Great Gurkha Khukuri Cut through Bone Like Butter, Modern Blade Grind Wins! Tactical Kukri Design

This tactical khukuri of modern designs by Brother Nathaniel (The Levin Lance) and hand forged by Purna Darnal of Great Gurkha Khukuri. Being a khukuri-smith by trade, Purna is at home executing this design by Nate, which incorporates modern elements such as full width exposed tang, one-piece steel hilt with a D-guard and quillons, full-concave bevel grind from the spine to the edge to a timeless classic blade design that is the Nepalese Gurkha khukuri.
The blade takes full advantage of the signature forward curve and broadening profile of traditional khukuris, so that at the broadest part of the 14" long blade it's 60mm (2.4") wide and less than 3mm thick at the spine, with the concave grind and the deep bevel, a large portion of the blade above the edge remains as thin as a sheet of ice. Meanwhile the distal taper from 7.6mm at the base down to 1.8mm at the tip makes this khukuri very fast and nimble. It can accelerate like a short sword instead of an axe, but the forward curve make it hack deeply into the target, and when the user draws the blade out as the last natural motion of the slash, the backward curve near the tip causes more slicing to the target to further damage it. Overall the length is 20" (50 cm) while the weight is 700g (1.54 lbs).
I did extensive cutting on a pork shoulder under layers of cloth, and it sheared through the thick shoulder blade bone like butter, not to mention the deep and wide wound left on the flesh. Needless to say, it cuts bottles effortlessly. I also chopped some fallen trees in a rainforest. The top half on the blade sank entirely into the log, and the edge suffered no dulling whatsoever. However, it did suffered one minor deformation when I chopped through the shoulder blade in the pork, though that didn't prevent subsequent cuts to chop through the bone again. As far as I can tell, this small deformation does not impede the cutting capacity of the khukuri.
Overall, I would say that this experimental bevel grind on a khukuri pays off, though there's bit of a tradeoff between performance and durability. Obviously Purna offers hundreds of custom khukuri designs and most of which have durable convex grind or apple-seeding near the edge to enhance their durability.
The modern hilt design is also extremely ergonomic, and the contour makes it beautiful to behold. The added handguard make the khukuri safer to do thrusting with than traditional ones. Thrusting went quite well on soft targets given the false edge enhances the tip penetrative ability. The less pronounced curvature makes the blade align better with the direction of thrust by the user. The excellent mass distribution makes the thrusts rather quick and precise. Though the khukuri design is more of a chopper than a thruster.
As per usual, Purna's blade comes with a well made wood core scabbard, with some basic tooling on the leather wrapping. The retention is already excellent, while the unsheathing is smooth, but he added an extra buckle across the quillon to further secure the blade when sheathed.
If you value cutting performance above everything else, this khukuri is easily recommended. However, minor modifications such as the edge geometries and spine curvatures are also possible if you contact the maker or the designer.
Maker Great Gurkha Khukuri (‪@greatgurkhakhukuri-ggk3533‬) website and social media:
www.greatgurkhakhukuri.com/
/ purnadarnal2015
/ @greatgurkhakhukuri-gg...
The designer Brother Nathaniel (‪@thelevinlance6566‬) can be contacted at / natesil
/ @thelevinlance6566

[@masaruchannelsstudio4558]

Thanks for uploading the video.
I always appreciate your detailed explanations.

[@FortuneFavoursTheBold]

My pleasure! I enjoy your content about modded gameplay as well. I, too, have spent a significant amount of time modding games like Skyrim and Fallout 3 and 4 to customize the experience to my needs, before I started developing my own video game.

[@vladimirkovacevic1656]

i love that D guard kukri

[@FortuneFavoursTheBold]

It is lovely, isn't it?

[@KF1]

Killin' it with the choices of scenery as always. Great channel, unique in content, tone and delivery.
Merry Xmas and all the best for 2024. Maybe one day I could come visit Vancouver and we could cut stuff together

[@FortuneFavoursTheBold]

Thanks so much brother. When you come to Vancouver definitely drop by, we can do some cutting with a number of swords. Merry Christmas!

[@thelevinlance6566]

Ah, the integral tactical Khukuri concept! It turned out even better than expected. I will definitely revisit this type of construction in the future. I remember how happy you were with it right out of the box. The hilt could have been shaved down a bit more for weight and forward momentum; perhaps a version 2.0 is in order, but new adventures await.

[@FortuneFavoursTheBold]

Yeah it handles a lot less like a khukuri than I expected and that's not a bad thing. You see that while it might not handle like a hatchet, it chops and slices above and beyond not just its weight class, but all the way up there with some of the most fearsome edged weapons I have handled. Bone plates are not a challenge for it. None of this capacity demands any sort of effort on the user's end. The bevel grind and the unique twin-peak flip points on the spine also makes it stand out visually. It might not look and handle initially like a khukuri but it definitely functions like one, even better than one.

[@martinsmith9054]

I have a Cold Steel D guard kukri. A good idea but I had to modify the guard. I removed the bar in the hand grip and filed everything smooth. It does chop but I always thought distal taper or fullering would improve it. I wanted a fighting knife not an exotic machete.

[@FortuneFavoursTheBold]

I assume you are talking about the Cold Steel Chaos kukri. Well you are in luck, this khukuri designed by Brother Nate is everything the CS Chaos is not. Full flat ground bevel with some subtle concave geometry, thick spine with distal taper from 7.6mm to 1.8mm, razor edge with no secondary bevel, zero hotspot on the hilt fittings and beautiful tapering and contour on the ergonomic grip. This is THE dream modern khukuri!

[@martinsmith9054]

@@FortuneFavoursTheBold Yes it is the Kaos model. I have used it to cut brush and it's quite serviceable, but heavy in the hand. Thanks for posting the links.

[@vinlandraider]

A very well made kukri this is. Would Brother nathaniel be interested in designing a seax?

[@FortuneFavoursTheBold]

Well we'll have to ask him.

[@thelevinlance6566]

Good question. Ya know, Viking-Era stuff has just never really been a big interest for me, but maybe one day I will design one anyway. I think I can come up with something cool. Thanks for your interest.

[@hungamunga5860]

Where can I order this chopper?

[@FortuneFavoursTheBold]

You can visit the maker’s online shop linked in the description.

[@hungamunga5860]

@@FortuneFavoursTheBold Thank you! I have great admiration for forwardly curved blades.