I got my Ang Khola bowie by default and when it arrived I was not sure what to make of it. The blade is really thick, it measured 0.535 at its thickest and weighted 2.38 LB. The blade is approximately 9.5 long and the overall length is 15.5. The knife has a full tang and extends beyond the horn handle slabs. The knife has been described and tested by Yvsa and is pictured in the H.I. khukuri FAQ.
The handle is big and the horn slabs are well polished. I plan to put some texture on the horn to improve the grip. I did not have any problems with the handle sliding in my hands due to its shape and size. A big handle is easier to hold onto than a smaller one, within reason. With a firm grip I can chop and stab as hard as I can without my hand slipping. It was relatively cool so I did not get sweaty hands, which may cause my hand to slip. Even if my hands did slide there is very little chance of my hand sliding onto the edge. The wide blade forms a bottom guard. Some of the epoxy seems to have cracked from the metal at the front and rear of the handle. The cracks did not expand during chopping. I will seal these areas with epoxy.
After a few weeks I have found that the horn handle has shrunk a bit. Instead of the pins being flush with the handle they stand out a bit more. The handle slabs are now a bit thinner. The handle has not show any sign of cracking. I have neglected to treat the handle with lanolin lotion or hoof dressing.
The steel on the Ang Khola bowie is fairly hard. My medium and fine Spyderco ceramic stones slide over most of the edge easily. Edge retention should be pretty good. The edge is hardest from the front of the cho to about 2.5 from the tip. The rest of the edge is a bit softer. The weight and heft of the knife conveys that it is something substantial and rugged. The feel is O.K. but I would like the balanced point further forward of the handle. A knife this heavy is well suited for heavy chopping so it should be optimized for it. With the balance point as it is the knife feels light and fast. Watching the blade move it does not move very fast compared to a smaller knife. The sheath is made from suede leather. It could use a belt loop. I constructed a frog with parachute cord for belt carry. Neck carry tends to leave my neck sore and the knife can not be carried upside down in the sheath. The knife is too heavy and the leather on the retention strap too thin.
The first things I cut up are cardboard boxes with the bowie. The forward potion (belly) hangs up and requires quite a bit of force. At times it is very difficult to force this portion of the blade through the cardboard without crushing the paper. This is due to the blade profile thickening rapidly. The curved section just forward of the cho slices the cardboard easily. The curve improves slicing.
The bowies chopping performance did not match a lighter 15" Ang Khola (20 chops vs 15 chops to penetrate a 2x4). A lighter WWII 16.5 WWII model would have done slightly better and a 17.5 or 18 WWII model would have done twice as well. The 17.5 WWII model and 15 Ang Khola weights only 686 g (1.51 Lb.). The weight distribution is not right for heavy chopping and the bowie does not have the forward curve. More vibration is transmitted into the hands due to the full tang while chopping compared to a typical H.I. khukuri. This probably due to the full tang in the bowie compared to the tapered tang of the khukuris. I guess the kamis had it right when they designed the khukuri for chopping.
At least the AK bowie can chop reasonably well compared to my factory bowies. I quit chopping on 2x4s with the Gerber Australian bowie and Trail Master after 50 blows failed to penetrate. Neither of the two knives is as heavy as the Ang Khola bowie. There is some debate about the number of blows required to penetrate a 2x4 with the Trail Master, most people suggest over 50 blows is too high. In my test the 2x4 is locked in vise and chopped only from one side. This is probably the least effective way to chop through a 2x4 but it adds some consistency for comparison. Depending on the knife quite a few blows are wasted enlarging a V in the wood to prevent the blade from binding up. I will have to evaluate its performance again. I main have had some unusually hard 2x4s before. Surprisingly, the knife would still scrape hair after a chopping through a couple dozen 2x4 pieces. I suspect this is because parts of the edge had not impacted the wood or impacted less.
Stabbing performance is very good. A free standing 2x4 (12) can be stabbed and remain impaled on the knife every time. There was no tip damage from repeated stabs into 2x4s. Normally I send the wood flying across the room with my H.I. khukuris.
Considering the design and size of the AK bowie it did quite well in my kitchen. I had to remove the fat from about 20 LB. of chicken breast. Due to its weight it sliced easily through the chicken on a cutting board. All I had to do was pull the knife across where I wanted to cut and the sharp edge along with gravity did the rest. When it came to more intricate work, I held the handle as close to the blade as possible and put my thumb along the spine. I found that I had sufficient control for cutting out fat without removing too much meat. However, brain surgery would be out of the question. The kitchen knife I had handy could handle the intricate work better but could required a bit more effort to slice with. In the end I used the bowie more than the kitchen knife since I did more slicing cuts than any other. The bowies razor sharp edge was easily maintained with the aid of a steel. The poor quality cutting board used contributes a lot to dulling knives.
The AK bowie did not do as well on vegetables. There are too many curves to chop vegetables efficiently. I had to use the belly most of the time since it hit the chopping board first.
Corrosion resistance of the AK bowie is likely to be quite poor. The knife stained very easily from chicken grime. It also stained when cutting up spinach and lettuce. Of course it stained with onion. The stains are easily removed with Fritz metal polish. In reality due to the size of the blade it is extremely unlikely it will rust away in my lifetime, unless I move to a saltwater environment.
The AK bowie turned out to be an usual knife that I am glad to own. The tip penetrates better than the khukuris. Edge retention is decent and the edge responds well to a steel. Chopping performance is not quite up to a similar size khukuri. Slicing performance and cutting versatility is better than the khukuri. The only damage suffered by my AK bowie so far, is due to the spine hitting the vise. This occurred when the edge lost its grip on the 2x4 and the knife slid.
Will
The handle is big and the horn slabs are well polished. I plan to put some texture on the horn to improve the grip. I did not have any problems with the handle sliding in my hands due to its shape and size. A big handle is easier to hold onto than a smaller one, within reason. With a firm grip I can chop and stab as hard as I can without my hand slipping. It was relatively cool so I did not get sweaty hands, which may cause my hand to slip. Even if my hands did slide there is very little chance of my hand sliding onto the edge. The wide blade forms a bottom guard. Some of the epoxy seems to have cracked from the metal at the front and rear of the handle. The cracks did not expand during chopping. I will seal these areas with epoxy.
After a few weeks I have found that the horn handle has shrunk a bit. Instead of the pins being flush with the handle they stand out a bit more. The handle slabs are now a bit thinner. The handle has not show any sign of cracking. I have neglected to treat the handle with lanolin lotion or hoof dressing.
The steel on the Ang Khola bowie is fairly hard. My medium and fine Spyderco ceramic stones slide over most of the edge easily. Edge retention should be pretty good. The edge is hardest from the front of the cho to about 2.5 from the tip. The rest of the edge is a bit softer. The weight and heft of the knife conveys that it is something substantial and rugged. The feel is O.K. but I would like the balanced point further forward of the handle. A knife this heavy is well suited for heavy chopping so it should be optimized for it. With the balance point as it is the knife feels light and fast. Watching the blade move it does not move very fast compared to a smaller knife. The sheath is made from suede leather. It could use a belt loop. I constructed a frog with parachute cord for belt carry. Neck carry tends to leave my neck sore and the knife can not be carried upside down in the sheath. The knife is too heavy and the leather on the retention strap too thin.
The first things I cut up are cardboard boxes with the bowie. The forward potion (belly) hangs up and requires quite a bit of force. At times it is very difficult to force this portion of the blade through the cardboard without crushing the paper. This is due to the blade profile thickening rapidly. The curved section just forward of the cho slices the cardboard easily. The curve improves slicing.
The bowies chopping performance did not match a lighter 15" Ang Khola (20 chops vs 15 chops to penetrate a 2x4). A lighter WWII 16.5 WWII model would have done slightly better and a 17.5 or 18 WWII model would have done twice as well. The 17.5 WWII model and 15 Ang Khola weights only 686 g (1.51 Lb.). The weight distribution is not right for heavy chopping and the bowie does not have the forward curve. More vibration is transmitted into the hands due to the full tang while chopping compared to a typical H.I. khukuri. This probably due to the full tang in the bowie compared to the tapered tang of the khukuris. I guess the kamis had it right when they designed the khukuri for chopping.
At least the AK bowie can chop reasonably well compared to my factory bowies. I quit chopping on 2x4s with the Gerber Australian bowie and Trail Master after 50 blows failed to penetrate. Neither of the two knives is as heavy as the Ang Khola bowie. There is some debate about the number of blows required to penetrate a 2x4 with the Trail Master, most people suggest over 50 blows is too high. In my test the 2x4 is locked in vise and chopped only from one side. This is probably the least effective way to chop through a 2x4 but it adds some consistency for comparison. Depending on the knife quite a few blows are wasted enlarging a V in the wood to prevent the blade from binding up. I will have to evaluate its performance again. I main have had some unusually hard 2x4s before. Surprisingly, the knife would still scrape hair after a chopping through a couple dozen 2x4 pieces. I suspect this is because parts of the edge had not impacted the wood or impacted less.
Stabbing performance is very good. A free standing 2x4 (12) can be stabbed and remain impaled on the knife every time. There was no tip damage from repeated stabs into 2x4s. Normally I send the wood flying across the room with my H.I. khukuris.
Considering the design and size of the AK bowie it did quite well in my kitchen. I had to remove the fat from about 20 LB. of chicken breast. Due to its weight it sliced easily through the chicken on a cutting board. All I had to do was pull the knife across where I wanted to cut and the sharp edge along with gravity did the rest. When it came to more intricate work, I held the handle as close to the blade as possible and put my thumb along the spine. I found that I had sufficient control for cutting out fat without removing too much meat. However, brain surgery would be out of the question. The kitchen knife I had handy could handle the intricate work better but could required a bit more effort to slice with. In the end I used the bowie more than the kitchen knife since I did more slicing cuts than any other. The bowies razor sharp edge was easily maintained with the aid of a steel. The poor quality cutting board used contributes a lot to dulling knives.
The AK bowie did not do as well on vegetables. There are too many curves to chop vegetables efficiently. I had to use the belly most of the time since it hit the chopping board first.
Corrosion resistance of the AK bowie is likely to be quite poor. The knife stained very easily from chicken grime. It also stained when cutting up spinach and lettuce. Of course it stained with onion. The stains are easily removed with Fritz metal polish. In reality due to the size of the blade it is extremely unlikely it will rust away in my lifetime, unless I move to a saltwater environment.
The AK bowie turned out to be an usual knife that I am glad to own. The tip penetrates better than the khukuris. Edge retention is decent and the edge responds well to a steel. Chopping performance is not quite up to a similar size khukuri. Slicing performance and cutting versatility is better than the khukuri. The only damage suffered by my AK bowie so far, is due to the spine hitting the vise. This occurred when the edge lost its grip on the 2x4 and the knife slid.
Will
