Hand-Forged Double Chirra Kukri

Because they are built for different jobs, and this piece is aimed at someone who has the second job. A karda is the traditional companion: a small general-purpose knife with a straightforward point, used for whittling, cord, food and everything the kukri is too big for. A skinner is a specialist. Its edge curves into a deep belly and sweeps up to a point that sits high and turns away from the cut, and both features exist for one reason — opening a hide without puncturing what is underneath. The belly gives you a long curved edge that does the work with a drawing motion rather than a point, and the upswept tip lets you run the blade under skin with the point riding clear. Try that with a straight-pointed karda and you will nick the gut, which is the mistake that ruins the meat. If you want the traditional karda and chakmak instead, we will fit them and cut the scabbard pocket to suit.

Chirra is the Nepali word for a fuller, the groove ground into the flat of a blade, and the number counts how many run down it. This blade has two, ground parallel with a single ridge standing between them. Fullers remove material from the middle band of the blade's width, where bending stress is lowest, so the blade loses weight without losing meaningful strength — our four chirra kukri sets that principle out in full, and our ringed hilt kukri covers how chirra counts are used across different Nepali patterns. Two is a practical middle: enough to lighten the blade properly, considerably less grinding than three or four, and the result here is a 14 inch blade at 52.9 grams per inch, lighter for its length than either our 13 inch single-chirra or our plain 10 inch bhojpure.

A fine wavy line with a straight line beside it, running the length of the blade along the spine in gold against the polished steel. It is ornament and nothing else — it does not affect how the blade cuts, how it balances or how long it holds an edge, and we would rather tell you that than invent a meaning for it. Decorated spines have a long history on Nepali blades and this is in that tradition, but the specific pattern here is our own rather than a regional one. Two practical notes. Any worked line on a blade is a place moisture can sit where a cloth drawn along the flat will not reach, so it wants attention when you oil the blade. And a plain spine is available at no extra cost, which is the sensible choice if the kukri is going to be worked hard rather than looked at.

Grip, and on a skinner specifically it earns its place more than on most knives. Dressing an animal means your hands are wet with blood and fat, which is about the most slippery combination a knife handle will ever meet, and polished horn under those conditions is genuinely dangerous — a hand sliding forward onto a sharp edge while you are working close to your own fingers is how people get hurt. The cross-hatching is cut into the horn in a grid so the skin has somewhere to key into rather than relying on friction against a smooth surface. It is the same principle as checkering on a gun stock. The trade-off is that cut horn holds residue in the grooves and needs proper cleaning rather than a wipe, which matters more here than it would on a knife that only ever cut wood.

A separate carry piece rather than a fixed loop. The scabbard hangs from a brass ring, which in turn hangs from a leather frog that takes your belt, so the whole assembly pivots instead of being locked flat against your hip. That matters on a 20 inch package: a rigidly mounted scabbard of this length levers against your leg when you sit, crouch or climb, where one that can swing simply moves out of the way and settles again. It is also easier to take off — the frog stays on the belt and the scabbard lifts off the ring. The trade-off is that a swinging scabbard is exactly that, so if you want the knife held still and close, ask for a fixed loop or a shoulder harness instead and we will build it.

Same length, near-identical weight, different priorities. Both are 14 inch blades and they come in within ten grams of each other, so in the hand they feel much alike. The four chirra is about the grinding: four parallel grooves is the hardest work our smiths do, the hilt is plainer, and it carries the traditional karda and chakmak. This one puts its effort into decoration instead — two chirras rather than four, but worked lines along the spine, three brass fittings rather than two, and a red laced panel on the scabbard — and it swaps the traditional companions for a purpose-built skinner. Choose the four chirra if you want to own a demonstration of grinding skill. Choose this if you want a decorated piece, or if the skinner is the companion you would actually use.

That is the cho, sometimes written kaudi, and it is the diagnostic mark of a genuine kukri. It terminates the edge in a rounded cut rather than letting the edge run straight into the bolster, so a crack starting at the edge has somewhere to stop instead of running back toward the tang. It also carries religious meaning that different communities in Nepal read in different ways. Ours are cut by hand on every blade, which is why no two are exactly alike. We apply the test in both directions: a curved knife with no cho did not come from this tradition whatever a listing calls it, and we have declined to call our own pieces kukris on that basis.

5160 high-carbon spring steel, oil-quenched and tempered, for both blades. It is the family of steel used for vehicle leaf springs, which is the origin of the Nepali practice of forging kukris from them, and it is chosen for toughness rather than for maximum hardness. On the kukri that means an edge which rolls slightly rather than chipping when it meets a knot in seasoned wood. On the skinner it means a blade you can work hard against bone without worrying about the tip. The trade-off is that both need sharpening a little more often than a harder, more brittle steel would, and neither is stainless, so both will rust if neglected — which matters more than usual on a knife you intend to use on game.

Differently, because they have different geometry. The kukri has a convex edge, which is stronger at the edge and better suited to impact, so work it with a stone in small circles or with a file rather than dragging it through a fixed-angle pull-through sharpener, which grinds a flat bevel into a convex edge and undoes it. The skinner is the more demanding of the two despite being smaller: a deep belly means the edge is curving constantly, so you have to roll the blade steadily as you work along it to keep the angle consistent, and most people rush the last inch and leave the upswept tip blunter than the rest. Take the tip separately if it helps. A skinner that is sharp everywhere except the point is a skinner that will tear rather than cut exactly where precision matters most.

Yes. The skinner is what ships as standard, but we build the traditional karda and chakmak and can fit either or both in place of it, or all three together if you want the full complement. The scabbard pocket is cut to match whichever you choose, so this has to be decided at the point of order rather than added later — a pocket sized for a skinner will not hold a chakmak securely, and one cut for three companions is a different piece of leather. If you are unsure, tell us what you actually intend to do with the kukri and we will suggest the arrangement rather than sell you the most pieces.

This piece has more places for moisture to hide than a plain kukri, so the routine matters. Four things a cloth drawn along the flat will miss completely: the bottom of each chirra, the worked lines along the spine, the seams where brass meets horn on the hilt, and the cross-hatching on the skinner's grip. Work oil into all of them with a cloth corner or a cotton bud. Beyond that it is standard carbon steel care — wipe dry after use, oil lightly, do not store either blade in the scabbard for long periods in a damp climate. One point specific to the skinner: if you use it on an animal, clean it immediately rather than at the end of the day. Blood is salty and acidic and will mark carbon steel within hours.

Both. We forge this profile from belt-sized blades up to two-handed pieces, and the chirras scale with the blade. On the count: one is the most common arrangement in Nepal and gives a flat panel rather than a ribbed one, two is what this piece carries and a sensible middle, and three or four is progressively more grinding and more cost for progressively less additional benefit — our four chirra kukri is honest about where those returns fall away. One caution on shorter blades: below about 10 inches there is not much width between the spine and the edge, and chirras crowded into that space look worse than a plain blade would. We will say so before quoting rather than after.