EGKH-BSI Historical Khukri (standard issues of British Gurkha kukri) Service No. 1 Khukuri /Knife - Hand Forged Blade in Nepal-by Ex Gurkha Khukuri House

This is a nice knife as far as handmade Nepalese Kukri knives go. You just have to set the bar quite a bit lower when formulating your expectations about native Kukri knives compared to most other handmade knives. Variations in quality can differ widely from one knife to the next, meaning that you really have to take these reviews with a grain of salt....including this one.The blade appears almost flawless. It's straight and well proportioned. The edge is not very sharp but that is easily corrected. The blade is covered with the typical machining marks, suggesting that the knife is not as handmade as they want you to believe. The tang (the part of the blade that extends through the handle to the butt) is surprisingly also straight and in line with the blade. The metal that sticks out past the wooden butt has a generous sized lanyard hole for installing a bona fide rope lanyard. The only problem with the tang is that it is not flush with the handle. It protrudes above and below the wooden handle, making for a somewhat uncomfortable grip.The white rosewood handle is much harder than the soft dark rosewood that Nepalese kukri knives are typically fitted with. It's very long (almost 6") and sure to fit any hand. The wood at the front of the handle extends down to form a usable finger guard. Unfortunately, the handle has no carved finger grips and no flared butt, thereby making for a very precarious grip when swinging this behemoth blade. If there's ever a knife that needed finger grips and a flared butt (not to mention a real working hilt) it's this knife. The metal "bolts" that hold the handle to the tang are for once flush with the handle.A final word about the knife.... This thing is HEAVY. You have to put as much muscle into stopping it as you do to get it going during a swing. The kukri was developed in Nepal as a farming implement for doing both cutting and chopping. Consequently, the kukri is part knife, part axe. And that's exactly what it feels like when you swing it. Did I mention that it's heavy.Now for the god awful sheath. The kukri sheaths are typically made of thin poorly tanned leather pulled tightly over a wooden frame. A band of leather is then pulled over the sheath and the belt loops riveted to the band. The lacing is nonfunctional and just for show. Once again (sixth time now for me) the sheath is not anything like what was advertised in the picture on Amazon's site. Instead, it's made of a yellowish tan hard brittle leather pulled over a frame of weak light porous wood. The belt loops are each pressed flat and there is NO WAY to get them open enough to slide a belt through. Have you ever held a rawhide dog chew that you give them as a treat? That's exactly what this leather is like. It's so hard that if it's cut on an angle it forms an actual cutting edge. I've tried every type of leather softener I could find but nothing works. Most likely, the leather was ruined during the tanning process. If so, nothing is bringing that leather back. I typically just rip the band and belt loops off the sheath and use cow leather to fashion some belt loops which I then screw/rivet onto the sheath. Looks lousy but it works well.The scabbard is too small for the knife. It takes significant force to slide the knife in and out of the sheath. Each time I insert or withdraw the blade I can hear and feel the edge cutting into the wooden frame. This isn't the first time I've encountered this. Eventually the blade will cut through the wood, leaving nothing between you and the edge other than some thin brittle leather. Then it's just a matter of time before it cuts through the leather too. Do you want that swinging on your hip, near your crotch?

If i could, I'd give this thing a 3.5. This is not a traditional kukri by any means. I doubt it's the official Gurkha blade. Here's why: it's incredibly heavy. Traditional kukris do not have this thick of a spine, which makes it heavy and unbalanced. Real kukris also don't have full tang construction, this is just the preferred american blade trait. However I knew this going in. I wanted a freaking sword-axe. Something i could rough up, and look somewhat traditional at the same time, rather than some black painted Cold Steel tacti-cool crap. That's this blade.Let's get to the product. Right out of the box i noticed that the sheath isn't white, it's more tan. I tend to prefer the change, as white would get dirty rather quick. It's also not leather, more rawhide. The two smaller blades are both solid, the dull flat one I know is for sharpening, while the other is just a small knife. It sadly was a bit dull by knife standards. The kukri however has a few issues. The rivets on it protrude slightly, and it's noticeable when holding. This isn't too bad, as I might wrap the grip during extensive use. The blade has a decent working edge, but is no means razor sharp. No rust of burrs at all. However the one big issue that sticks out the most to me, is that the blade really isn't truly straight. The spine is warped. You can see in the third picture how it twists. I don't know how this will affect performance, and I will comment later after testing. I'm worried by this, because if this blade truly is hand forged like they say, there's no way it would pass inspection.In the end, this thing is a monster. Just a slab of metal. But I like it. There's a lot of kukri traditionalists that despise these heavy blades, but I don't care. If I wanted a weapon, I'd purchase a gun. If I wanted something light, I would have got a machete. I wanted a heavy tool, this is it. I'm willing to believe the initial asking price of $250 is ridiculous. I got it for $80 with free shipping, which was what won me over. If your looking for self defense don't get this. If you're looking for a true Nepalese kukri, don't get this. If you are small and weak, don't get this. But, if you want a cleaver of a short sword, get this. I can't wait to try it in the field. Maybe in the future I'll get a traditional kukri, but for now I'm happy with this beast.

Just got done splitting 20 odd rounds 6-10" (yes 10") in diameter without a problem. Yes, I had to pull the blade out of the rounds plenty of times before completing the split, but this thing surprised me and completed the job with relative ease. Superior splitting to all of my other 25 or so knives/machetes. The only tool I have that it couldn't beat is a 12 lb. iron maul. Price was great compared to other kukris that are going for literally twice the cost. And who can beat 10mm thick 5160 steel? The Nepalese have this down! I just wish they would put their 38" War Chief sword on here for sale!!!!!

I wanted to like this knife but the blade was warped and the sheath was so tight that it was impossible to draw the knife without a little rubber mallet persuasion. Sheathing it was worse. The blade only had one way in, and that was by slicing through and out of the side of the sheath. Also, the two additional knives were both partially rusted.Suggestion for the Seller: Please do some Quality Control. Its a waste of time and money for both Buyer and Seller.