Khukuri forging with a local smith

The khukuri is Nepal's everyday farm knife and the symbol of the Gurkha soldier. Families use it to cut fodder, split firewood, clear paths and prepare food. Blacksmiths in Chainpur and the villages around it have long forged them for local use, often from recycled steel such as old vehicle springs. We visit a smithy where a family works with a charcoal fire, hand bellows and hammers.

You see a blade heated until it glows, hammered into its curve, shaped with files, and hardened in water with a hiss of steam. The smith explains the notch near the handle, the different blade styles for farm work, ceremony and the army, and the wooden or horn handles fitted at the end. Ask questions; our guide translates, and the smith will often let you try the bellows.

Buying a khukuri is possible, and a knife made in front of you is a meaningful souvenir. But plan ahead: it must travel in checked baggage, never hand luggage, and some countries restrict bringing blades home. Smaller decorative knives are easier to carry. As with all our craft visits, we pay the family for their time, and photographs are taken only with their agreement.