Cold Steel Kukri's

lagarto

lagarto

Joined
Oct 26, 2001
Messages
1,438
I just ordered my first "modern copy" of a Kukri, the Cold Steel LTC version. It has a fatter more bolo shaped blade than their other verstions and looks like an excellent chopper. I know that quality wise it's not up to the standards of an HI or the like, but do people think it's a decent knife for the money? Will it stand up to mild abuse? This one will probably see some heavy use as a camp knife/chopper. Thanks for your input.
Lagarto
 
There have been quite a few reviews on this one, at least one by Cliff Stamp.

In general, the blade does last longer than the handle.

Since you have one....why not give it a good beating and tell us all about it? Been a while since we had a good thorough review.
 
Daniel Koster,
I plan to do that once it arrives, I just placed the order a few minutes before I posted. Looking forward to test driving this one.
Lagarto
 
FWIW, I have had great luck with my CS Kukris. I have the Ghurka K. and the GK Light. The steel really holds an edge, and they cut like there's no tomorrow!

Please let us know how you like it when it comes in!
 
I've been beating the crap out of my 1st gen LTC for better than six years now, and it's still in one piece. (Needs a new sheath, though - the early cheap Cordura plus mystery stiffener Cold Steel kukri sheaths were pretty crappy.) Anyway, I've never tried to test it to destruction, but I have camped with it and used it very, very ungently, and the worst I ever had to do was resharpen it. Pried with it, dug with it, broke up cinder blocks - it's tough.

Nick
 
I got a super cheap CS one at a gun show for $15. Which one is it. I have not done anything with it. Need to break it in.
 
I have used the light cs kuk for a few years around the back of the house cutting back brush and pachysandra [ low ground growing overgrowth ]. It has the black blade.

It has handled what needed to be cut down and has cleaned up under the faucet with soap and water very well everytime. It came through very sharp, holds it's edge fairly well and resharpens in a few minutes. I re-oil it, put it back in the sheath and it sits in my office hanging next to the computer along with an old Becker kuk I picked up along the way somewhere many years ago.

The rubber handle on the CS gets irritating to the hand after some hard extended use for me. Has caused blisters in a hurry if you are brainfading and just hacking away instead of paying attention to how you are cutting/clearing materials.

I wear gloves when using it now for any length of time. It is lightweight, easy to swing and bites into materials very well.

Brownie
 
I have an old LTC one without markings. I have bought it from "Special Projects" ( a division of Cold Steel) some 10 years ago and it's been used
a lot, so the coating is starting to fade.
I use it in the field when a tree needs to be taken down or needs serious pruning, to chop the branches off the larger wood.
The steel is not yet Carbon V ( I think it was 1095 back then), but keeps its edge very good and sharpens easy.
Without gloves I get blisters easely with the kraton handle. So I'm thinking to take the rubber off and putting a canvas micarta handle on it ( something like on my Chris Reeve Green Beret)
Since my 12 year old son also likes the LTC ,I might get a CS Gurkha Kukri. :D

Question: does anybody know how the tang is shaped under the rubber ?
 
Well, I got my package from Knifeoutlet today, and it felt light. I opened it and there was my CRKT SOTFB which I'd ordered at the same time and a note saying that the Cold Steel Kukri was no longer available. Aaaargh. It's okay since I didn't get billed for it, but annoying none the less. I just ordered it again through knifecenter.com so we'll see if I can actually get one this time.
Lagarto
 
knives he was importing would never be the quality of the Cold Steel. I believe this as there is simply too much difference in the way of QC as opposed to someone that is beating a spring into a knife over a coal fire.

While I have never used one personally, I can say that the Cold Steel's are probably the best quality I have ever laid eyes on.
 
The quality control of Cold Steel probably is more consitent, but the problem is they've never understood the requirements of this type of blade to begin with. Their blades are full-hardened, and as such are brittle when subjected to the force of blows that their size and weight can generate. I've had two of the Ghurka Khukuries, which is their heavy model. The first came to me with a loose handle and was returned. The second developed a loose handle after a couple months of use, and the front 3/4" of the blade broke off when I accidentally caught a higher branch that the one I was cutting. True, since it wasn't the one I was swinging at, the impact was a not perfectly lined up with the edge (kind of a hard glancing hit) but that doesn't change the fact that the overall khuk was too hard. There's a reason even high quality axes aren't hardened up to 60RC. Thin steel is too brittle at that hardness for such massively heavy impacts.

HI khuks are differentially tempered to be hard at the sweet spot, and softer at the point and spine to absorb the shock of heavy use. It's true that there is some variance in the size of the hardened area (etching similar models will show differences of an inch or so in the lengths of the tempered edge) but problems are very rare--In over twenty HI products I've received there's been one problem, and it was replaced within a week. This is probably the most telling thing, that HI is backed by unconditional replacement guarantee if broken in use. This last is something that Cold Steel won't match. I know this for a fact, because their response to my loose handle on the second one after use was "We can only replace items due to factory defect. These are tools and nothing lasts forever." This after two months of use on small trees and brush is inexcuseable for a $100+ knife that's supposedly built to be tough.
 
Since you speak from experience I will have to stand by your feelings. As I said, I have no experience with khukris of any type.

Thanks for setting me straight, as the tempering is an issue that must be considered. However, I never thought it would be of importance in a blade length of 12 or so inches. Apparently it is.

Thanks again.

BTW, what are the HI's priced at now?
 
Not meaning to "set you straight", just sharing my experiences. :)

The tempering issue might not be as big a deal in the lighter Cold Steel models (with 1/8" blades) but at 5/16" thickness (or 3/8+ in HI models) the amount of momentum the blades are generating in hard swings starts making it an issue.

The prices have a broad range, depending on the size and fanciness you want. However, a typical 18" AK or WW2 ordered off the site runs about $145.00. That said, I have--as stated--many khuks from them, and have only paid full price for two of them. There are specials of the day on the HI forum usually two or three times a week, and models are usually half price. You have to pick from the models Uncle Bill has chosen to put up, but it's usually a good variety of sizes and styles. I have a few 18" models and they averaged about $85.00.
 
I got my Cold Steel Kukri Lite straight from Cold Steel's website. It was one of their 'factory seconds' and the only thing I could see wrong with it was a small notch out of the spine. I really enjoy using this blade. Sure, it was fairly pricey, even for a second, but its a joy to use. I have a heavy stand of strelitzia trees and various other bush at the back of my yard and every once in a while a heavy wind will bring one of those strelitzia trees down. For those of you who are not familiar with them they are like an oversized banana tree and after a while they get very top heavy and topple over. At which time, I get out the CS Kukri and chop 'em up into bite size chunks. It's the perfect size for that type of work, or for cutting up firewood kindling, although I do have a hankering to get the full size version. I can use it without too much concern for the welfare of the blade (although I always take care with my knives) as it was about a quarter of the cost of my Chris Reeve Project 1, the other heavy duty fixed blade I own. I rate Cold Steel products. I currently own a Vaquero folder (4 inch blade), a Peacekeeper push dagger, a Magnum Tanto II (San Mai steel) and the Kukri Lite. They all rock. I enjoy large knives and I was considering a TOPS Tracker but after reading reviews on this forum of that item I reckon I'll go with a Cold Steel Trail Master instead. Now that's a whole lotta knife! ;)
 
I loved my cold steel ltc khuk right up until the time it snapped in half just above the handle. It chewed up most all the branches on a big rubber tree and a laurel oak (both with branches over 6") before snapping on a bad hit to a 2" holly.

I would agree with other posters here that Cold Steel probably does not understand the best way to heat treat these knives. It did absolutely everything I needed it to do right up until the point I struck a glancing blow to small underbrush.

All in all I'd say its a good blade and a good tool- just without the lateral strength (or strength under torque? someone correct my terminology please!) I would want to see in a blade made for the kind of use this one is.

Actually, the Cold Steel LTC is what got me to BF and buying products from Busse and HI- even before it broke. I just about know I will NEVER "break" one from either of these companies. And if I do, they both will make it right asap.
 
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