CS Magnum Kukri Machete

S

superc

Joined
Sep 30, 2003
Messages
382
I picked one up last week (Ebay of course) for less than $20 plus $7 shipping. Came yesterday.

First impression. [Plenty of pictures elsewhere so I won't post any yet.]
Its shipped in a plastic baggie. Comes with a cheap but interesting cloth sheath with a leather bottom. 20" blade, baked on black finish. Why? Plastic handle. The handle seams are right above the tang. Again, why? I would think the handle will last longer if the seams are off set from the tang. We will see.

The thing was dull. I mean really dull. I have sharper butter knives. I began stoning the bevel to remove the paint, keeping the same angle. High spots and low spots in the bevelquickly revealed themselves. More upsetting were the many, many, tool marks now showing in the bevel. Several hours with varying stones were required to remove the marks and make the bevel nice and shiny and smooth and sharp.

I have some heavy wooded areas to clear a trail in. I will try the Magnum Kukri there and we will see just how it holds up.
 
I'd like to see some pics... The baked on finish is supposed to be anti-rust coating.

I'd be interested in hearing how this does in action. I've been thinking about getting the smaller CS kukri machete, as they seem to be a real bargain at the price.

I have the Gerber Gator machete, which I've been really pleased with, is about the same price and features a decent saw blade opposite the cutting edge.
 
An anti rust coating may make sense if one lives by the ocean, or for those who don't clean their tools after use. In my personal experience rust hasn't been a problem on my blades.

I used the CS for about 5 hours yesterday to maintain one of my personal jogging/hunting trails which had become a little overgrown when I was out of country. Pictured below is the cutting area in 2005 along with an NM M-1A I used for eliminating some coyotes that year. (12x scope and a bowl of chopped venison liver from 400 yards)

TheStand-1.jpg


Reversed perspective
KillZoneToStand.jpg



As a benchmark I am using a much older machete. It is pictured below along with a leather sheath my father made for it, for me, back in 1966 as a replacement for the original cloth sheath (which lasted about a week).

Here are the two machetes and their respective sheaths.

IMGP0010.jpg


I have found the older (no longer made to my knowledge) machete with its 14 inch blade to do a very good job overall, but bought the longer CS Magnum Kukri (Zombie Killer) as a possible replacement. I used the older blade last week so the comparison is fair. My hope was I could make full use of the added length of the CS machete.

Both machetes have a sweet spot where maximum chopping is obtained. Both sweet spots are in equivalent locations on the respective blades. The old blade will penetrate about 1.5 inches in soft wood. The CS Magnum Kukri goes about 2 inches. My best chop of a limb yesterday was about 2.5 inches but it wasn't the norm. Most of the chops penetrated about 1.75 to 2 inches. Neither blade has much chopping ability in the space between the sweet spot and the handle.

The plastic handle and shape of the Kukri handle is much more comfortable and less damaging to my hand than the older machete's handle. 4 or 5 hours of usage in the hot sun (yes, I bring water) and no blisters or abrasions were felt or evident. Where I am disappointed in the CS is in the lack of cutting power ahead of the sweet spot. The older blade, because of the up sweep of the blade tip, will cut right out to the point. However when the tip of the Kukri strikes a branch or a vine, often the branch or vine just moves aside. This eliminates much of the advantage of the longer length. No deformation of the blade was encountered beyond dulling.

IMGP0012.jpg


Evaluation will continue as I have another quarter mile to go..
 
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Thanks for the update. Sounds like you're having fun with your new toy (zombie killer).

How does the Magnum compare with older machete in terms of blade thickness and overall weight? Maybe that would explain why the forward portion of the blade isn't as effective?
 
There's quite a bit that I dislike about the Cold Steel machetes. First, like you said, it's dull. Mine all came with stickers glued to the side. (Don't even think about trying to remove it!) To sharpen mine, I put the blade on the ground and used a five dollar carbide sharpener to eat through the anti-rust paint. It sharpened up nicely, but I wouldn't buy another machete from Cold Steel. They can keep their stickers.
 
I am not troubled by the sticker. I ignored it as irrelevant and sure enough, a few hours of swipes at thorn bushes later and much of it was gone. I could probably rub it off, but natural action as it hews into thickets of mixed raspberry and Kudzu will probably remove it. The blade spine of the older 'limb trim' mikes out at about .09" thick in the area in front of the handle, while the spine of the CS machete is .12" thick. The weight of both feels fairly close. Neither one feels as heavy as a sheathed Cattaraugus 225Q. Just did a 'feel' test and I would say the CS Kukri with sheath is also pretty close to the weight of a CS SRK with plastic scabbard.

[What I would love to see someone make is something like the old machete, but give it the handle shape of the Kukri, keep the 'gut hook' for snagging/sniping vines and the upsweep at the tip and give it a 22" blade.]
 
I have one and it was an incredible pain to get sharp. Great user, but definitely not pretty.
 
i own several CS machete's that i bought on a whim, and not one of them comes close to my 22" Ontario Blackie Collins. oh well lesson learned i guess.
 
kukgolo1244.jpg

So far I like mine.
Once I trim the Mimosa that overhangs my driveway, I have to wait for it to grow back.
Hence, it hasn't seen all that much use.
Makes a very satisfying "ping" when going thru branches.

I sharpened it with a file, coarse then medium Norton stone and finished with sandpaper on a mousepad.
Works for me :D
 
My Scoutmaster bought the entire troop Cold Steel Kukhri machetes for Christmas several years ago, as we were clearing a new site at a local campground to add capacity for more visitors.

Ebbtide-those stickers are a bugger to remove! :D

One weekend I sat down with a bucket of Acetone, Orange Peel industrial degreaser, sandpaper and a car buffer and removed the black factory coating and put a slight gloss onto the matte-finished carbon steel that remained. To my eye, it looks a lot better than the finish it's shipped with. With a little bit of care, mine hasn't rusted on me yet.

The factory edge of my own machete was rolled in several places and remarkably dull for a Cold Steel product (if they do one good thing, they do ship their knives sharp!). I carefully applied a new edge with DMT's coarse/extra course and find/extra-fine folding diamond sharpeners, then used additional sandpaper and an old leather strop to put a slightly convex edge onto it.

I wrapped the handle in electrical tape because I didn't like the hard, slippery feeling that the bare plastic provided. Prior to adding the extra layers of tape, the grip wasn't very effective at dampening the blows a machete receives when doing any sort of chopping. The hard plastic also left a blister on my right hand after an hour of chopping at the campsite.

The factory sheath is effective and receives a thumbs-up from me, as the whole knife only cost around sixteen dollars. :thumbup: I do with that Spec-Ops or Eagle Industries made a custom sheath to fit this size of blade.

From the factory, Cold Steel's machetes are cost-effective, decent performing tools. With a little bit of work, they can perform like champions.

God bless.

KATN,

Wade
 
Buy a sheath?
Use the marginal sheath that came with it for a pattern and make your own :D
I used some mystery suede that I scrounged somewhere.
cskukrisheath-1.jpg

If this were an expensive knife I wouldn't use non-vegtan leather, but hey, it's a $15 machete.
BTW, my sheath was about 1/4" too small on the length & the tip would get stuck between the plastic point protectors.
 
look at the cutting this thing does on "knifetests dot com" - I bought one the day I saw it
 
Are using the one with 1055 carbon, the cheaper model? You can also buy it on SK-5 high carbon. About $100 on ebay vs. $15-20 for the cheaper steel. Ebays website describes the difference in the two steels. I conclude the SK-5 is far better. I may be buying a new old stock in carbon V. That should get the job done.
 
i wouldnt expect a pretty edge on a $20.00 item,especially something like a machete that will probably be asked to do some real grunt work.the reason people buy $20.00 machetes is so they wont ruin their good steel doing the dirty jobs so the manufacturer is are going to put a utility edge on it.

hell,i saw a machete last weekend that didnt even come with an edge at all.if you didnt have a belt grinder you where out of luck.
 
Bestine Rubber Cement Thinner would be the correct thing to use.
Most folks don't keep it around.
We buy it by the gallon in the studio.
Lighter fluid, goo-gone, WD40, they'll all work too.
:D
 
Ebbtide said:
Buy a sheath?
Use the marginal sheath that came with it for a pattern and make your own :D
I used some mystery suede that I scrounged somewhere.
cskukrisheath-1.jpg

If this were an expensive knife I wouldn't use non-vegtan leather, but hey, it's a $15 machete.
BTW, my sheath was about 1/4" too small on the length & the tip would get stuck between the plastic point protectors.
Click to expand...

that looks really good. i'm left handed so most of the marginal stuff that comes with the blades i can't use anyway :[
 
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