Chopping with a slightly injured hand

W

Will Kwan

Joined
Nov 23, 1998
Messages
1,594
A couple of weekends I was out chopping with my 18” Ang Khola. The handle on the khukuri is a bit small for me and I had forgotten about it. As a result the khukuri moved excessively in my hands and I received a very large blister on the bottom of my pinky. The blister had popped and was quite painful. I had chopped through an 8” diameter apple tree.

I covered the skinned area up with a large bandage and the next day I went out with the Ang Khola again. I gripped the knife so that my pinky and bottom edge of my hand did not come into contact with the handle. As a result I had poor control of the knife. It would often glance and skid along the cedar logs I was chopping rather than dig into the wood. The knife would often twist and roll in my hand often. It took me about 3-4 times longer to chop through the cedar as compared to when my hand was not injured. I was had sufficient control of the khukuri to prevent injuring myself even without the use of the pinky.

I will be adding tape to the handle of the khukuri to prevent this problem. It was interesting to see how much performance was degraded with the blisters.

Will
 
:
Will do you consider yourself to have large hands?

The handle on my 18"Ak is just about right, however I still haven't roughed it up the horn to make it less slippery. And I imagine all the same size khukuris to have similar size handle. That's also the reason I prefer wood over the horn, less slippery.
The handle on the Super Salyan and the GRS's I have were all to big for me. How does the handles on your Salyan and GRS fit you?

I have always thought my hands were large because of the size glove I have,large size, to fit comfortabley, but I have been giving some thought and perhaps revaluation to this over the last year. I still haven't decided.

------------------
>>>>---¥vsa---->®

"I would rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy."

........unknown, to me anyway........

Khukuri FAQ
Himalayan Imports Website
 
Yvsa

Of course not, my hands are perfectly normal. Seriously, they are 3.5" from index finger to bottom of palm and 7.25" from the wrist to the tip of my index finger. I also, take a large size glove.

The handle on my GRS (and 22" Ang Khola) fits well. The Mega Salyan, I would consider managable, any bigger I would have a problem with it. I guess prefer bigger handles than you.

I'll check and see how the handle on the 18" AK compares to my 18" WWII.

The thing that interest me most was the use of the bottom portion of my hand it took about 3-4 times longer to do the same amount of work.

Will
 
Fine size wood you are working on there Will. Interesting comments about the performance drop. I would never have expected that much of a difference, especially with an injury in that area. Could you describe your chopping technique.

I think I'll do some runs with an open pinky grip and see what happens. I have been trying to improve my off hand performance as of late and its pretty slow going. I can't do any of the power chopping techniques as I don't have the necessary precision or control.

-Cliff
 
Cliff,

The apple tree had fallen due to snow last year. I had thought it was about 6-7” but my friend had a tape measure and found it to be 8”. I would have parted it in about 10-13 minutes but it took 17 minutes. My chopping rate decreased drastically after the tree was ready to let go. I would strike, listen, and if there was creaking, run. I was afraid the tree would kick out at me do to the way it was twisted.

The cedar I was working on was working on was down near the ground. Normally I would kneel beside the log and swing at it pivoting at my shoulder. Due to the position of the blister I did not have enough control of the knife to swing from the shoulder effectively. The knife would roll in my hand on impact and sometimes skid along the log. I found that I was able to progress more quickly by chopping with my elbow.


Will
 
:
Will we have real close to the same size hands.
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Mine are just a bit wider than yours, 1/8 inch, and it's my middle finger that's 7 1/4" instead of the index finger. That would probably give you a bit more reach around something than mine.
My middle finger is 3 1/16" long and having short fingers is one main reason that I could never reach all the fingerings of the more complex guitar chords when I was trying to learn several years back.
I never thought about actually measureing them before.
smile.gif

I have better luck with handles where my finger tips almost reach the palm of my hand.
Probably a lot of my problems with the gripping the larger handles is the amount of strength I have lost over the last 5 years.

It is interesting about the less amount of work you were able to accomplish. I usually get the bad blisters at the web of the thumb and index finger and I know that one slows me down as well.



------------------
>>>>---¥vsa---->®

"I would rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy."

........unknown, to me anyway........

Khukuri FAQ
Himalayan Imports Website
 
Yvsa,

I don't think your difficulty is due to a weak grip. I seem to remember you handily whupping me in a little test of grip strength at the convention.

 
I went out yesterday with the intention of donig some partial grip chopping. At first I was going to use the 18" AK but took along the 22" one as I figured that would be more likely to enhance the effects with any grip problems.

Some background, as of late I have been doing a lot of "chopping" with really light knives. The mass is in the 150-450 g range, medium length blades say 4-6" and with balances close to neutral. All power chopping is out with these and they can take several hundred chops to go through a 2x4 sized piece of wood.

Anyway, I do some work with the 18" chopping from the shoulder and it feels good, which I expected as I recently worked with it comparing it against the Battle Mistress, a large bowie class blade from Busse Combat. I then tried the 22" AK with the same power base intending to do some runs with a full grip to get a baseline to compare my partial grips against.

I was very surprised with the fact that my initial performance penetration wise was on the same level as the 18" AK, and my control was off. I simply had not used a really heavy power chopping stroke in many months. After about 6 cuts through a 2x4 sized piece of wood I had the the 22" cutting about twice as fast as the 18" one by putting my chest and back into the swings.

I never got around to doing the partial grip work and will try that later this week once I get the 22" AK at least in the 2.5-3x performace range of the 18" AK, my control is too off now.

Will have you ever compared your chopping ability with the various heavy khukuris you own? After I reprofile the edge on my 15" AK (chain impacts) I intend to run it against the other two and see how it comapares on various types of wood. I would be curious to see how others fare at the same type of thing.


-Cliff

 
Cliff,

I have not done a side by side comparison of the heavy khukuri’s (Mega Salyan, Ganga Ram Special) and 22” Ang Kola). On softwoods such as pine, spruce, cedar, and apple trees I find that the 17.5” WWII and 18” Ang Khola to be quite comparable. I can swing the WWII a bit faster and its blade profile allows it to penetrate wood almost as deeply as the Ang Khola. I suspect a performance comparison between the GRS and 22” AK will be similar.

So far I have found that the 22” AK requires fewer blows to accomplish the same amount of chopping as compared to the 17.5” WWII or 18” AK. When I am tired or out of practice the performance ratio between the khukuri’s drop but I have never had one of the smaller khukuri’s match the 22” AK. I suspect the GRS will change this. When I am tired or out of practice my aim deteriorates.

Will
 
Uncle Bill,

Take all the time you need.

Howard,

You should know better than to test grip strength against someone who has worked with their hands in a trade for most of their lives. Mechanics and machinist are noted for extremely strong grips.

Yvsa,

I like to have a small gap between my finger and palm. With the Ang Khola, I can dig my nails into the palm of my hands. I have lean bony fingers and I believe my grip is fairly strong. I forgot to measure the dimensions of the AK but will do so ASAP.

Will



[This message has been edited by Will Kwan (edited 10-26-2000).]
 
The circumfirance of the handle on my 18" AK is 3 3/16". I build this part up with hockey tape.

Will
 
:
Will, the handle on my 18"AK is a tad over 4 1/8" at the heavy part just above the bolster and 3 1/4" at the narrow part behind the rings.

The 17" steel mounted villager which has became almost my very favorite is very close to the same size.
It's also 4 1/8" just above the bolster and 3 3/4" behind the rings.

Both handles are very comfortable to me, but I have to say the villager is a bit more comfortable and easier to hang onto not only due to the slightly increased size, but also its shape. It is more rounded and has more of a Chainpuri bulge at the butt and it is wood which I personally think gives a better grip.

I didn't think there would be that much difference in the circumrance of the handles on a knife the same size and there may not be if you were measureing behind the center ring?

So how do you like the hockey tape?

Oh and Howard, I guess it isn't the strength I have lost, but the stamina. Whatever I do I have to do it quickly.
smile.gif

And I guess I retain most of my strength by lifting my fat butt out of one chair to walk to the breakfast, lunch and dinner table and then pushing myself away and walking back to my chair.
smile.gif
redface.gif
smile.gif

(except that I seldom eat lunch or breakfast. Coffee counts though ainnit?)

------------------
>>>>---¥vsa---->®

"I would rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy."

........unknown, to me anyway........

Khukuri FAQ
Himalayan Imports Website
 
Not sure how I will like the hockey tape yet. It seems a bit abrasive, I guess it was ment for someone wearing hockey gloves. I'll let you know when I do some real work with it but I think it will work out.

The handle on my other khukuri's swell up towards the buttcap and towards the boster. This is great as it locks my hand in place. On the 18" AK the narrow section is longer, which allows my hand to slip. I have no problems when I grab the knife near the bolster. I have built the handle up so that my hand does not slide.

Yes I measured just behind the center ring.

Looking forward to the GRS blade Uncle Bill, now I just need more time.

Will

[This message has been edited by Will Kwan (edited 10-31-2000).]
 
Lee Valley sells a grip tape which is green and self-adhesive. It is what I use for all such applications. It is very abrasive, however your hands will adapt to that very quickly. It took mine a couple of weeks to allow long sessions without excessive irritation and after about a month it didn't do anything at all. It is dead cheap too, only a few dollars for a 3" roll.

-Cliff
 
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