>>1035386It is simple, read up on the wikipedia page.
Word of advice, do not buy the ones that are designed by various "tacticool" companies, I am not saying you should go out of your way to buy a real nepalese khukuri, but those are just for people who don't actually know anything about knives.
Think of the Khukuri as both a tool and a weapon. It is designed to be used as a machete, though it is also a good knife. Please note, a Khukuri designed to be used primarily as a machete is going to be a lot longer then one deisgned to be used as a weapon. If you want one that is meant to be used as a weapon, you might have to buy an authentic one from the nepalese just because of how much a lot of companies over charge for one. You can get an authentic one off of amazon for around sixty dollars. And I mean authentic, as in forged in a guys house using leaf spring steel.
A basic thing to look for is that a real Khukuri designed for tool use, or a traditional style weapon, will have two small knives. One is for use as a cutting tool and the other is for use as a straightening tool/sharpener (it shouldn't have any edges). Now, actual modern military Khukuris as used by Ghurkas won't nessicarilly have those blades and will be fairly short, only a bit bigger then a KA-BAR to give you an idea. Actual military ones will come in leather sheathes, mind you, and the blade will not have any kind of coating. As well, the handle will typically be hard wood or horn and the butt of the handle will expand in a conical pattern.
Another thing to note, is that traditionally, the blade has a notch where a piece of metal sticks out, there are various reasons given. The presence of the notch doesn't necessarily mean anything, but it is a good sign.
