Amazing destruction of a Ang Khola!

[Wolf_1989]

Those ARE very nice blades.

Just curious, whats makes a Super CAK super, as opposed to just a CAK?

- "Bonecutter" edge bevels

- deep double fullers

- relative light weight

- STEEL bolster (of traditional form) and pommel cap

- more of a sort-of bhojpure in overall shape than the standard CAK

- equally weapon and tool

- made by the amazingly skilled Sgt Khadka

 

[Dave Rishar]

Are you "etching" the blade to test hardness? Or to differentiate/distinguish/define the areas that have been differentially hardened?

I do it to find out exactly where the hardened area is. Sometimes other clues about the heat treat can be gained, depending on how well the etch goes. It can even tell me things about what kind of steel was used or who made it -- for instance, every khukuri made by Sgt. Khadka that I've etched had a very distinct smell to it, much different than an HI or those from other manufacturers.

The etch generally won't tell us much about the hardness, although after enough etches one can get a rough idea about whether an etch looks "correct" or not in relation to earlier blades that are known quantities. To get a rough idea of hardness I use a Nicholson file and observe what it does to the hardened zone. The file is ~Rc 60, so if it grabs easily on the hardened zone, there's a problem. If it just barely grabs under heavy pressure or skates, it's nearly as hard as the file, suggesting a good edge.

Neither technique is an exact science; that being said, I'm not about to go out and purchase a hardness tester. In my experience this simple go/no-go test is good enough for my purposes.

An even simpler test is to just go out and use it. If there's a problem with the heat treat it should become visible fairly quickly.

 

[DocH]

Could not have said it better myself!!!

All I can say is, I've never come upon a concrete wall and said to myself "self, I sure wish I had a knife I could use to chop through this here concrete wall".

Evaluating knives by trying to chop through concrete is like evaluating a hammer by how well it cuts weeds.


It's just silly.

 

[DocH]

Sandy and I AGREE.
Thanks, Abaniko

A traditional handmade and blessed Brave blade that didn't deserve the disrespect it got. But it handled it.
Tear up all the mass produced, stamped out stuff you want, for whatever percieved rationale, but doing this to a kukhri made the way the kamis do it ain't right IMHO. Those tests show nothing that a thousand years of tradition have already proven worthy.

 

[SilverFoxKnows]

I think I'd rather be shot by one AK than cleft in twain by the other AK.

Frank

 

[mleec321]

Lol, I agree. I would never come up against a wall and thought to use a knife.

In other news, I think ive decided upon my first khukri!

 

[killa_concept]

Lol, I agree. I would never come up against a wall and thought to use a knife.

In other news, I think ive decided upon my first khukri!

Good to hear! I ended up buying a Kabar kukri machete before deciding to try out a traditional kukri. The difference was night and day! While the kukri-machetes are nice tools in their own right, they definitely cannot double as an ax - in truth, they're just bent machetes. My 18" Bhojpure has since replaced my hand ax and machete for camping :thumbup:

Also, here's a shot of the Bhojpure next to my Kabar kukri machete so show the difference in spine thickness. Remember that the Kabar kukri-machete is about 1.5-2x the thickness of a Cold Steel kukri machete!!

 

[mleec321]

Thats a huge differeance! I settled on a 20" Super CAK. Apparently shes going to make a few more, with them being ready sometime during the next month.