Famous as a military fighting knife, the Gurkha Kukri is the most commonly used multipurpose knife in the fields and homes of Nepal. Its use as a general purpose knife for everything from chopping wood and clearing brush to cutting meat and peeling vegetables disproves the myth that the knife cannot be sheathed until it has drawn blood.
The 256mm hollow ground blade has a thick, ridged spine, measuring 6.2mm at the forte with minimal taper before narrowing sharply to a point. The blade is incised with typical Nepalese tribal decoration and is in excellent condition and very sharp.
The Cho is open, as is usually the case and serves to stop blood, sap or other fluids from running onto the handle, making it slippery. The Cho is also believed to be a symbolic representation of a cows’ foot, a sacred animal to all Hindus.
The carved bone hilt has incised rings and a raised central ridge with a steel bolster and elliptical butt plate. The aluminium butt plate has a conical brass centre through which the tang is peened. The bone grip flares to a broad, buffalo horn oval at the base allowing the user a very good grip. The grip is in excellent condition with a pleasant patina and some use related marks. The blade is firm in the hilt.
The wooden, leather covered scabbard is in excellent condition and is complete with its bone hilted Karda (longer) and Chakmak (shorter). Traditionally, the Karda and unsharpened Chakmak are used as a utility knife and a sharpening/flint striking tool respectively. The additional pouch on the scabbard would have held a flint and tinder for fire lighting. The leather flint holder remains within the pouch.
This is a very nice and good quality Nepalese Kukri dating to the mid 1900’s.
