Kukri Knife, Hand Forged Carbon Steel with Stacked Leather Handle

This is a working kukri with a handle nobody else in this category offers. The blade is 12 inches of 5160 spring steel with 17.5 inches overall, and the grip is built from leather washers stacked on the tang and compressed into one piece. It goes to people who want a full size chopper for the woodpile or the camp and like a handle that warms in the hand.

Specification

The blade

The steel is 5160 spring steel, the steel the traditional makers use and name. It takes a hard chop without chipping and comes back easily on a stone. The finish is left dark gray from the forge, with faint hammer marks and a wide mirror bright bevel. The blade leaves the handle narrow, sweeps forward and down and widens towards the tip, so the heaviest steel sits furthest from your hand and it chops above its size. The cho stops a cut running back into the handle. It is carbon steel, so it will patina and it wants drying after use.

The handle

The handle is built rather than shaped. Leather washers are threaded onto the tang and squeezed down hard until the stack behaves like a single block, then sanded and polished so every seam shows as a fine dark line around the grip. A brass collar sits at the front and a brass cap closes the butt, holding the stack under pressure. The tang runs hidden through the middle. Leather warms to the hand in cold weather.

The karda and the chakmak

Two small knives ride in pockets on the back of the scabbard, each about four inches long, with small stacked leather handles built the same way. The karda is the sharp one, for fine work the big blade is too heavy for. The chakmak is blunt, used to true up a rolled edge and traditionally struck to raise a spark. Serious Nepali makers name both and include both. Ours come with the knife.

The leather

The scabbard is water buffalo leather formed over a wooden core, with a brass cap at the tip, a leather belt frog and hand stitching down the seam. The face carries a carved oak leaf center panel on a stamped pebbled ground, cut and shaded in damp leather rather than printed.

Who it suits

This one is bought to be used, and the handle is the reason people pick it.

• Campers splitting kindling and clearing brush
• Buyers who want a leather grip rather than wood
• Anyone who owns a wood handled kukri already

What comes in the box

• The kukri
• The tooled water buffalo leather scabbard
• The karda and the chakmak
• A care card

Every piece is different

Each blade is forged, ground and finished by hand, so runs stay small. No two leather stacks sand out the same, so the grip on yours will vary from the photographs.

Looking after it

Wipe the blade dry after use and never put it away wet. The gray patina that builds is normal and it protects the steel. Sharpen with a stone or a file following the existing bevel, working the belly of the curve. The handle is leather and has to be kept dry, so let it dry away from heat. More in our knife care and sharpening page.

Put a name on it

Laser engraving is 20 dollars per piece and you add it on this page. Around 30 characters fits on a blade or a handle. We send a proof image before the laser runs, and it adds 3 to 5 business days. See the engraving page.

Questions buyers ask

What is a kukri? It is the forward curving Nepali knife, made so the heaviest steel sits out near the tip where the chopping happens.

What is a stacked leather handle? It is a grip built from leather washers threaded onto the tang and compressed, then sanded and polished into one solid piece.

Does the leather handle need looking after? Yes, keep it dry and give it a little leather dressing once or twice a year.

What is the notch at the base of the edge? That is the cho, and it stops a cut running back into the handle.

What are the two small knives for? The karda is a small sharp knife for fine work and the chakmak is blunt, used to true up an edge.

Will this steel rust? It can, so dry it after use and oil it before storage.

For the same steel in a longer blade, see the 15 inch kukri with a rosewood handle, and for a wood grip the kukri with an olive wood handle. More sit in kukri knives, in bushcraft and survival, and in all knives.