cold steel gurka kukri any love

I have the discontinued Carbon V model that came with a leather sheath. I replaced the leather sheath with a kydex one for ease of carrying. [I carry it with a G-clip, installed on the side of the sheath away from the body, in a modified pocket] It's the same dimensions [and weight as well I think] as the new Gurkhas. It's a powerful knife and I really like the aesthetics as well.
 
I have many models of kukri including antiques from WWI and WWII, traditional Nepalese village and military models and some modern production models. Without any doubt the Cold Steel Gurkha Kukri is heads and shoulders above the modern made competition. I have the SK5 version and have used it hard for about 2 years. By hard I mean it is a work blade much like a hatchet, and I have a job where I use that sort of thing all the time. It has never failed me.

The kukri is light, fast and very balanced for a production kukri. I have a few very small considerations about it when it is compared to the traditional Nepalese models. First of all, there is only one model so that limits the possibilities and also limits how it will stack up to job specific Nepalese models. For instance, next to a traditional heavy chopping model the CS will lag behind a bit. The Nepalese make their heavy chopping models with extra weight in the belly so your arm doesn't have to do all the work. They can also make whatever kind of edge bevel works best for the work you are doing.

If you are talking about chopping lighter brush they can make longer thinner blades that will cut more than one small limb at a time. They can even make them longer, lighter and thinner to work in the machete role or straighten the blade out a bit for an all around camp or farm blade.

All that being said, while the cold steel may not win outright in any of these tests against a "purpose made" Nepalese, the Cold Steel shines in that it does all those tasks very well. Where the Nepalese versions may suffer is that a heavy chopper will be a bear to carry on a hike or in a pack and be almost useless as a camp/food prep knife. By comparison, the Cold Steel rocks. With the slimmer lighter models such as the sirupate, your arm will ache if you are processing lots of firewood, where again the Cold Steel just chugs along. The steel is good, the weight is almost perfect and the handle is comfortable once you get used to using a kukri correctly.

The sheath is second to none as a stock item. Like it or not it doesn't matter; it works and it works very well. It holds the blade securely, it has as many attachment options as an astronaut would ask for and it repells and drains water which is very important for a carbon steel blade.
 
I have carried, chopped and limbed a few km of trail with my sk-5 version. I will agree as above that the sheath is functional, no complaints and the knife is a great chopper that can still do the lighter stuff. Wish I grabbed a carbon V version, sat on the fence too long and my local brick and mortar sold out.

It may be a KLO but KLO does not know it and does just fine living in ignorance.
 
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