Am I doing something wrong?

As Jager points a V or half V would help for large diameter or hard logs. This will allow more wood to be removed and leave a bigger target as you get deeper into the wood. I have heard that it also stretches the wood fibres to make cutting easier. Don’t come in at too much of an angle, if the edge does not bite the khukuri will slide along the log.

What part of the khukuri do you hit the most with? There is much more vibration if the tip of the khukuri is used, especially on harder woods. With a thick khukuri there is a tendency to chop with the tip to improve penetration. The region near the tip is generally thinner and has higher velocity so penetration tends to be better.

With the Cold Steel khukuri I almost let go of the khukuri just before impact and let its momentum do the chopping. I find that it is painful for extended chopping otherwise. This not a very efficient means of chopping and a lot of attention is required to grab on the handle if the khukuri goes errant.

If all else fails you could try a Mega Salyan. It does not vibrate at all.

Take your time and work up slowly. I got carried away the first time out with my first khukuri and was very sore the next day.

Will
 
Sorry I've not really been around much. Had to limit my time on the forums cause of exams. Week and a half and 4 more papers to go.
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Anyway, from all your replies, I can see why one khukri is never enough. Mega Salyan, Gelbu Special, "Gee, you may need a bigger khukri". You guys are all in cahoots!!!
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But there may be truth in what you say. Hmmm... Maybe a Kumar Kobra?
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About the chopping saga, I went out to do some more chopping yesterday as a break from studying. I had already rounded the top flare, so it wasn't digging in to my hand anymore. There was certainly improvement in grip comfort. Thanks Jaeger, Howard and Coronach. I tried gripping the handle tighter and that helped quite a bit too... right up to the point I struck the heartwood. Now that part must be really, really hard. The blade bounced and my hand was severely jarred. Checked the edge. Felt fine. Tried again. Bounce, vibration. Checked the edge. Still ok. Steeled it with the chakma anyway. Started to beat the living crap out of that piece of wood. Basically went at it like a starved Chihuahua on a pork chop and the pain be damned. After 2 minutes, minimal damage to the log, minor damage to the edge. Hmm... I might return to extract some of that heartwood to use in my next non-metallic knife.
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I'll like to point out that I was using the apex of the curve as the contact point, I did cut a good wide V to get at the heartwood and I did try out what Cliff mentioned about pivot points and cutting action. Well, it definitely helped, since the entire bodyweight goes in behind the chop. For martial artists, you can figure the action to be analogous to how a punch or kick needs the whole body to be involved and moving behind the stroke to lend it power. The blade certainly bit deep in to the bark and outer cambrium of the log when I tried it on a fresh section of the log. But that heartwood really resisted every step of the way.

As a footnote, I finally went at the log with the Survival Gear Sabre Saw. Took almost 5 minutes to cut through that heartwood. And that was only about 5cm diameter.
 
I was once trying my hand at doing some wood sculpture on a 4 foot piece of log they had felled near my apartment. I was using Sheffield steel chisels and a mallet. Eerything was fine until I hit the heartwood...and broke the chisel. Actually snapped off most of the bevel. I tried another chisel and promptly snapped out a large semi-circular section of the edge. Forget sculpture.

On a related note, my best friend's ffather was in the Coast Guard for many years. While on a cruise in, I believe it was an 80 foot cutter, they blew two main bearings on one of their diesel engines. They actually used the heartwood from some local tree, don't know the type, to machine out a replacement bearing! Now that's tough wood!

Tom
 
There's wood and then there's wood -- that it took five minutes to saw 5cm tells the story. We have something here in Remulak ... um ... I mean, New England ... (the climate's similar to New England, anyway) that we call ironwood, though it isn't related to the desert ironwood used for knife handles. (I understand the inhabitants of every region of the world call their hardest tree ironwood, and most of them are not related to the others.)

Whatever it really is (somebody told me once but I forgot), this tree we call ironwood is unchoppable. An ax just bounces off the stuff. It never grows very big, 3-4" diameter is a fairly big one, but even that size you can't chop it down -- not if you wear yourself out trying. It can be sawed, but even that takes forever; it's like sawing iron.

Whatever that tree was ... I bet the locals call it ironwood.

-Cougar :{)


[This message has been edited by Cougar Allen (edited 06-13-2000).]
 
Can you imagine what that would be like once it's been firehardened?

All right, Uncle, it may be time for you to ask Yangdu if you haven't already. In fact, ask again even if you already have - answers tend to vary on this.

Does Nepal have vampires? Soul Killers? Other mythic beings? Moving to open an "Abominable" thread. While I'm off doing that, maybe one of you can figure out how to make that wood into a vampire ventilator ( explosives not allowed unless absolutely necessary ).

------------------
"They asked would I fight for my country, I answered the FBI, yea!
"I will point a gun for my country but, I won't guarantee you which way!"
Woody Guthrie


Himalayan Imports Website
 
Well, my friend's father just had the machinists put it on the lathe (that's the lathe for turning steel, not wood) and turn out some new bearings. The stuff apparently was a little more difficult to work with than regular metal, given the grain, but they could machine it to the required tolerances and it was dense and hard enough to serve. They rumbled around for several weeks through half the Caribbean on those wood bearings before a refit.

So, Rusty, you just put it on the lathe and turn yourself out a nice stake. Don't know what you'd want to finish it with. Something to give it that sun-shiney lemon-fresh feeling when you're doing in supernatural terrors from beyond the grave.

Tom
 
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