Hornstag Hand Forged 1095 Steel Kukri Knife | 16 Inch Overall | Stag Horn Scales and Polished Steel Bolster with Leather Belt Sheath and Two Companion Blades | Bushcraft Gift | RK-2100

The Hornstag is a full size kukri, the forward curved Nepalese blade that hill farmers and Gurkha soldiers have carried for well over two centuries. Its mass sits ahead of your hand rather than under it, so on a chopping stroke the blade swings through the cut and your wrist only has to steer. This one is finished bright rather than in pattern welded steel, with a single etched band of Norse knotwork running down the spine side of the blade, stag horn scales pinned through a full tang, and a polished steel bolster and butt cap that frame the horn at both ends.

It is made by hand in the Czech Republic. Ransack Viking imports it, checks the edge, the pin fit and the sheath stitching before it goes on the shelf, and ships it from our Chicago, Illinois warehouse with free shipping inside the United States. It arrives in the brown leather belt sheath shown in the photographs, which carries the two traditional companion blades, the karda and the chakmak, in their own pockets on the face of the sheath.

A kukri cuts on the belly rather than the tip, which is the argument the kukri explained makes at length. For where 1095 sits on the hardness scale and what that buys you, see the steel and hardness page. If you want a shorter belly for dressing game, the skinner knives cover that job.

Specifications

Why a kukri is shaped the way it is

Look at the notch cut into the edge just in front of the bolster. That is the cho, and it is not decoration. It stops a cut running back into the handle, it gives you a clean place to rest a sharpening stone, and on older village made blades it doubled as the point where blood or sap ran off instead of tracking onto the grip. Above it the edge drops away into the recurve, and this is the part people underestimate. Because the belly of the blade hangs below the line of your hand, every swing arrives with a small built in angle of attack, which is why a kukri bites into green wood at a shallow angle instead of glancing off it.

The two small blades in the sheath are just as traditional as the kukri itself. The karda is a plain little utility knife for the fine work a heavy chopper cannot do, trimming cord, whittling a peg, cleaning a fish. The chakmak has no cutting edge at all. It is a hardened burnisher used to straighten and realign a rolled edge in the field, the same job a butcher does with a honing steel. A kukri set has always been three tools rather than one.

The steel and the stag horn

The blade is 1095 high carbon steel, taken to 54 to 58 HRC. That range is chosen for a chopper rather than for a paring knife. Push the hardness higher and the very thin edge on a heavy blade starts to chip when it meets a knot or a hidden nail. Keep it in this band and the edge rolls slightly instead, which you can straighten with the chakmak in a few seconds and put back to work. 1095 is a simple carbon steel with very little in it besides iron and carbon, so it takes a keen edge on a stone and it will rust if you leave it wet.

The scales are stag horn, cut and shaped by hand and pinned through the tang. Horn is a natural material, so the crown texture on the outside face and the colour underneath run from cream through to a smoked amber, and no two sets are alike. Where the horn meets the steel bolster you can feel a slight step in places. That is normal on a hand fitted horn handle and it settles into your palm rather than catching on it.

Engraving, runes and your own design

Use the rune converter on this page to turn a name, a date or a short phrase into Elder Futhark and we will cut it into the steel, the leather or the wood. If you would rather have a Viking pattern than a rune line, choose your own design in the engraving option above the add to cart button and tell us where it goes. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it. Engraving is done here in the United States after the piece arrives, and the flat above the etched knotwork band is the usual place for a line of runes on this blade. You can read more on the engraving page.

Handling and balance

Hold it and the balance point sits a little in front of the bolster, roughly where the recurve begins. That is what makes a kukri feel heavier than its actual weight when you pick it up and lighter than expected once it is moving. For chopping, hold it loosely near the butt and let the swing open out. For carving and camp work, choke up so your fingers are against the bolster and use the straight section behind the belly, which behaves like a much shorter knife.

The stag horn is not a smooth grip. That is deliberate. The natural ridges give you purchase with a wet hand, which is exactly when a heavy chopper is most likely to get away from someone. Keep a relaxed grip and let the weight do the cutting rather than driving it with your shoulder.

Care

1095 is not stainless. Wipe the blade dry after use and put a thin film of mineral oil or camellia oil on it before it goes back in the sheath, and never store it in the sheath for months at a time, because leather holds moisture against steel. If a haze of surface rust appears, a little oil on very fine steel wool takes it off without marking the finish. Feed the leather two or three times a year with a proper leather balm. Stag horn wants nothing more than the occasional wipe and a light coat of the same oil you use on the blade if it starts to look dry. Our full steel care notes cover sharpening angles and rust removal in more detail.

A curve like this does not sharpen the way a straight edge does, and sharpening a curved blade works through the stroke.

Made in the Czech Republic

This kukri is made by hand in the Czech Republic. Nothing here is pulled off an importer catalogue page and drop shipped to you from a warehouse that has never opened the box. Ransack Viking buys these outright, brings them into the United States, unwraps and inspects each one, and holds them in Chicago so that what you order is a piece somebody has actually had in their hands. Because they are made in small runs rather than stamped out by the thousand, allow one to two weeks of processing before your order ships, and please do not order on the assumption that it will arrive in three days.

Every piece carries our lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings. No end date, no receipt needed.

A note on handmade variation

This is hand made, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The stag horn especially will differ, because horn is a natural material and every piece has its own colour, its own ridging and its own translucency at the thin edges. The etched knotwork sits slightly differently on each blade, hammer and grind texture varies, and the profile of the recurve moves by a fraction from one to the next. The dimensions, the steel, the heat treat and the build are the same every time. The character is not, and that is the point of buying something a person made.

Frequently asked questions

Is it sharp when it arrives

Yes. It arrives with a working edge that will shave a strip off a piece of paper and chop seasoned wood straight away. It is not a razor and a chopper should not be, because a very thin edge on a heavy blade chips instead of rolling.

What are the two little knives for

The karda is a small utility knife for fine work. The chakmak has no edge and is used to straighten and burnish the main blade after hard use. Both live in pockets on the front of the sheath.

Will the stag horn crack

It should not under normal use. Horn dislikes being soaked and then dried fast next to a heater, so keep it out of direct heat and give it a light oil once or twice a year if you are in a very dry climate.

Can I use it for camping and yard work

That is what it is built for. Limbing, splitting kindling, clearing brambles and camp chores all suit it. Treat it as the heavy tool it is and keep your other hand out of the arc.

Can I get runes cut into this one

Yes. Add a rune line or your own Viking pattern in the engraving option above the add to cart button. It is cut here in the United States before the piece ships to you.

How long until it arrives

Processing runs one to two weeks because these are made in small hand worked batches. Shipping inside the United States is free, and returns are accepted within seven days.

What is in the box

• Hornstag kukri in 1095 high carbon steel with stag horn scales
• Karda utility knife
• Chakmak burnishing steel
• Brown leather belt sheath with front pockets for both companion blades
• Lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings
• Hand made in the Czech Republic, shipped from our Chicago, Illinois warehouse

Explore the range

See the rest of the kukri knives, the wider Viking knives, and everything in engraved and personalized. For sharpening, steel and history reading, start with the guides.

Others in the same line

A near match for this one is the Hammergrove kukri knife, 16 inches overall. Closest to this in the range is the Stagvane kukri knife, 15 inches overall. If this one is not quite right, there is the Pitchgrove kukri knife, 16 inches overall.

The Blockbreaker chef knife covers the other half of the same kit. You can have this made your way instead on the custom hunting knife page.