Balance Model Review

Thanks Hollow; that's what I figured too, a site was needed.

The Girl is sister to the Kid, my neice. She's in various soccer leagues, an athelete, and all around fine lady. A late bloomer, she's still in the metramorphas of the teen years.


My neice and nephew are the products of solid Yup upbringing but appear now to have survived it.



munk
 
Munk,

Gold members can scroll down on the reply screen and click <manage attachments> this brings up a window where you upload the pics directly to BF. Membership has its priviledges...
 
munk said:
Thanks Hollow; that's what I figured too, a site was needed.

The Girl is sister to the Kid, my neice. She's in various soccer leagues, an athelete, and all around fine lady. A late bloomer, she's still in the metramorphas of the teen years.


My neice and nephew are the products of solid Yup upbringing but appear now to have survived it.



munk
Click to expand...

I thought she looked related:thumbup:
 
Y'know, I'm not too surprised that the Balance chops so well. It's got significantly more weight forward than the average khuk, mostly because of how (comparatively) thin the "neck" of the blade is, near the handle.

I'd think that in a prybar contest among gorillas, probably a WWII or AK of equal weight would emerge victorious ... but the Balance seems like more than simply a strikingly pretty design.

and yeah, great chopping pics.

t.
 
Very nice to see younger kids, I suggested recently that a five year old be allows to have a steak knife to cut up his food at a friends house. It was responded to in a similar manner as if I suggested he use a shotgun to open a can of peas. Would have been entertaining to have them see the above.

-Cliff
 
I think we'll find the full size balance easier to recover and chop- easier to cycle, because of the balance being nearer the handle. I suspect a real AK with more weight forward will outchop it a bit.



munk
 
Cliff Stamp said:
Very nice to see younger kids, I suggested recently that a five year old be allows to have a steak knife to cut up his food at a friends house. It was responded to in a similar manner as if I suggested he use a shotgun to open a can of peas. Would have been entertaining to have them see the above.

-Cliff
Click to expand...

I still remember my first knife. My Aunt Dottie got it for me for my 5th birthday. It was a Saber Barlow, they used to sell them at Ben Franklins 10 cent store. One of my first official acts with it, (according to my mom I can't remember it) was to cut foot holds in my little brothers playpen so he could climb out:thumbup: Still it wasn't confiscated by my mom, she just laughed about it.:D
 
How does it feel in the hand? Does it feel "lighter" than it should? For me, that is the mark of a "lively" blade.

I have a 15" village special by Bura that weights 17 oz. and feels much lighter than my 13" 16 oz balance by Khadka. The Bura blade feels alive, but the Khadka blade feels very blade heavy...not as I expected.
 
Yes, the balance near the hand means it is easier for the wrist to begin movement of the blade.



munk
 
Hey Hollow, and et al; is there any way to post pictures to the forum directly from my computer? Must all picts be first loaded to a intermediary place, like a photo web site or whatever?
Click to expand...
Posted by munk (that kid is good for you!)

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: Loving this:thumbup:
Regards,
Brent.
 
You know what, Brent? Having my neice and nephew here have woke me up. It's great.


munk
 
Great pictures and review, thank you munk
 
I gotta agree the concensus about seeing kids exposed to such things early on. Nice. I still have that bridge ahead of me with my 1 1/2 year old daughter.

I have noticed several folks mention things like the the balance point and how that relates to performance here. But with all due respect, I'd like to point out the center of mass doesn't control the show. It's a part of the whole package, but is really more of a side result than an end goal. Brining it closer to the hand does not necessarily mean the knife will get quicker or easier to rotate. Pushing it further out does not necessarily mean you'll get more chopping power. These are some issues I touched on in my thread about modifying my dui chirra.
 
Possum, I think bringing the balance point closer to the hand does mean the tool is easier to start in movement. Everything else you said, though, I think is right on. It is not neccesarily better, or even desirable, to have the balance point close to hand, as this means more behind the hand. While weight behind the hand does not mean the khuk will not chop, intuitively I see weight forward as being desirable. But these are unknowns. Blade heavy khuks chop well, on average.

I would be interested to see this topic explored in the forum in the future. There is much to it.


munk
 
Lowering the moment of inertia is what makes a blade feel faster in the hand. As a loose and general rule, the center of mass will also move back when you do this, which I suppose is where the idea comes from. But the two can be moved in opposite directions or taken to extremes, some of which you'd probably never find on an HI khukri. Look elsewhere in the forums and you'll see lots of folks that want their knife to balance right behind the guard. If the center of mass is further away, your hand has more leverage on it. Which means its easier to rotate the blade- in fact, it should want to rotate on its own. And if the knife easily wants to rotate, then it will be in better position over your grip to get moving, so you can snap it around with more power on the cut. We could also do things like adding weight in the handle, which would bring back the center of mass, without reducing the blade's moment of inertia.
 
One of the easiest way to understand the difference would be to try to rotate a small dumbell which has the center of mass the same as a uniform stick of the same weight - however it has a very different moment of inertia. Thus if you pick them up they have the same static heft, but when you rotate your wrist very fast you notice a very different feel. It has many aspects and I think the common problem is that as Possum noted, some of them are correlated which makes for complicated judgements.

-Cliff
 
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