A Sirupati Review

Don Rac

Don Rac

Joined
Oct 3, 2001
Messages
1,191
I've had this Sirupati for a few months, 18" model. I had a guava tree that was dying, and had to be taken down. Handled alot of the relatively soft wood pretty good, considering that some of the branches were up to and around 5 inches thick in some of the parts closer to the ground. Also, there were alot of 7 foot long, 3-4 inch thick pieces of hickory wood, and some plywood boards that were never used for construction in my backyard. Each piece took at least 5-10 swings to get through or before they broke from the impact, especially when being hit from the smaller sides. Alot of the best cuts happened when the middle of the last part of the blade hit dead on a corner or thin flat surface of the wood.
I also have a scratch post for my cats that is basically the lower end of a tree, don't know what kind. It looks like it has plenty on knots, and the bark is removed, and the insides hollowed out, making the former log about an inch or two thick in some places, and about a foot and a half high. The blade goes in about an inch when the top is struck, but doesn't go too far when hitting the outside of the log, maybe about a few millimeters. I had to stop the cutting from the top down, cause then the cats would have to scratch my furniture instead.
I use Flitz to clean in to a reasonable shine, and I use mineral oil to coat the blade. I experimented and used Flitz only, and rust appeared after 3 weeks of sitting in it's sheath. Today I blackened the blade with Casey's gun blue liquid, it took on a good color that brought out the brass inlays, nice attractive contrast.
I also have about 8 coatings of gunstock oil on the handle, the karda and chakma handles really have the color brought out in them, and form comparing the wood to other khukuri pics, I'd guess they were saatisal, but the wood handle of my khukuri is a deep reddish brown, and all attempts to makes this handle stand out and shine have failed. Maybe it's just the color.
The sheath was well done, but the little strap at the top of the belt loop broke after I started suspending the whole thing on a screw sticking out of the side of my bedroom table. I replaced it with a small peice of paracord. I also removed the chape, after it poked me while doing a trial carry up my stairs as a simuation of hiking uphill. It took on a good shine after a few coats of neutral shoe polish.
Overall a good khukuri, still my favotie all arounder, and still my favorite bedside knife of choice. Sorry for the long review.:p
I also have a 15" AK I got for trading a Buck Strider folder, hell of a deal for me in my opinion. Review on that coming soon.
 
Don,that's interesting about the rust appearing on the blade when you used Flitz only;I do the same,but haven't had any rust show up yet.Now,I'll keep a watch for ti. Thanks for the tip.

My BAS,being a more utility blade spends more time with me, but my 18" Sirupati is my favorite and I don't foresee that changing.Worked with it extensively on what our local newspaper called Himilayan Privet and the Sirupati took care of it easily.I began to wonder if the Rai and Limbu people,who favor this type of khuk,have to deal with privet on a regular basis.

Wouldn't you know it:I'm away from the computer all day and two Siru PGAs show up...

Thanks for the review.I always life to what other folks think of their Sirus.

WoodOwl
 
Here's another member of the 18" Sirupati fan club.

Pappy was, too, but he may have defected to the 20".

S.
 
Now isn't that nice. I do like that 20" a lot but, I still take the 18" with me more often than not.
Besides my 18" is now a snake killer. I couldn't beleive that a snake had climbed into a cedar tree and had his head sticking out watching me. I started looking around because of the dog causing a quite a ruckus.
My wife and I transplanted a row of young cedars along our drive way for some privacy from the county road and the highway on two sides of our property. They are not real tall yet. they vary from 6' to 8' well within range of the 18" knife.
I'm not real sure why I happened to look up to se him. I have heard of the Mocs. climbing trees in the jungles of GA and FL. Seemed a bit strange to see one in a dry land tree. I don't know if the rain we got yesterday brought him out or what. It didn't take long for the Siru. to be in an arch and caught the thing about an inch and 1/4 behind the head. That I had to put in the big trash can. That part wolf dog wanted to eat that, and I didn't think that was a very good idea.

My second son says he is going to make a hat band from the rest of it. I'm thinking that the snakes are going to be bad this year around here. Three snakes in two days really isn't too cool:cool: We have a quite a few copperheads this year too. Some of them are pretty small and a guy almost walks on them before you can spot them.:D
 
No insult intended, Pappy. The 20" is a worthy khuk, and I can understand some folks preferring it over the 18".

Three snakes in two days isn't cool. I guess I live in the city for a reason. (Given the varieties you mention, I'm guessing Smithville is in E. Texas.)

S.
 
Spence,don't worry,there are plenty of snakes and other wildlife(coyotes and deer come to mind)that are urban dwellers.The school I teach at is definitely an urban school and a few years ago,just two blocks away a resident heard his dog carrying on in the back yard,went out to investigate and found an adult black bear up in one of his trees.

WoodOwl
 
Smithville is south and east of Austin. They say that is central TX. I don't live in Smithville, If I visit the kids in Austin I go 28 miles east on Hwy 71 and turn south on 304 for another 13 miles.
That puts me right in the yard at home. For me to get to downtown Austin is right close to 50 miles.
needless to say I don't go there no more than I have to. Austin is getting some of the craziest drivers in the world. Almost as bad as the cab drivers in Okinawa and Japan.

They keep telling about the crime rate going down in Austin. At least the police would like folks to believe that. the problem is every night on the news we hear about child molesters drive buy shootings, stabbings, rapes, murders, and robberies, including banks almost every day. My wife and I would not live in Austin or any other big city. Seems most of those folks just don't have any couth. Even as far out as we live Mom has her own weapons in the room ready to do whatever is needed.

If you have a map of TX find Bastrop county and the city of that name follow 304 south from there, just before you get to a community called Rosanky my house sits off to the west side of that hwy.

Anybody that gets in this neighborhood let me know and stop by for at least coffee, or a brewski.:D
 
Uncle Bill, it has been a long time ago that I was in Reno. You have an altogether different kind of people in your part of the desert. When I was in the Corps I spent as much time as I could in the desert. In the big cities of Calif. it seemed that you had to hunt for the half way decent folks. Almost all of the people that I ran into that were true dwellers of the desert seemed to me to be the salt of the earth. Don't anybody take me wrong, it's just that the cities have so many of the less desirable element that the good folks are kind of hid from view most of the time.That is the way things looked to me when traveling around the country.
There isn't much doubt in my mind that Austin, Houston, and Dallas are a lot worse than Reno.:)
 
The RPD is pretty good here. The city philosophy is "don't scare the tourists" so the watch is very decent with the stop it before it starts tactics which work well. The biggest problem we have here are the teen age gangsters who like to shoot each other every now and then. And you're right about the desert folks, Pappy.
 
Ahh one of my favorite things to rant about: teen age gangster wannabes! These are the guys that like to think they're tough, but locked up somewhere they end up being somebody's love toy for the night. Not a smart move on their parts. Sometimes, walking around San Diego, I'll run into someone who would actually smile and say hi, and of course there are the majority of the people who just look at you, or ignore you completely. Oh well, I still go home happy most days.
 
Don Rac-

You don't sound too alarmed about the rust spots. I think my khuks are showing the same thing.. What should be done about it?

Is it better to store them in or out of the sheath?
 
Store in the sheath. Any fine abrasive removes minor rust and a coat of oil helps keep it from returning.
 
Yup, what Bill said. To remove the rust spots I recommend using 0000 steel wool, with Flitz, and treat it afterwards with mineral oil, not alot, but enough to cover the blade in a VERY thin film, too much and the oil can make dust stick on the blade, causing rust. I found that one out the hard way. It won't exactly be mirror finish after cleaning, but it's pretty damn close and good looking enough to be.:)
 
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