Chopping up a truck bed liner!

SkagSig40

SkagSig40

Joined
Feb 1, 2001
Messages
2,671
I have had an old drop in bed liner in the back yard ever sense I had a Rinoliner sprayed in my Chevy bed. Today I got tired of looking at it so I tested out 3 khukuris on it. The bed liner is 3/16 thick and is made of a hard but plyable plastic. It was also covered in mud and dirt. I used one of my older Ak's made by "KGR", a newer steel mounted AK with finger grooves and my steel mounted Ghopte. All khuks are 15 inches long and razor sharp. I started to cut up the liner with the "KGR" AK and I started on a wheel well which was hard to penetrate using the belly and the knife wanted to bounce off. I took severall chops to cut through but once I was through I could make cuts about 3-5 inches long per chop. The liner was lying on the ground when I started to chop. When I stood the liner on end I could swing down and the knife cut much better, I could now cut close to 10-12 inches with one swing. After I was done cutting the 1st 1/3rd of the liner up(20 minutes of cutting) I checked the edge of the knife and it was still very sharp, it would still shave a little and the edge had no dammage at all.
Next I used the steel mounted AK with finger grooves and it was comfortable to use but I didn't use it long enough to tell a differance between it and a normal handle. It's performance was very close to the "KGR" AK and it also held it's edge.
The Ghopte actually was the best performer by far. I'm not sure why but using the same force it could cut about 3-4 inches deeper than both AK's and it ate right through the other wheel well with out bouncing off. The 3 knives were the same 1/2 thick but the Ghopte was almost an inch wider so the bulk of the blade is thinner? That is my guess! They all performed equaly well stabing the liner and the Ghopte was again better at slash cuts. I have a few large sections left so I will test a few other khukuris next and tell you how they do. Right now the Ghopte is the knig at cutting hard plastic but we have alot of other things to test them out on as well!

Do you think that plastic is harder on a knife than hard wood? Bed liners are made to be tough so I thought this would be a good way to test the durabilty of the khukuris edge which by the way all 3 were undamaged and could still shave. What do you think?
 
Thanks for performance report. The liners are pretty tough stuff but I'll defer to the experts.
 
Cool report Chris!!!:D I can tell when I read a really good chopping report because I immediately start wondering if there's any thing that needs to be cut up at my house:D

I don't know about the hardness of liners vs. wood, but I would bet most old bedliners would have a fair amount of dirt/rock dust imbedded in the surface as Chris's did, I'm really impressed that the dirt didn't abrade the cutting edge down more when you were cutting!
 
Chris,
I think it depends on the wood. I know Misquite sucks up sand and all sorts of minerals that require anyone wanting to chop it down to use a carbide tipped chainsaw.

Another thing to consider is the knife itself. Was this knife made on a Kamis particular "good day"? Was everything just perfect so that his skills were at their peak? Did he eat his Wheaties that morning?

Then there is the actual sharpening.
Yvsa's GRS that I bought from him included his "shiver sharp edge", and it did and still does give me goose bumps. The first tree I felled with it was a pretty well seasoned Ash that was about 10-12" in diameter. After using the chakuma it still shaved, and I was swinging that 3 lb blade for about 45 minutes and alot of the technique was bad on my part. A few of the swings I twisted the handle so that the side of the edge hit turning the entire blade and the blade actually bounced back off the tree, I was sure the edge had rolled, but somehow it didnt.

Bottom line, if you recieve the combination of a knife made and sharpended by a master of the art on one of his better days I dont think it takes much to prove it in compareisons.

Maybe your Ghopte is one of these particular blades? Wasnt it one of the first ones they had made in awhile? If so they probably had to put more thought into it than one of their other standard yet still spectacular blades.:confused:
 
Crud. I just deleted my previously brilliant post - so you'll have to make do with this one.

I think that, in general, *most* wood is easier to cut than *most* plastic.

Wood is made up of fibers that run mostly in the same direction, like a rope. This is the grain of the wood. When you cut into wood, the fibers seperate from one another pretty easily - imagine splitting a log. You slam your *little* khuk* down with the grain, and it flies in two. Note that it is much more difficult to cut against the grain.

Plastic molecules are generally long and stringy, but they are also "cross-linked" into webs. The fibers are physically attached to one another, so fibers don't seperate. Imagine trying to split a nice, knotty piece of wood. The knots are like cross links - they run against the grain, holding the wood fibers in place and keeping them from seperating. Plastic molecules also tend to be jumbled together alot, so there is no "grain". Cutting plastic is like cutting against the grain of wood.

A lot of the difference probably depends on the types of wood and types of plastic you are comparing. Hard plastics would be more brittle than wood - it would be harder on the edge, but would also tend to shatter. And, to placate the woodchucks out there, you're "nasty testing wood of choice" is probably a much better test than a polyethylene shopping bag! :D

I tried to keep it non-techincal. If anybody wants a full mathematical treatment, tough;) I'd be glad to get more long-winded, though.
 
Do some of y'all older members here remember that fiberglass swimming pool sand filter I partially cut up with one of my
khuk's?
Now that's some tough $**t I guarantee you.
I think the khuk came out with little damage, but I wouldn't swear to it unless I saw my original post on it, it's been way too long for me to remember exactly.:rolleyes: :mad:
I would've finished it up, but although the spirit was willing the body was weak.
It seems to me that Penny finished it off with her reciprocateing saw.;) :D
 
Originally posted by Bill Martino
That willing spirit and weak body seems to be visiting more often these days.
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:D
Startin' to feel a whole bunch better Bro. I've lost 20 pounds since I was in the hospital!!!!:D :D I do have to say that Cardiac Rehab is helping and helping a lot!!!!
Of course part of that is maybe because Barb goes with me and walks the indoor track. Barb walked 4 miles today for a total of nine this week so it's doin' us both good.
We're gonna take out a full membership after the rehab is over. I get it for free and if I play my cards right I may get Barb in for free as well, except for the monthly fee of course.

Tsimi called me the other day and he remarked about how much better I sound. Tsimi says it's the best he's ever heard me and it's the best I've felt since I've been talking to Tsimi.
 
I feel pretty good myself. I'm on Heineken #5 and my second pack of Camels for the day.

Keep going, Bro. Maybe this summber I'll come back and we can enter a couple of marathons. You run in the 26 mile and I'll enter the Heineken drinking marathon and cheer while you run.
 
Originally posted by Bill Martino
I feel pretty good myself. I'm on Heineken #5 and my second pack of Camels for the day.

Keep going, Bro. Maybe this summber I'll come back and we can enter a couple of marathons. You run in the 26 mile and I'll enter the Heineken drinking marathon and cheer while you run.
Click to expand...

You are 2 much Uncle Bill!!!:rolleyes: :D ;)
 
You can tell I'm on #5 when I can't spell summer. Now I'm on #7 and as soon as Bro starts running I'll start cheering. Might even send off a couple of rounds from the antique .38 to liven things up in this senior trailer park where traffic jams are funeral and meat wagons.
 
Originally posted by Yvsa
Tsimi called me the other day and he remarked about how much better I sound. Tsimi says it's the best he's ever heard me and it's the best I've felt since I've been talking to Tsimi.
Click to expand...

:D :) :D
 
Originally posted by Bill Martino
If you can feel good talking to Tsimi you are 100% cured. Or else you have gone totally insane.
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Well I will catch hell for saying this, but Tsimi has a split personality. One for here and another on the phone to his buds.:)
As long as you can keep Tsimi off the subject of khukuris everything's alright. We was talking Cherokee Rose the other day.
I think I will try to give Tsimi a call sometime today.;)
 
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