- Joined
- Oct 25, 2004
- Messages
- 3,178
Yesterday it was raining slightly less than normal so Cndrm and I decided to test out a few pieces. The one relevant to this discussion was a 25" chiruwa ang khola by Sgt. Khadka.
Instead of doing the prudent thing and starting small we went right after a maple log. I'm not sure how wide it was across but it certainly wasn't small.
After going through once myself I opted to exercise my supervisory expertise and executive powers and delegated the following chopping duties to Cndrm. Chips flew.
"There's no shame in getting both hands on there, Mike!" (What I helpfully shouted at this point, while Cndrm no doubt cursed my ancestry and wondered why he was chopping while I was standing out of the rain snapping pictures.)
Some of those flying chips were quite large.
How about I split the rest of the log lengthwise? (This was not one of my better ideas for the day.)
It didn't go as well as I'd hoped. After getting stuck, destroying the first baton and damaging our hands with the second, I seized a nice chunk of poplar and got to wailing on things. (You can see it behind the khuk in the next picture and between the two chunks of maple.) What we did not know in the beginning (but sure as hell found out later) was that the log's grain ran in an interesting corkscrewing pattern, and while splitting rounds wasn't bad, splitting the whole deal was...not pleasant.
I'm a bit surprised by this piece. I'd previously dismissed the superheavies as worse than useless for any real work but this one is not bad. It seemed to get the job done in less time than anything lighter and was not too tiring to use, although I certainly wouldn't want to spend an afternoon swinging one of these. This is probably on account of Khadka's particular skill with making sure that a piece is well-balanced, which this one is.
No serious problems were noted and even bad and glancing blows caused no damage. Both Cndrm and I detected very slight shifting of the handle scales while hitting the maple, which was not surprising in light of the amount of shock that was being generated. (Indeed, another khukuri experienced shifting scales on that same log not twenty minutes earlier.) Swinging a four pound piece of steel at a hard, solidly braced piece of wood is just about a worst-case scenario for handle scales and I do not see them moving any more than they already have. I tried to get a photo of the shift but it's small enough that I'm unable to.
Once again, Khadka does not disappoint. Wasn't he supposed to be the small khukuri expert?
Instead of doing the prudent thing and starting small we went right after a maple log. I'm not sure how wide it was across but it certainly wasn't small.
After going through once myself I opted to exercise my supervisory expertise and executive powers and delegated the following chopping duties to Cndrm. Chips flew.
"There's no shame in getting both hands on there, Mike!" (What I helpfully shouted at this point, while Cndrm no doubt cursed my ancestry and wondered why he was chopping while I was standing out of the rain snapping pictures.)
Some of those flying chips were quite large.
How about I split the rest of the log lengthwise? (This was not one of my better ideas for the day.)
It didn't go as well as I'd hoped. After getting stuck, destroying the first baton and damaging our hands with the second, I seized a nice chunk of poplar and got to wailing on things. (You can see it behind the khuk in the next picture and between the two chunks of maple.) What we did not know in the beginning (but sure as hell found out later) was that the log's grain ran in an interesting corkscrewing pattern, and while splitting rounds wasn't bad, splitting the whole deal was...not pleasant.
I'm a bit surprised by this piece. I'd previously dismissed the superheavies as worse than useless for any real work but this one is not bad. It seemed to get the job done in less time than anything lighter and was not too tiring to use, although I certainly wouldn't want to spend an afternoon swinging one of these. This is probably on account of Khadka's particular skill with making sure that a piece is well-balanced, which this one is.
No serious problems were noted and even bad and glancing blows caused no damage. Both Cndrm and I detected very slight shifting of the handle scales while hitting the maple, which was not surprising in light of the amount of shock that was being generated. (Indeed, another khukuri experienced shifting scales on that same log not twenty minutes earlier.) Swinging a four pound piece of steel at a hard, solidly braced piece of wood is just about a worst-case scenario for handle scales and I do not see them moving any more than they already have. I tried to get a photo of the shift but it's small enough that I'm unable to.
Once again, Khadka does not disappoint. Wasn't he supposed to be the small khukuri expert?
:thumbup: 
nice stuff.
