15" and 12" Sirupati

The Ontario khukuri and bolo arrived on friday with no problems. They were included in the testing over the weekend. They are at totally different ends of the spectrum when it comes to design and they produced some interesting results. The really thin Bolo makes a nice tuning fork.

-Cliff

[This message has been edited by Cliff Stamp (edited 19 April 1999).]
 
At first I thought it was amusing - bing - bing - bing - bing. After a half hour or so its not quite as funny anymore.

I should try and see if I could play a tune by chopping at various speeds and impact forces.

-Cliff
 
Cliff, get a bow and see if you can play it like some people can play a saw. Be sure you make a recording!

Uncle Bill
 
This probably belongs in the most outrageous thing you have done with your khukuri.

My 20" Ang Khola tends to ring when I sharpen it or tap on it near the edge with my fingers. This is not surprising since it is made of spring steel and is fairly long. I have tried to play a tune on it but have not been very successful since I don't want to cut my fingers. It really sounds neat though.

Will
 
OK, we now have a possible solution to both Jaeger's sharpening question, and over on the Blade general discussion all topics forum, Ken Cook's "How do you sharpen a rolled edge" thread. Using a fine gritted slack belt sander was suggested. What else is a fiddle's bow. Just use rouge or grinding/polishing compound instead of rosin. HEHEHEHE I beat you to that one Cobalt!
 
I finally got around to reading Cliff's test with the smaller khukuris vs Ontario's knives. The results really show the benifits of the khukuri design.

It was surprizing that the heavier Ontario knife (it weights as much as a 15" Ang Khola) did not out performed the lighter 15" Sirupati. The Ontario knife an approximate weight advantage of 20%.

Cliff how do you think a 20" Sirupati or 15" Ang Khola compare to the Ontario knives. These knives are more in the weight catagory of the Marine Raider. My guess is that these two khukuri's would be quite a bit ahead of the Ontario knives.

It seems odd that the Ontario knives had poored edge retention than the khukuri's. Does anyone think the forging process has anything to do with that and why?

How tough is the handle material on the Ontario knives? Is the kraton like Cold Steels, rather soft and can be used as an eraser.

Will
 
Will, the 15" Ang Khola and 20" Sirupati are in a different class. The wood that I used as you know from your own chopping is far too light to do chopping tests with a 15" Ang Khola which shears through 1" board like butter.

The better edge retention could be due to a number of factors. First off the major one would be that there is just so much more metal behind the edge on the khukuri that it resists deforming much greater. Second the convex curvature is stronger than the v-grind. And finally the forging could leave a finer grain size.

-Cliff
 
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