Being True to Your Village

[Cpl Punishment]

Or, The Tale of Two Villagers.

Sorry for the crappy pics. By the time my camera battery charged enough for use, the weather turned sour and indoor pics are all I have right now.

I have two true villager style HI blades: a Tamang knife by Vim, and a Farm knife by Bhattka.

The Tamang is one of the longer ones at 18.5", and the Farm knife is 17.5"

Tamang has a Neem handle, and the Farm Knife, Satisal.

I bought the Tamang just shortly before I left for a while. I was looking for a blade to do mostly machete type tasks -- clearing palmettos, brush and small wood (less than 3/4"). I originally bought a 20" Sirupate for this work, and although it worked, it fell short of what I really wanted. I think it's due to the profile, being a fairly narrow blade, not only in thickness, but width as well.

Warty (where is he by the way??) highly recommended the Tamang, especially the somewhat longer versions. So I emailed Auntie, and lo and behold, she had one. With the same 3/8 thickness, but a little wider blade and a much wider belly, the weight distribution makes this a great little machete type tool. It'd also be a real killer in a knife fight, if you're into that sort of thing.

The farm knife is something of a study in love/hate for me. When it was originally brought into existence, I didn't really like it. I think that was mostly due to intended use. For an all-round wilderness knife, I don't think it's a great choice. Part of the reason is that the blade is ground straight from the 3/8" spine right to the edge.

Bad, pic, but you can kind of see the profile here:

I don't think this would handle chopping a lot of wood, building a cabin, etc. I may be wrong, but I'd stick to a kukri or axe for such workings.

Now, those very attributes make it great as a, well, Farm knife. Seeing how wide the blade is, yet thin, and the very acute angle the edge forms, it's a wicked slicer. It worked well carving a turkey and cutting veggies for dinner. It should be good for cutting sugar cane, other garden plants, and butchering game. In short, everything but what you'd normally use an axe or a small knife for.

When I got them, the Tamang had a rough, but sharp edge that worked well out of the box. Since, I have refined it with a strop to a very, very slight convex, and polished edge. The Farm knife's edge was sharp, but very ragged, and a little wavey. I use a steel to align the edge and then stropped it before use.

Both cut well, the Tamang being more kukri-like in shape is a bit easier to use in a chopping fashion. It went through palmetto stalks with just a minor flick of the wrist, cut the fronds themselves with little effort, both toward and away from the stalk, and removed brush (wood less than 3/4" in diameter) with aplomb. After the initial stropping, I haven't had to resharpen it. It's an exceptionally fast and nimble blade, easy to change directions with and be accurate with your swings. It's also probably more intuitive to use for those used to straight western blades, due to it not having as much curvature as a regular kukri.

For those who like "survival knives", the sheath on this has a nice feature of a small pouch behind the flap, I presume for a fire kit. Even though the blade is light by HI standards, it has a thicker spine, longer blade and better edge geometry than most of the 1/4" "boat anchor" knives sold as survival blades.

The Farm knife is also good on soft vegetation and light brush as well the above mentioned tasks. It also cut the palmetto stalks and fronds with no effort. Just lift it to chest height, and let gravity have its way. While not as nimble as the Tamang, I wouldn't want to exactly get hit by one. One nice thing about the width of the blade is that it's easy to grab and use for close work:

Finally, I really like the "true villager" finish, beyond the fact that you get a sharp blade out of the deal, the forge scale being left on, gives it an old-world type look and you get instant "trail cred" right out of the box.

Of course, the shipping was impossibly fast. Yangdu said she sent out the Farm knife on a monday and it was here wednesday morning. I ordered the Tamang between Christmas and NewYear and I had that whole time off, so I have no idea how fast it got here (I use a PO Box).

So, in the end, I'd add these to my "must have" list for an HI fan.

 

[snow and steel]

I love the scroll work on the blade of that tamang!

 

[Yangdu]

Great pix and post, thank you for sharing

 

[Steve Tall]

Thanks for the reviews.

The end of the Farm Knife (as well as the Farmcata) reminds me of an ulu knife, and I can see it being used that way (with some adaptation, holding the blade in one hand and the handle in the other).

-ulu would make an unusual ending to a hybrid name. Farmcatulu?

 

[Cpl Punishment]

Sounds like something H.P. Lovecraft would use.

 

[stickfred]

That was an informative write-up you posted Cpl and I want to thank you for doing so. I see that there may be a Tamang in my future.

 

[b.c.molin]

So, in the end, I'd add these to my "must have" list for an HI fan.

Thanks for the info Cpl, cause I'm already impressed by my 16inch Tamang, and after reading and pondering this and Wolf_1989's Farm Knife review, I'll be putting the Farm Knife on the 'gotta get' list. :thumbup:

 

[Luopo]

Wow, that Tamang looks great...makes me want to get one bad!

 

[kolgrimr]

All right, I'll play. Here's mine:

It's also on the longer side (~18") with a neem handle. The spine is approximately 3/8" thick. The blade balances about 4 fingers away from the bolster, but nevertheless feels lively and not tiring to swing. I don't have a scale, but my guess would be that the blade weighs about 18-20oz. It's a fantastic knife and I really like the forge scale finish on it - there's something about a rough black blade with a bright, sharp edge that fits a large trail knife perfectly.

The only flaw I can find is that the blade is slightly warped (corkscrewed). However, the knife was only $100 or thereabouts (plus shipping), so I figured it was a blemish (warping from heat treat?) and ignored it. It sort of goes with the "villager" look and doesn't seem to affect the performance of the knife at all.

I've spent about a week at a friend's cabin this winter and wanted to do some trail maintenance. My normal weapon of choice is a GB Forest Axe or Scandinavian Forest Axe. However, I'd forgotten my axes at home and the Tamang had to step in. As expected, it easily sheared frozen green wood 1-2" in diameter. However, it was surprisingly good at heavier work. It quickly went through 4" blowdowns (mostly eastern cedar) and happily took down several dead standing pine trees 6"-8" in diameter. I was impressed - it chopped well, kept a good edge, and felt very secure in my hand, even though I was wearing heavy moose hide mittens with thick warm liners. That swell at the back of the handle works very well with gloves. I guess there's a reason why the Lapps have them on their leuku.

Overall, I am very impressed. The Tamang won't replace an axe where I expect to chop heavier wood. I'd also prefer an axe if I expect to run repairs or do woodwork - I'd be much more comfortable making a replacement thwart for a canoe with an axe rather than a large chopper. However, the Tamang is excellent at what it does and has earned a spot in my collection of woods tools.

Plus...it just looks so ridiculously bad-a**. I'm a huge fan of the finish. Now I just want something bigger: say, a 20" AK or CAK... in forge finish, of course.