Attn: Martial Artists, re:20" Kumar Kobra

J

Jack M

Joined
Feb 2, 2000
Messages
240
I recently received a 20" Kumar Kobra,and finally got a chance to work out with it last night. If you don't plan on felling trees and are looking at Khuks more for a martial weapon, either defense (ouch!) or art/training, this knife is amazing. When the guys on this forum say a blade is light, keep in mind that my new Kobra weighs 1 5/8 pounds. It is amazingly fast and well balanced, but anywhere except the HI forum this blade in no lightweight! For practitioners of the FMA, the 20" model seems to handle with a remarkably similar feel to a good Arnis baston. For CMA folks, I have a sabre, hook sword, southern butterfly sword, set of techniques that are quickly evolving into a practice form. In short, I recommend you grab one, you will not see a better all around martial arts weapon for the price!
 
Jack, is the 20" the perfect length Kobra to use for martial arts / self defense? I realize that the longer the blade, the more you sacrifice in terms of speed.

I've already gathered from the other forumites' comments that the 30" Kobra is really too heavy for self defense. What about a 25" Kobra? Do you think that extra 5" of reach would make the blade a little too slow compared to your 20"? What do you think is the optimum blade length? Any other Kobra owners care to comment on this? I HAVE made up my mind on one thing, though: The Kumar Kobra is a 'must have'.

Thanks,
Chris,
(future Kumar Kobra owner)
 
X-head, I have not tried the 25" Kobra, but I cannot imagine it having quite the speed flexibility of the 20". My MS, at similar length, feels like it out weighs the Kobra by lots more than the scale indicates, but both actual weight and balance of a weapon are very personal things. I love the feel of a good "cutting" katana, others find them too blade heavy, it all depends. I have fairly small hands for a 6', 190 pounder, but on both of my long Khuks (Kobra and MS), this is an advantage, since I can get a "hand and a half" grip for power strokes that the guys with the big hands probably cannot manage. The 20" Kumar Kobra is perfect as a martial arts weapon for me, but I don't plan on building a log cabin with it. For defense, I can't imagine that the power would be found lacking in anyone's book, but obviously HI has some harder hitters if you can handle the weight.
 
I have a lightweight village 20" sirupati, a 25" Kobra and a 30" King Kobra.

As I've mentioned before, I don't like the 30" version very much, mostly because of such factors as the balance and the tendency to twist in the hands.

I used to think the 20" village sirupati was a degree of perfection that couldn't be improved on, in terms of the golden mean between handspeed, sturdiness, balance and cutting profile. Its only fault, I reckoned, was that it was a tad too short.

I still love the 20" villager; but it's not the ultimate khukuri. That accolade has to go to the 25" Kobra. Basically, it feels and handles just like the 20" villager, but it's substantially, usefully longer, and it hits and cuts much harder, tho' without noticeable additional effort.

The 25" Kobra is a Nepalese lightsaber. With flash hider.
 
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