- Joined
- Oct 25, 2004
- Messages
- 3,178
I really hate doing review after review like this, but a whole lot of stuff showed up recently. It happens.
Subase PD had the range today and our services weren't required - a maintenance day. Normally this consists of people taking care of appointments, honoring committments, dealing with various issues and otherwise attempting to avoid work. A couple of us couldn't come up with any excuses. We'd decided ahead of time to perform some corrective maintenance on the Camp's drainage system and I'd made sure to bring some khuks. As the 20" Siru hadn't seen anything other than beer cans it was one of the lucky few.
I brought a camera as well. We'd be spending the day burning some serious calories and I wanted a record of it. This post was originally going to be a combination of a Siru review and a bit of info about the Camp - including pictures - but as it turned out, it's going to take two posts...the Camp's astounding beauty really deserves a post of its own. Tomorrow I'll take down my vids, throw up some pics, and give the subject the off-topic attention that it deserves. This one's for the Siru alone.
A brief background: the Camp was built in the '30's as a USMC shooting range, as best as anyone can tell. (No one seems to know quite when it was built anymore.) It was constructed on reclaimed wetlands; even during the summers, there are areas that are perpetually swampy. For various reasons the drainage system fell into disrepair and large areas of the Camp become submerged throughout the winter, leading to varied and sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic consequences. We don't know how well it worked as designed but it's been an ongoing task for us to restore it to something resembling usefulness.
First task of the day: a drainage canal at the bottom of a deep ravine had filled with runoff over the decades. To make matters worse, a beaver occasionally blocked it off, trees had fallen in it, and a large amount of foliage had grown up around it, nearly choking it. Our plan was to dam it off, let it drain a bit, then clear and dredge it. That kind of worked, but it never really drained and everyone came away with mud in their boots. The Siru was used on everything from tall grass to fallen trees. At one point a tree on the bed needed to be cut - both ends were well buried in the banks. I was a bit concerned because the bed was rocky and I expected some tip damage. The Siru wound up with a minor ding in the unhardened portion of the tip - no real problems.
Next up: removal of a beaver dam and general clearing of a seperate canal. This area of forest has spent many years underwater and is mostly dead - it's a bit creepy, but very peaceful and extremely beautiful in its own way. (Pics later.) The majority of the fallen trees were rotted out and easy to cut. Leave it to me to find the durable one. This tree was so darned hard, I not only managed to knock the buttcap loose (a first for me) but I jarred my hand and wrist pretty good. I wouldn't have wanted to section this thing with a maul, let alone a Siru. The Siru had no business taking on this tree. It did so anyway...no rolls, no dings, no waves. Good stuff.
Some trails needed to be blazed through here for access to additional areas for later maintenance. Again, no problems besides the occasional strand of barbed wire left over from the remains of a derelict fence dating back to lord knows when.
The Siru wound up faring a lot better than my hand. (Word of advice: that blister won't hold for "one more swing". Trust me. Put a bandage on it and switch hands. Or better yet, wear gloves.) I was pretty much going lefty for most of the afternoon. The rusty speckling and tarnish from the day's work came right off with a bit of Brillo work. UB's trick of using a flame under the buttcap wouldn't secure it; a few blows from a carpenter's hammer on the tang did the job. I rasped the ring off the handle, roughed it up with sandpaper, and wrapped/epoxied it with paracord; this worked very well for my 16.5" AK to both build up the grip to my dimensions and also to minimize transmitted shock and I expect that it'll work here - call it Satori-ryu tsukamaki. I was particularly impressed by how well the edge held up to my abuse. No, it wouldn't shave afterwards and will need to be honed again to do so but it was still very usable and hadn't rolled, dinged, or chipped besides as already noted with the tip.
I've been a big fan of the larger khuks thus far. The 16.5" AK was a bit small for me - it takes care of wood and harder obstacles just fine but is wearying when used for lighter things. The 20" AK is great for wood but far too tiring for brush. The Kobra's great for brush but not much else and the 30" Siru is too big to do anything efficiently. (Although it does them well.) The 20" Siru really got me thinking here; it's not designed for trees but can do the job in a pinch, yet does a great job on anything lighter. It generates enough speed to really clear brush and is light enough that I can swing it continuously without tiring. The pointy bits on the bottom didn't even eat my hand up. (The ring did, but then again, the ring always does.)
I hate to say it but it's far more useful than I thought it would be. This may replace the 16.5" AK as the go-to khuk. Many people seem to think that the intermediate length khuks are the way to go and I'm beginning to see that there's something to this.
More tests are pending, of course, but I think I may have found my new favorite "style." Not that I've been unhappy with anything HI yet, but I know this one's a keeper.
Subase PD had the range today and our services weren't required - a maintenance day. Normally this consists of people taking care of appointments, honoring committments, dealing with various issues and otherwise attempting to avoid work. A couple of us couldn't come up with any excuses. We'd decided ahead of time to perform some corrective maintenance on the Camp's drainage system and I'd made sure to bring some khuks. As the 20" Siru hadn't seen anything other than beer cans it was one of the lucky few.
I brought a camera as well. We'd be spending the day burning some serious calories and I wanted a record of it. This post was originally going to be a combination of a Siru review and a bit of info about the Camp - including pictures - but as it turned out, it's going to take two posts...the Camp's astounding beauty really deserves a post of its own. Tomorrow I'll take down my vids, throw up some pics, and give the subject the off-topic attention that it deserves. This one's for the Siru alone.
A brief background: the Camp was built in the '30's as a USMC shooting range, as best as anyone can tell. (No one seems to know quite when it was built anymore.) It was constructed on reclaimed wetlands; even during the summers, there are areas that are perpetually swampy. For various reasons the drainage system fell into disrepair and large areas of the Camp become submerged throughout the winter, leading to varied and sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic consequences. We don't know how well it worked as designed but it's been an ongoing task for us to restore it to something resembling usefulness.
First task of the day: a drainage canal at the bottom of a deep ravine had filled with runoff over the decades. To make matters worse, a beaver occasionally blocked it off, trees had fallen in it, and a large amount of foliage had grown up around it, nearly choking it. Our plan was to dam it off, let it drain a bit, then clear and dredge it. That kind of worked, but it never really drained and everyone came away with mud in their boots. The Siru was used on everything from tall grass to fallen trees. At one point a tree on the bed needed to be cut - both ends were well buried in the banks. I was a bit concerned because the bed was rocky and I expected some tip damage. The Siru wound up with a minor ding in the unhardened portion of the tip - no real problems.
Next up: removal of a beaver dam and general clearing of a seperate canal. This area of forest has spent many years underwater and is mostly dead - it's a bit creepy, but very peaceful and extremely beautiful in its own way. (Pics later.) The majority of the fallen trees were rotted out and easy to cut. Leave it to me to find the durable one. This tree was so darned hard, I not only managed to knock the buttcap loose (a first for me) but I jarred my hand and wrist pretty good. I wouldn't have wanted to section this thing with a maul, let alone a Siru. The Siru had no business taking on this tree. It did so anyway...no rolls, no dings, no waves. Good stuff.
Some trails needed to be blazed through here for access to additional areas for later maintenance. Again, no problems besides the occasional strand of barbed wire left over from the remains of a derelict fence dating back to lord knows when.
The Siru wound up faring a lot better than my hand. (Word of advice: that blister won't hold for "one more swing". Trust me. Put a bandage on it and switch hands. Or better yet, wear gloves.) I was pretty much going lefty for most of the afternoon. The rusty speckling and tarnish from the day's work came right off with a bit of Brillo work. UB's trick of using a flame under the buttcap wouldn't secure it; a few blows from a carpenter's hammer on the tang did the job. I rasped the ring off the handle, roughed it up with sandpaper, and wrapped/epoxied it with paracord; this worked very well for my 16.5" AK to both build up the grip to my dimensions and also to minimize transmitted shock and I expect that it'll work here - call it Satori-ryu tsukamaki. I was particularly impressed by how well the edge held up to my abuse. No, it wouldn't shave afterwards and will need to be honed again to do so but it was still very usable and hadn't rolled, dinged, or chipped besides as already noted with the tip.
I've been a big fan of the larger khuks thus far. The 16.5" AK was a bit small for me - it takes care of wood and harder obstacles just fine but is wearying when used for lighter things. The 20" AK is great for wood but far too tiring for brush. The Kobra's great for brush but not much else and the 30" Siru is too big to do anything efficiently. (Although it does them well.) The 20" Siru really got me thinking here; it's not designed for trees but can do the job in a pinch, yet does a great job on anything lighter. It generates enough speed to really clear brush and is light enough that I can swing it continuously without tiring. The pointy bits on the bottom didn't even eat my hand up. (The ring did, but then again, the ring always does.)
I hate to say it but it's far more useful than I thought it would be. This may replace the 16.5" AK as the go-to khuk. Many people seem to think that the intermediate length khuks are the way to go and I'm beginning to see that there's something to this.
More tests are pending, of course, but I think I may have found my new favorite "style." Not that I've been unhappy with anything HI yet, but I know this one's a keeper.
