Why not a Kukri

[Tom A Hawk]

I will also add I had a Cold Steel version shown in the photo. It did not perform nearly as well as the hand forged Nepalese knives. The Cold Steel was flat ground and the blade would simply bury in the cut. Whereas the real kukris have a rolled edge that causes whatever you're cutting to peel away causing less resistance and more efficient cutting.

 

[mushka]

I have an old kukri, English broad arrow marked with scabbard and the two little skinning knives that slide into a leather strap that goes completely around the scabbard. It looks like it was used a lot in the past. Had it for many years and can't even remember how it came to me. I took it on some camping trips but regular utensils and tools did a better job for me so it is now a good looking wall hanger.

 

[oreclan]

Our frontiersmen had other tools much better suited to their situation and developed from their Western Civilization experiences.

 

[TFoley]

Asking why American frontiersmen never used the kukri is like asking why the Mexicans never used a puuko.

Total lack of any form of commercial connection in historical times is a good reason. Come to think of it - how many Americans know a Gurkha?

 

[TFoley]

I think you could get away with it. Trading to the "Orient" was pretty common on the west coast when Mexico occupied California. Ships docked and traded in the San Francisco area.

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I'd argue with you that a landlocked country in Central Asia surrounded by the world's highest mountains, with strong military ties to just one nation, would have little interest in exporting its almost unique style of knife to any body, let alone Sears, Roebuck Inc. Nepal might be the 'Orient' to some, but not here in UK, where it is classed as South Central Asia.

The boat-load f kukris from Kathmandu to San Franciso has yet to set sail.....

Maybe if there had been some kind of interaction between Americans and Nepalese, it might have happened but I've never heard of anything like that.

 

[alcessapiens]

I always thought they were used like a manchette, to clear away underbrush, etc. Most now for sale- I was always worried the steel was sub-par.

They are primarily a tool. The steel isn’t generally high carbon (1095) it’s more like 1060. It won’t crack, sharpens easily ( one of the two little blades is the chakmak, hard steel used to sharpen the khukuri by scraping. The other, karda is a small harder steel knife for general purpose ( toenail clipping). I have one that lives in my motorcycle camping gear and it’s good for getting firewood, gutting a fish, convincing the drunken ******* in the next site that continuing to smack his wife and kids about while waving a machete at everyone that it’s better to just stop, etc (I use my old carbon steel French opinel for toenail clipping). Great design, people often complain about the quality of the steel and forget that it’s really 99% of the time, just a tool, well designed for Nepalese farmers.

 

[Teliliad]

I have heard that same story about North Africa in WWII. Makes me wonder if it's true or just a "good old story" that was passed down and altered to fit the times.

I’m sure that if it is just a story it was based on some truth. And as I said my details are kind of fuzzy so I might have the conflict and enemy confused. Or I might have been told wrong. I read that a long time ago and can’t verify if my source was correct. The other option is that it was a common tactic that they employed to lay waste to enemy morale. Psychological warfare is tense.when I was in Afghanistan, buildings kept catching fire mysteriously on the base. All of which potentially strategic targets. Most of us assumed that some of the local workers employed there were taliban operatives or something just letting us know that they were there.

 

[Snydly]

I’m just curious here… why didn’t frontiersman carry Kukris? I figure that if a single tool could be pressed to replace three then why not? Kukris are a curved blade that were used by the Nepalese Gurkhas in combat and survival. They performed the tasks of an axe, machete, fighting knife, kitchen knife, throwing weapon, and were heavy and wide enough in the blade to use a hammer in some situations. They could also be used for processing game if you kept it sharp enough. I get that they probably just didn’t have exposure to those kinds of weapons from a different part of the world,,,but I bet it would have been a wonderful tool for some trappers on the frontier

They bought things they needed at a rendezvous...The trader brought a lot of English butcher knives.

 

[SOLANCO]

I believe we develop preference in tools subconsciously in our early experiences with them. I have a preference in a certain kitchen knife. I’ve seen people do everything with a paring knife. Beduins think their traditional knife is great etc. Unless one grew up with that it might seem odd to use, but some will just like new things. An axe head and smaller knife would be easier to forge in my opinion. There were difficulties and considerations when making larger blades.

I purchased a 10 inch chef's knife in 1982. Bought it at an old fashioned cutlery store of which sort you do not find anymore. The blade is carbon steel and the handle is some sort of plastic. The clerk said it was from France, but the blade is naked of any markings whatsoever. It takes and holds a good, sharp edge. The steel is discolored in a mellow sort of way from acidic foods. After four decades it feels like an extension of my body.
I rarely pick up any other knife in the kitchen unless I am shucking clams.

 

[JeffG]

I'd argue with you that a landlocked country in Central Asia surrounded by the world's highest mountains, with strong military ties to just one nation, would have little interest in exporting its almost unique style of knife to any body, let alone Sears, Roebuck Inc. Nepal might be the 'Orient' to some, but not here in UK, where it is classed as South Central Asia.

The boat-load f kukris from Kathmandu to San Franciso has yet to set sail.....

Maybe if there had been some kind of interaction between Americans and Nepalese, it might have happened but I've never heard of anything like that.

I agree it's a big stretch, and I really won't defend it. Reading this book and others, I realized there was so much more to the American frontier, that I previously knew.


The Adventures of the Mountain Men
True Tales of Hunting, Trapping, Fighting, and Survival

 

[rickystl]

Many years ago I would go on canoe/camping trips. Always brought the kukri with me. I thought it was a super handy camping tool.

Rick

 

[springfield art]

I’m just curious here… why didn’t frontiersman carry Kukris? I figure that if a single tool could be pressed to replace three then why not? Kukris are a curved blade that were used by the Nepalese Gurkhas in combat and survival. They performed the tasks of an axe, machete, fighting knife, kitchen knife, throwing weapon, and were heavy and wide enough in the blade to use a hammer in some situations. They could also be used for processing game if you kept it sharp enough. I get that they probably just didn’t have exposure to those kinds of weapons from a different part of the world,,,but I bet it would have been a wonderful tool for some trappers on the frontier

The frontiersmen had no catalogs from Sportsman's Guide or Sarco! Plus they probably would prefer the Bowie-type. They really had no exposure to foreign tools or weapons very much, and probably would have sneered at the idea of a kukri. Great idea for a Western movie or TV plot, where some guy who had been in the 19th Cent. British Army emigrated here and became a defender of settlers being picked on by evil land barons! (See: Open Range)

 

[TFoley]

No British soldier of the 19th century would have had access to a kukri. Perhaps a former Gurkha officer - in those days, a British officer with the Viceroy's Commission, and not the Queen's Commission - might have somehow made his way to frontier America, but he would have had to steal the kukri - officers did not carry them. Finding a real Gurkha complete with his kukri in America might have been as likely as finding a Zulu with his assegai.

 

[LongWalker]

People think I made up the story about the guy who wanted to re-enact as a voyager, carrying a stainless steel wakizashi, and tried to rationalize it by saying, "well, you can't tell it is stainless, and maybe a voyager had been a sailor and bought a sword while visiting Japan". I've seen people try to explain a katar with similar nonsense. Kukris fall into the same category.

Why is it that when people are coming up with anachronistic items to carry, it seems they are always asking about big knives?

 

[Teliliad]

Ok. Check this though. In very late 1700s Nepal invaded Tibet, which even then was still part of china. It is therefore possible that a Chinese person acquired a Kukri be it a product of theft or spoils of war or some dude ripped it from a corpse and then passed it down to his son who immigrated to America with it to work on the transcontinental railroad say in 1864… only to be killed by an outlaw who then stole the knife and fled to work in the Rockies as a fur trader to escape the long arm of the law… how’s that for possible, lmfao. Sorry, just had to see how far I could take this.

 

[Teliliad]

I’m not trying to fit this into cosplay or trying to rewrite history. I’m just having fun exploring the possibility NOT PLAUSIBILITY of how it could have happened.in doing so I learned about the Sino-Nepalese War, I learned some interesting facts about the transcontinental railroad and stumbled upon some other fun facts while digging into this largely fantastic idea. And to say that it is anachronistic is even more of a fallacy cause let’s face it, the fur trappers and the Kukri both existed in the same time period. As did the Katana for that matter.

 

[appalichian hunter]

Could have happened, but then probably not.

 

[Teliliad]

Could have happened, but then probably not.

Agreed

 

[Lslite]

That is a beautiful blade Flying B ! Who is the maker ?

 

[Tom A Hawk]

If you have not tried a real kukri you might be very surprised by its cutting ability.