I talked to both Dan and Jerry about kukris at Blade. It would be very expensive to produce a kukri using the modern manufacturing methods that are used at Busse. The stock would have to be really wide, and you would end up grinding most of that fine steel away. A less radical shape than the traditional hand forged kukri could be done and still keep the price reasonable. Maybe more of a bolo or something. If you'll notice even the Killa Zilla kukri is much less radical in shape than most traditional kukris. And even that one cost a lot to make. I just thought I'd share that with the Yard. I like kukris, too. But we don't want it to cost too much. That would defeat the purpose of SY knives, to offer maximum performance at affordable prices.
You’re right, Horn Dog. If you start with a 3 ˝” wide strip and cut a Kukri out of it, you will waste plenty of steel.
Is that the only option? Can Dan get SR-77 (or some other Busse kin steel) in sheets rather than strips? A foundry that can make custom steels to order should be able to roll out sheets of metal as readily as strips.
Take a sheet 18” long by 4’ wide. Lay out a row of Kuks nested close together. 18” overall length, and as many as you can crowd onto your 4’ sheet of steel. Cut out each blade by laser or water jet. I bet you would lose far less waste steel that way. You could even design the shape of the knife to minimize waste and maximize steel in the knife.
You’d need small batches of test blades to see how well a given Kukri shape works. Those would be more expensive than the knives cut out of sheet steel. But once you’re into the mass production stage the price would come down.
Once you have the basic shape cut out, grind and heat treat as usual.