The Kukri Knife

The Fearsome Kukri Knife!

If you know anything about self-defense and knives you've probably already heard of the Kukri!

The Kukri is a wickedly-curved fixed blade knife and it's typically around 16 - 18 inches long. It is the national knife of Nepal and carried by the illustrious Gurkha soldiers. 

You can use a Kukri for much more than fighting (which could be handy to explain in a court of law....). It's excellent at all kinds of field work such as clearing light brush, chopping and digging. People liken a Kukri to the bastard offspring of a hatchet and a machete. Where a Kukri really excels though is taking heads!
The Gurkhas actually got in trouble in Afghanistan. They wanted to be sure they killed the right Al Qeadiao leader so they promptly severed his head and took it back to base. You can read about that here!

How To Use A  Kukri

Using a Kukri takes a little bit of practice. You use it for chopping and slashing. As you can see from the pictures, it's not a stabbing weapon.

It's considerable smaller than say a machete. but it packs an enormous amount of bite! A lot of this is due to the ingenious design of the blade. It's pretty hefty for its small stature and the center-of-balance is nearer the end. Coupled with the wicked curve this means the blade slices as it chops. It's smaller size lets you really get some body-torque behind the blade and add to its already ferocious chopping power.

To get more of an idea you can check out this you-tube video:

Kukri Vs Machete

Many people like to ask what is better? A Kukri or a Machete? Well, it's important to understand that they are both great blades and more importantly - great tools! You need to ask yourself what would you be using it for (other than taking heads!).

A Latin-America Machete is better at clearing the type of brush you would expect to find in a rainforest. So it's great for vines, leaves and grass. The Kukri is suited to field work in Nepal, but it does double as an excellent hatchet. Quite a few people have commented on how well a Kukri can clear bamboo.

As a self-defense weapon, it depends where you'd plan on having access to it. For home defense, both would be excellent. Both have a lot of intimidation factor when compared to something like a 3" pocketknife. However, if you're looking for taking something along when you hit the trails you need to consider size. A machete is much longer than a kukri. This means the kukri is easier to conceal, carry and get to if need be,

This website has a great page on how to choose a kukri for self-defense.