A Damascus kukri is the forward curved Nepalese chopper made from a folded billet rather than a single bar. The pattern is the obvious draw, but there is a practical side too: the pair of steels runs harder than plain carbon, so the edge holds longer on a blade whose whole job is to keep cutting after the first hundred swings.
The choppers here
Overall lengths run 15 to 17 inches with blades around 10 inches, all full tang with the deep belly that puts the mass where the cut lands. Blades are forge welded 1095 and 15N20 at 58 to 60 HRC, acid etched so the layers show along the spine and down the belly. Handles are the most varied part: stag horn paired with wood, stag antler, buffalo horn, black horn, bone, rosewood, olive wood, walnut, black micarta, coloured pakka wood and stacked leather washers. Fittings run to brass and steel bolsters, Damascus guards and butt caps, ringed and runed pommels. Etch work covers a vegvisir on two of them, a valknut on the blade and on a butt cap, a wolf head, a Mjolnir on a brass bolster and a knotwork engraved spine. Several ship with the traditional pair of companion blades in the sheath pocket, the karda and the chakmak, and every one comes with a leather sheath. Prices run from 149 dollars to 299 dollars.
Pattern against plain
The honest trade is edge retention against toughness. A folded blade at 58 to 60 HRC keeps a finer edge for longer and chips more readily if you abuse it. Plain 1095 at 54 to 58 rolls rather than chips and comes back with a stone in the field. Our comparison of the two sets it out without picking a winner. Whichever you choose, the etched surface shows spotting sooner, so keep it dry and oiled: the care notes cover it. The full rack is in kukri knives and the rest of the patterned range is in Damascus knives.
Ransack Viking is a US company based in Chicago, Illinois. These pieces are handmade in the Czech Republic, then imported, inspected and shipped from Chicago. Engraving is done in the US after arrival: text 19 dollars, symbol 39 dollars, family crest 49 dollars.
Free US shipping
On most pieces. Heavier and oversized ones carry a flat charge.
Hand Forged
Heated, hammered and ground by hand.
Engraving available
Names, dates or Norse runes on most pieces.
