A hand forged kukri is drawn out under a hammer rather than ground from flat plate, and on this shape that matters more than on most. The kukri gets its character from a thick spine that thins toward the tip and a belly that carries the mass forward. Forging puts that distribution into the steel instead of grinding it away, which is why a hand forged one feels alive and a stamped one feels like a lump.
The blades and grips
Overall lengths sit at 15 and 16 inches with blades of 10 and 11 inches, every one full tang. Blades are plain 1095 high carbon at 54 to 58 HRC or forge welded 1095 and 15N20 Damascus at 58 to 60 HRC. Handle material is the widest variable: stag horn scales, stag antler, black horn, bone scales, olive wood, rosewood, walnut, black micarta and a cord wrapped grip. Fittings run to polished steel bolsters and pommels, brass bolsters and pins, flared brass butt caps and one knotwork bolster. Etch work covers a Mjolnir cut into a brass bolster, a Mjolnir engraved bolster, a wolf etched pommel, a raven etched blade, a raven engraved bolster, a knotwork engraved spine and a full Elder Futhark row down the blade. Several ship with the traditional pair of companion blades tucked into the sheath, the small karda and the chakmak, and every one comes with a leather belt sheath. Prices run from 179 dollars to 299 dollars.
Getting the best out of it
The kukri is the most misused knife people own, mostly because they treat it as a machete. It is a chopper with a fine tip, and the tip is the part that breaks. Our background on the kukri covers the geometry and what the notch above the handle is actually for. Sharpening a deep belly on a flat stone needs a light touch and a consistent angle, dealt with in our whetstone guide. The full rack is in kukri knives, and the smaller field blades are in hunting knives.
Ransack Viking is a US company based in Memphis, Tennessee. These pieces are handmade in the Czech Republic, then imported, inspected and shipped from Memphis. 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.
