy here in central Idaho.
I dragged it out of my old gear bag and it is attached to the roll cage in my Ranger for use as a limb and brush cutter on bad trails.

I would like  to try that new blade by Tops Knives, the El Chete, but the cost is stupid high.
So, the old Kukri and the  even older SP-8 will have to just hang in there.

Thanks!  I may pick one of those up at Christmas.

I picked up one of their knives off amazon not too long ago. Big heavy blade, full tang, wood handle.  The blade took a nice edge pretty easy, chopped through a 2x4 with no damage.

Did I mention the blade is heavy and I had just sharpened it?  I was sitting at my desk messing with it, it slipped and fell.  Right onto my knee.  Cut right into my knee from 6 inch drop.  10 stitches.    my own damm fault I paid the idiot tax.

Anyone looking to get a kukri should read this page.  

http://www.survivalprimer.com/a_word_on_Sunday/Warning_Kukri.htm

I got one back in the eighties, similar to the one in the pic. Its a tough knife. Used it for clearing brush when I was a youngster.

Well you unsheathed it and drew blood, all good.  lol

Uh Oh. Ex Gurkha House has a store on amazon...

https://www.amazon.com/EGKH/b/ref=w_bl_hsx_s_sp_web_8937589011?ie=UTF8&node=8937589011&field-lbr_brands_browse-bin=EGKH.

Nothing productive to add, but I traded a Goretex jacket to a Gurkha for my kukri. Poor bastards weren't issued rain gear, you'd think dude had won the lottery.

Well, when you trade something ou can make (have plenty of) for something you cannot get......well....that's a pretty good trade.

I had wanted a Kukri for years.

But, I also wanted one with a more modern approach to the style.

I ended up with a Busse Huck.



Yes, I am fully aware I went a little overboard!

Oh please....make it stop.....  

Every time a Kukri thread comes up I'm ~almost~ overpowered by my desire to own one, even though I have absolutely no use for one.  I almost got one back in the '90s when they were $30 to $40 for the authentic (surplus) ones.

Thankfully, this thread only has two pictures so far- so that helps.

Somehow me and my money may soon be parted... I think there's a saying about that...  

I have two of their kukris- love both of them. They are tanks, but well balanced with quite an acceptable level of fit and finish.

I am mad I missed that offering two weeks ago 

How bad do you want one?

How good was it?

Yeah, you need one. 

I love mine.
Attached File

I had a 6" I gave to a friend. Took 3 weeks to ship and was fairly sharp out of the box. A few minutes with a butcher steel  had it shaving sharp.