Cheetlang field review

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May 24, 2001
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Cheetlang field review

Yesterday, I was working in the backyard for the first time in a while. I noticed that the blackberry situation was getting a bit out of control. The Himalayan blackberry (Rubus discolor ), for those of you who don't know it, is a particularly pesky weed here in the northwest. It grows fast, two weeks after cutting a path, you might not be able to tell anyone's been there. The thorns are nearly the size of a domestic rose, and curve back towards the stem. That's right, pulling away from it sets the hook. Nice. It does make excellent berries, however, and the canes fruit from late July to September.

As an ecologist, I spend a good deal of my days in the field chopping through thickets of this nasty stuff. Typically I use a machete with an 18" to 24" blade, and I wear leather gloves and canvas work pants. Yesterday, I thought I'd take the Cheetlang out for a field trial. Feeling adventurous, I skipped the gloves and field pants.

I used the khuk to cut stems, dig roots, and move the wicked, spiny things to a slash pile (for future incineration). I wasn't being too careful, as I wanted this to be a hard test, comparable to a day in the field or a survival test. Below are the results of about an hour’s work clearing. The knife started with the factory edge, and no sharpening or burnishing was done during the field test.

Results

The handle wasn't as comfortable as I expected it to be. After an hour of cutting, the lower part of my palm had developed a severe hot spot. On the plus side, my forearm and elbow felt much better than they would after an hour of machete use. Technique may play a role in this problem. I noticed that the best grip seemed to be with the thumb and first two fingers up near the bolster, allowing the blade to swing freely from the wrist. This is not at all like using a machete, which swings from the elbow and is held rather firmly. Alternately, one could round the top of the buttcap.

The sweet spot was further back than I expected. This was a disadvantage for cutting the springy vines (I received several nasty scratches :) ), but it felt very good when chopping into the old seasoned stump in my yard. Low, scything cuts with the Cheetlang were very effective at clearing lighter vegetation like grass and lemon balm (one of the weedier mints). Unfortunately, they also increased the likelihood of hitting stones.

The bend in the Khuk blade makes digging roots difficult. The blade generally wants to turn out of your hand, rather than lifting dirt. This may be less of a problem with a shorter blade.

I hit a number of rocks and stones, both on the surface and buried in the soil. Several left small burrs in the blade, about 1mm deep and several mm long :( After I was done, I spent perhaps fifteen minutes with the burnisher, and several home made hones (200 to 600 grit). The spots are almost gone now, and the blade is quite sharp again. A burr in the spine (hey, I said I wasn't being careful) was easily removed with the burnisher. The plant juice and dirt left a dark patina on the blade that was easily removed with 00000 steel wool.

Conclusions:
The Cheetlang doesn’t make a good replacement for a machete when cutting blackberry vines. It’s a bit too short, exposing the hand and reducing reach. In cutting lighter vegetation, the shorter length and rigid blade work to the Cheetlang’s advantage, where the longer, lighter machete blade is likely to bind. Neither dig very well, though the Cheetlang’s rigid blade gives it the advantage here. This rigidity also gives the Cheetlang the advantage in cutting wood, a task for which the machete is nearly useless. Together, the two would make a formidable combination.

Overall, I was quite pleased with the Cheetlang’s performance. It took hard use with only a little damage, and the edge was restored to good condition fairly easily. I may try this again (wearing gloves) just to make the test more even.

Patrick

Here's an update.
I took the Cheetlang out into a blackberry infested wetland area last week. As noted above, the Cheetlang was not at it's best doing trail clearing. Because of it's mass, it required a heaving stroke than a machete. Wearing gloves did make the grip significantly more comfortable, and this time I experienced no hot spots after about an hours clearing.

Carry: Man, does that thing feel great on your belt! It rides high and close, so you can hardly tell it's there.

I have a few cedar scraps leftover from a kayak paddle I'm making, so I did some splitting. I'm sure glad I put a piece of wood under the scrap I was splitting! The Cheetlang went right through the 10" 2x4 and put a good slice in the plywood underneath!

Patrick
 
I'm always interested to see what folks have to say about their khukuri handles. Besides the variety of hands and grip methods, the handle variations can turn the same blade into something deluxe or a dawg.

The placement of the raised ring is a big deal to my mitts. And I don't fully understand why some of the oldies really stick out so far - maybe it works with a certain chopping technique. But using some fine files to bring it down enough to make the hot spot go away can be done without changing the looks. And making the high squared ring into a half round bead looks great and makes it seem to disappear in the hand. It's hard to make something round with flat files, so an easier way to get perfect results is with a small fret file.

If one is careful not to scratch the rest of the handle, it's really easy to apply finish to the reprofiled rings, using some tape to keep it off the rest of a wood handle. The horn polishes up just fine with the red compound.
 
The other day, while watching "Ghurka Steel" for oh, the umpteenth time, I noticed all of the kamis and sarkis held their khukuri very far forward, so you couldn't see the bolster. When I do this, the bottom of my hand is slightly forward of the rings. Now maybe they are just choking up on the blade because they need more delicacy than force, but it's definitely interesting.

Patrick
 
Patrick,

You've brought up a really good point that I've previously discounted. I was also thinking the kamis were using that forward grip because they weren't doing really heavy chopping, but I now think you're onto something here.

These knives are so well designed that it just seems crazy the handles would be made with a prominent feature that is downright uncomfortable. And when you look at pics of those really old ones that have obviously had hard use, they often have an even more prominent ring sticking out. My hand seems to get sore just looking at them!

So I'm thinking that my chopping technique needs some work. Maybe the Gurkha Steel sequel will have more footage of khukuris in use. Anyway, this knife did not evolve from western thinking, so what I may need to do is learn to use it the way they do. That's another good reason why I'd very much like to see some footage of the Gurkhas and villagers actually using their khukuris for their intended purposes.

Dan
 
Lt. Dan,
you know, I had to rewind several sections to see it meself. I first notices the sarki doing it, then I recalled the kami making the handle was also choking up on the handle. After that, I watched both sections several times, just to be sure. I have high hopes for GSII as well. I wonder if Craig's working on it now? We haven't heard much from him for quite a while now.

Patrick
 
Patrick,

I'll review GS some more. Yes, it really would be good to see more footage of the khukuri in action. I'm wondering if or how much the chopping technique changes as the wood gets thicker and chopping heavier. Glad you brought this up.

I hope the GS seqel production is coming along. Not that Craig has much spare time on his hands, but I seem to recall something about this summer or fall as a target date.

Dan
 
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