Cracks at the cho.

SkagSig40

SkagSig40

Joined
Feb 1, 2001
Messages
2,671
Now that we have ton's and ton's of khukuris out there I was wondering if anyone has noticed the following.
I have several dozen H.I. khuks and most of them have cracks in the blades at the cho, one crack on each side where the cho is cut. None of mine have failed because of this and I was wondering if anyone out there has had trouble with the cracks moving or breaking.
 
I don't see any cracks on mine Chris, but they don't get a lot of action. Do yours see a lot of use?
 
I have a few that I use hard but most just get fondeled. I don't think any of the khuks that I use cracks have moved over the years.
 
My 15 inch Ak had 1/16 inch cracks at the cho when I received it. I have used it to cut up a couple of trees, and there is no change. My feeling when I saw them was that the cho was cut at an acute angle, and this is bound to concentrate stress at this point. Maybe the cracks form when the steel is stressed during hardening?

Anyway there is so much steel in these blades:) that I cannot believe they would break when being used for purpose they are designed for. Especially, because the zone hardening they use means the back three quarters of the blade is unhardened (well it's like that on mine)and consequently should bend rather than break.

I hope you find my thoughts of interest!
 
Yes, they are so thick(even the thin one's!) that I don't think they would ever crack more. My main user has the biggest crack of all and it is fine.
 
Originally posted by Bill Martino
We had a khukuri fail at the cho this year. As far as I can recall it was the first ever.
Click to expand...

Uncle Bill what model was this and how did it crack....tear, snap, bend?
 
I know of three cho failures, one was a GS I saw not too long ago. The other two, one of which was mine, were Chiruwa AKs. Bill figured that the full tang threw off the hardening process or something like that. I think mine was by Bura, and the other by a newer guy. The cho looked fine, probably lots of microscopic cracks though, and the first solid target broke the AK. Now take into consideration that this is three kukris out of how many that have been sold? Besides, worst case scenario is the knife brakes and it gets replaced, in my case it was replaced two fold!
 
"A crack at the Cho"

I had a couple of Khukuris like that. Except it may not be a crack... I believe Walosi once refered to it as a 'witness mark', made by the kamis to help label/mark the proportions and different parts of the blank forging before actually making it?
 
Hi all

I have noticed this problem several month ago
and bill send me an other 18 AK made by the master bura (thanks again Bill)
I notice the problem on my first 18 AK made by kumar.
but it was a good khuk

bye all and sorry for spelling mistake
 
Cracks at the cho.
Click to expand...

I've seen plenty of 'em, but never one that caused any problem. Having said that, no one would be wrong to follow Uncle Bill's advice to test any khuk thoroughly before placing full trust in it. When you stop and think about it the same wisdom holds true for any piece of important field gear. Is that waterproof flashlight you just bought really waterproof? How do you know? See what I mean?;)

Sarge
 
I had a chiruwa AK (Bura) crack at the cho, about a year ago.
Except that it didn't start with a visible crack. Maybe the cho itself wasn't perfectly smooth on the cut surfaces, but no visible cracks, and certainly nothing that went back into the blade.

The failure went something like this:

Chop, chop, chop.
Chop, chop. Hmmm.....sounds like there's something rattling around. Maybe the buttcap is loose.
Chop. Chop. Hmmm.....that felt really light on the upswing. Wait a sec, the blade is lying on the ground. Not good.

I think it's more a hardness issue. If the cho is cut when the blade is too cold, it stresses the metal. Bill seemed to think that the extra metal in a chiruwa tang drew the heat off faster than expected. The break looked very clean, almost like the blade had shattered, rather than a propagated a crack.

Several of my blades have cosmetic flaws around the cho - dark forging marks that didn't polish out, but I don't think they pose much risk. Then again, there's only one way to find out......


(BTW....my mourned Bura chiruwa AK was soon replaced by an 18" wood handled beauty, long and thin, also by Bura, that's hopefully keeping somebody comfortable in the big sandbox over there right now.....)
:)
 
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