The Bhojpure khukuri is hand forged and exported out of Nepal and sold out of the US by Craig Gottlieb of Gurkha House . It is a much larger and heavier knife than the the Service #1. The Bhojpure weighs 640 g and has a 23.5 cm blade. The overall fit and finish is high. There is a noticeable improvement on the detail work on the scabbard and the finish of the small tools as compared to the Service #1 which was recently reviewed. The blade fits well in the scabbard and comes with a usable edge. It has some detail work on the spine similar to what is seen on some Himalayan Imports khukuris, some engraving with brass in-lays.
UPDATE, Craig Gottlieb stopped importing these khukuris a few years ago and no longer is connected to Gurkha House. Traditional khukuris hand made in Nepal can still be found through Bill Martino of Himalayan Imports.
About fifteen minutes of chopping on white pine, revealed several advantages of the Bhojpure as compared to the Service #1. The larger khukuri was significantly more powerful and had more reach. The larger handle was also much more comfortable. The edge retention and durability was also improved as the edge wore down evenly without chipping or indenting. This khukuri is much more suited for all around heavier work than the Service #1 model .
The tip held up to stabbing/prying at soft to medium woods with no problems. It could easily break pieces of of scrap woods (mainly 2x10"), with lateral pulls strong enough to require that the wood be kneeled upon to keep it in place. The khukuri also repeatedly took about 150 lbs of direct lateral strain focused at the edge. This stress was achieved by twist splitting some knotty wood with just the edge holding against the strain with the wood kept in place with a knee as before.
The handle and butt-cap also stayed firm and secure, easily pounding stakes into hard ground and even after using the spine to break up some concrete blocks. The flat can also be used as a hammer but it somewhat awkward due to the blade curvature. The butt cap was then pounded on directly by impacting it off of woods and finally a piece of concrete and it stayed tight and secure. It impacted a little but it didn't shift position or develop a rattle.
However, some light impacts off of rock did show a little more indentation that expected, as compared to other knives, in particular the Himalayan Imports khukuris.
The functionality of the Bhojpure was examined along with a few other blades for reference, the results can be seen on the following page:
In short, the Bhojpure handled most chopping and splitting type work well. It is a fairly strong blade and had to be exposed to a decent amount of force to take a permanent set.
Comments can be sent to : cliffstamp[REMOVE]@cutleryscience.com and seen in :
| Last updated : | Mon Apr 14 11:05:42 NDT 2003 |
| Wed Jul 21 10:31:05 NDT 1999 |