CAK discussion - a short study

F

FuriousFist

Joined
Mar 27, 2011
Messages
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Ok, I've probably been giving the CAK a bad rep by pointing out the few blemishes i've had on mine but I really havn't pointed out the real beauty of this beast.

sure the handles probably not the cleanest or prettiest but it sure grips pretty good and chops virtually without a scratch. Besides the prying part it held up its end of the bargain rather well.

The steel towards the center and spine is a fair bit softer but provides good shock absorbance; now the one thing I really want to know; is it unbreakable? or at least what is it's limits?
 
What is "unbreakable"....
Virtually anything can be broken given enough determination.
Even H.I. khukuri.
What is meant by this on the website is that they are unbreakable by human hand power, used for their intended purpose.
 
Let me put it this way:

When I ordered my 20"CAK a few years ago (maybe 5 years now) -- this beauty:
100_0187.jpg


I bought it as my "Armageddon knife" -- i.e. the knife I could bet my life on when there was no way to get another. So I tested the hell out of it. I've posted several times about the first tree that went down with it, my near impalement and the kukri laughing at me. I don't think I mentioned the pry test though (because I didn't necessarily want people to try something potentially dangerous, and didn't want to admit my weight at the time). Being much lighter now, I'll admit it.

I took the CAK and placed it up near the roof over my porch between the crossbeam and rafter beam. It was held by about 6" at the end of the blade (20" OAL). I hung my ample (at the time) 330 pounds off of it, and shook up and down, flipped it over and did it to the other side. She just laughed at me again. The only thing damaged was the wood beams where the kukri dug in under my weight. I'm convinced these things can't be broken by hand. I have no trouble trusting my life to such a blade.

FWIW, I did the same thing with the M43 I had (they are NOT warrantied for that!!), and it held up just fine, too, although I was about 80 pounds lighter when I did it to that one).

I think with a non-chiruwa style handle, you'll probably break the wood off the tang, but doubt the tang itself will break. With the chiruwa handle, the scales are fully supported, and your fingers will give out before the blade or handles will.
 
Cpl Punishment said:
Let me put it this way:

...I took the CAK and placed it up near the roof over my porch between the crossbeam and rafter beam. It was held by about 6" at the end of the blade (20" OAL). I hung my ample (at the time) 330 pounds off of it, and shook up and down, flipped it over ...
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The first time I read this I read "flipped over it".

Brought an interesting image to mind of a brave, 330 lb trapeze artist.
 
Could it be possible that it was 'bent' before you even received it, but you did not notice it because you were not looking close enough? I ask because I received kuk once that had a slightly twisted blade.
 
Nah I didn't bend the blade, its just slightly 'dented' in on the right-side, only reason i noticed was because the lines were very smooth originally and now its just a touch off.

wow how thick is the spine on that 20" CAK? :D

Just like to mention that after playing with my 16.5CAK for the last few hours, its rather light considering the size of it, easy to wield. :thumbup:
 
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My notes show my Murali CAK as thus:

OAL = 16.75"
Blade length = 11 1/8"
Width of belly = 2.026"
Spine = .459" at bolster
Spine = .428" at shoulder
Weight = 28.8 ounces per postal scale

It has a great feel and balance. It's certainly not the heavy club you might assume, knowing it's capabilities. The thing about HI is that you can't identify the species by one example. For example, I have two WWII. Both 16.5", but one is more pointy and has a .480" spine at the shoulder! The other is .365 at the shoulder. Even at that thickness it feels great and weighs close to what the other does. Corps. 20 incher looks awesome, but would be a bit much for me, I'm afraid. Of course, now that I know his size, I wonder if he might need a 25" CAK. Take care.
 
i peed a little when i saw the 30" AK on the HI site. make it chiruwa to balance out that beast and you'd have one HELL of a chopper.
 
wintermute said:
SO if your 20" CAK is your Armageddon knife, what's your 25" CAK knife for? Taking out Chthulu?
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Some things are there just to have.
It's jusat unique (or nearly so, not many of them floating around.

DanSmithy said:
How's life been treating you lately? No more rough stuff I hope.
Take care bro.
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I'll probably post about it in the Cantina, but this has been the week from hell, LOL.
 
FuriousFist said:
I just tried balancing my CAK on a chair and it keeps falling to the left, rather unbalanced :(
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The CAK is weighted forward because it's a heavy chopping tool. It will, in fact balance, technically speaking, just the center of gravity is closer to the tip.

The "proper" balance is determined by function. A fighting blade is best with the center of gravity near the handle, a Heavy tool, with the CG closer to the tip, and an all-rounder will have a neutral balance.

If you think the kukri doesn't balance right for what you want to do, you picked the wrong model for you, for the job. Again, it's subjective, which is why we all tend to go for not only a specific model, but often one particular blade (like not all the 20" CAKs I owned were "right" for me, even though they were the same length of the same model. That's why it's hard to tell people which is the right model for them, all we can do is point out models that were intended for the given purposes, tell them to go with the one that appeals to them the most. It'll either be the right one, or will let them know which way to go from there.
 
I very much like that 25" CAK, looks like a good sized zombie slayer/cthulu killer/suvive-all knife-axe. Congrats on the weight loss Cpl, feels great huh? What are you at now? Last summer I was 340 lbs (6'5" tall) and now i am down to 275 and my goal weight is 250. Good ole diet and exercise works every time :) . I also cut out drinking...probably the only thing i regret, lol.
Now I am debating between asking for a large (over 18") CAK from Yangdu or waiting out a good bonecutter to shark...decisions decisions...
 
The CAK is weighted forward because it's a heavy chopping tool. It will, in fact balance, technically speaking, just the center of gravity is closer to the tip.
Click to expand...

ah yea the weight forward is fine but what I meant was what Howards' talking about; the idea of balancing a kukri on a finger in a vertical position sort of like what Snow and Steel did in his thread.

Still works but was wondering if you all have similar Kukris or do they all balance vertically?
 
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