General Camping use: Machete or Kukuri?

Mykl Clark

Mykl Clark

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Which do you think is better and why? Which one would you rather have in case the trip went bad and you were in a survival situation?

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Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me.
 
For general camping, I also agree that the smaller knife is the most important, and that's the knife I put the most thought into. As far as which big knife for a survival situation, that depends on where you are and what you're doing.

Machetes are lighter and thinner than khukris. The machete will be much much better for brush clearing, bushwhacking, etc. It will also do a great job on delimbing up to 1.5" tree limbs. It's not the best tool for heavy chopping of thick limbs, and particularly in soft wood it will penetrate deeply and stick badly.

The khukri is a great chopper and wood splitter, if you're going to be doing heavy chopping. Much shorter and heavier than the machete, it's not the good choice for bushwhacking through the jungle, clearing brush to set up camp, etc.

In the kinds of places I camp, there's so much wood around that even in a survival situation, I wouldn't need to do any heavy chopping to set up a shelter. Everything I need can be found on the ground or done with some delimbing. Even for a fire, the machete would be fine for wood gathering. For other people in different situations, a bigger chopper would be a necessity.

The disparity in cost between a good khurki and a machete is so great, I wonder why you need to choose? You'll probably be spending $150-$200 to get a really quality khukri, so why not spend another $15 and get a GI machete? Then you can carry whichever is most applicable for your current trip.

Joe
 
For general camping I would prefer the kukuri over the machete simply because of its versitility. Of course the discussion gets all out of hand when you add into the equation such blades as the TOPS Anaconda and the Livesay RTAK. Both seem very capable.
Having used my Randall 18 for general camping for the last three years, I can see why the heavier blade is prefered by both special forces types and general adventurers (with the exception of jungle work).

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Where no law exists there still must be justice- Dan Mahoney
 
What kind of things do you do in your general camping? I normally do nothing that requires either a machete or a khukri. Rarely, I have a use for a saw.

If I had chopping to do, I'd prefer a hatchet, or an axe if it was a large quantity of chopping. Both are far cheaper than a khukri, and will out chop one, swing for swing.


Stryver
 
If I had to take one all around knife to use for everything, it would probably be an H.I. Sirupati 20 inch. It is fairly light, good a bushwacking, chopping and it is an unbeatable weapon. But for just day hikes or short trips why spend so much money when a good $15 machete will do everything you might need or one of the ontario knives can fit the bill.

Stryver, If you look at the last thread on hatchets vs khukuri's, you'll note there was a few people that had both and used both, including me, and the khukuri won in chopping. Maybe you should go back and read that or actually try to compare the two in real life. Better yet, go to the HI forum. Most of the people there have had hatchets and used both, and know that the khuk beats it. Maybe it's because of the massiveness of the khukuri's and maybe it's the thinner rolled edge and maybe it's because there is so much more edge, who knows. Maybe the quality of the hatchets were always poor.

I would take a khukuri or machete over a hatchet for survival work anyday. Of course, if I could take one of each, that would be nice.

But it seems to me that the big bowie style knives that give a good compromise between hatchet, knife and chopper may be the best way to go. Isn't this the reason why Jeff, developed the RTAK, Hood developed the Anaconda and Janowski was most impressed with the Battle mistress.
 
My HI out chops the hatched I used to have.

Now move up to camp ax, and the tables turn. (Of course, some of those BIG HI's probably win there, too.
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)

Erik
 
I am not much for khukuris, granted, all I have handled is the Cold Steel offering, but I don't care for the dynamics of the shape, though I do like Bolos.

I am really a fan of the Barteaux machetes, they make a 12 inch Heavy Duty model that has a full encapsulating handle and a tough spring steel. The delivered edge sucks the big one, but that is fairly easy to remedy.

For my uses, a light chopping piece such as a machete is perfect. Like Joe T mentioned it will limb perfectly fine and will help with light shaping and fashioning, where a small knife would fall behind, but a khukuri would weigh you down.

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Thank you,
Marion David Poff aka Eye, Cd'A ID, USA mdpoff@hotmail.com

My Talonite Resource Page, nearly exhaustive!!
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"Many are blinded by name and reputation, few see the truth" Lao Tzu
 
And how much is your budgets? Cheap machete works, but cheap kukuri will fail to make you in danger. HI khukurhi is the only high quality khukuri I have first hand experience with, it can be trusted.
But with same budget you can take a few machetes that would work better in temporaly survival situation. I'm partial to khukuris so I'd take my HI khukuri though.

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\(^o^)/ Mizutani Satoshi \(^o^)/
 
I really don't know why you would need either, unless you were in a jungle situation. For most northern hem stuff, min. impact camping is an easy (and more enviormentaly responsable) option when compared to the scarring effects and fatgue enducing ground clearing. Just lay down. If you can walk reasonably well, you can sleep and eat there. If not, its either to steep or to over grown, but a few more min. of walking should find you a usable spot. I've been places were people decided to clear out a spot, and it looks horrible, its destructive, and most importantly, it was never necissary.

Now if your talking general utility, the kukuri is probably a better bet, unless, as stated, your dealing with lots of grass.

Honestly, I've never needed more then a swiss ary knife, and I've been out in some pretty crappy places. Part of camping is dealing with what your given. If you want to make the wilderness into something its not, you might as well stay home were its already been done.

I love knives, but in this instance, its not really all that crucial. In a survival situation were shelter was needed, opt for the kurkuri, as it will handle bigger stuff with ease. But then again, with a little planning, there is no reason why a general camping trip would turn into a survival situation (exept in oddball "Delivernce" situations, but if that happens, accept God hates you and move on).

Just my 2 cents. Get both for the collection though.
 
How could I not weigh in on this one?
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Machete vs khukri? Two different breeds as Joe pointed out.

For chopping, give me a hatchet. My hatchets are incredible choppers. If the khukris can beat my 14-15" hatchets then I'm really impressed. But for sure what they can't beat is my price. You can buy a Granfors Bruk for $60. And try using your run of the mill khukri to pound stakes in the ground. Can't do that with a machete either. But a hatchet isn't much good for clearing thick brush. Machete or khuk depending on the nature of the brush. I have a heavy duty Barteaux that I've used for umpteen years to do everything from decapitate chickens to clear trails to my tree stand in the swamp. Great for clearing shooting lanes as well. Right now my favorite machete for this kind of work is a stout little 12" Barteaux. This is a handy tool and great bang for the buck.

So it all depends on what you want it for. If you want to shake up the people in the next tent, who seem preoccupied with their portable TV, get a khukri. If you want something useful under normal camping conditons, get an SAK and a Grohmann Camper. Or grab the butcher knife from the kitchen block.

Here's another knife that's rapidly becoming my favorite for a camping situation. I've been using it in the kitchen on a regular basis and it can definitely slice and dice. Cuts tomatoes and bread like it has a serrated edge. It's an opinel #12.

I think some people confuse camping with taking the kinds of trips that Jeff Randall does. If you are out camping, your best survival tool is a credit card and maybe a cell phone. If you go into the wilderness, then you might need something that will chop, assuming you are suddenly in a "survival" situation. If you've ever been hunting in the Rockies in late fall, then you probably know how easy it is to get lost. If you have to spend the night out in the big country, then a quick, makeshift shelter may be in order.

And I suppose this could be true of regular camping trips as well, if you plan to day hike away from well marked trails. I've gotten "lost" more than once chasing morel mushrooms in the toolies of northern michigan. In that kind of situation, you need something stout enough to cut sapplings for a shelter. Here my vote is for a Busse Badger Attack. You chop with it by whittling a mallet (baton) and use it to beat on the spine of the knife. In a very short time you will have enough saplings to make a frame for your shelter. And it's small enough to do a lot of the camp chores (but a little thick for vege chopping but will get the job done), but not so big to scare the sheeple camping next to you. You know, the ones who were going to invite you over to drink their beer.

If all you are planning to do is sneak into the woods and start defoliating things for the fun of it, leave the knives at home and get one of those portable tv sets...
smile.gif


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Hoodoo

The low, hoarse purr of the whirling stone—the light-press’d blade,
Diffusing, dropping, sideways-darting, in tiny showers of gold,
Sparkles from the wheel.

Walt Whitman
 
Hoodoo, you can actually get a good khukuri from HI, as a blem, and they are just as tough as the non-blems. Prices can be under $100. So the price is moot at this point. And I didn't even mention the GH khukuri's which are decently made for under $100. And they definitely outchop a hatchet.

Now, my Indian Army Issue(CRAP!) Kukuri couldn't outchop a hatchet. The vibration during chopping is horrible. However, these make great khuk-machetes.

It seems like the Bartaux machetes are getting mentioned alot here. What models do you guys have, since it appears they make an endless selection?
 
I have a 12" model, a 16" model with a sawback (haven't tried this out yet), and an 18" model I bought at a flea market 20 years or more ago that has an aluminum handle and is quite a stout chopper. This one I have used to death. My only complaint is that after spending all day chopping some heavy, woody vegetation, my hand and arm are fairly numb.

Recently I've tried some tramotinas and they were nice for light vegetation. I think I paid less than $10 apiece for the tramotinas so they have to be a stellar deal for a machete. I have a 14" wooden handled one that I really like.

Cobalt,
Have you ever tried chopping a log in the 10" diameter or larger with a khukri? I would think that the small axe head would bite deeper and cut faster while the khuk would be less effecitve, it's effective cutting surface spread out so that it has much less penetration. And the larger the diameter the tree, the less effective the khuk would be. But I'm just guessing here. Never tested it. But I've chopped through some pretty good sized logs with both hatchets and axes. A small hudson bay style hatchet head on a 15-22" handle will flat blow through some good sized timber, especially the 22" one.


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Hoodoo

The low, hoarse purr of the whirling stone—the light-press’d blade,
Diffusing, dropping, sideways-darting, in tiny showers of gold,
Sparkles from the wheel.

Walt Whitman
 
Marion, Hoodoo, when you guys say heavy duty, does that mean thickness or blade width? These appear to be much better made than the ontarios, what do you think?

Hoodoo, the largest diameter I have cut is 12 inches and I did it with my 15 inch A.K. Actually the curve of the khukuri blade puts more impact pressure on wood allowing it to go deeper than an edge that is flat like an axe. I believe this is the reason that the khuk can cut deeper into wood. When I used my full size axe on timber it did chop faster than my 15 inch AK because of the speed and weight in each swing. The story might have been a little different if I would have had an 18 inch or 20 inch AK, however, who knows. But my 15 inch AK definitely outchopped the hatchet.
 
Cobalt,
How much does your 15" AK weigh and what was the cost? If you chop with it for say an hour, is it still comfortable? How is length measured on these? Does it include the curvature?




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Hoodoo

The low, hoarse purr of the whirling stone—the light-press’d blade,
Diffusing, dropping, sideways-darting, in tiny showers of gold,
Sparkles from the wheel.

Walt Whitman
 
Okay maybe general camping use wasn't exactly what I meant. Since I was a small child when my family went camping we always had to cut a couple of small trees for help with shelters (to replace missing tent polls, tent stakes, make a tarp into the shade/kitchen area) so I just think of it like that. Really I more interested in them for shelter building. Great replies. Also if I were to get a new hatchet what kind would you recommend as mine is jsut horrible (it has one of those "egronomic" handles). Thanks again.

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Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me.
 
A couple cheaper decent hatchets are the Snow & Nealy and the Sandvik ($30 range). Do a search on hatchets and you will find links to these. I don't own a granfors bruk but people seem to like them. You can do a search on these too. I bought my sandviks at a m leonard and my snow and nealys at foxridge outfitters.

I bought a cheapie hatchet from the hardware a couple of months ago, reground the edge, and now this thing turned into a real chopper. Too many cheapier hatchets and axes are really poorly ground.

If you just want to slice a few small saplings, how about a small opinel folding saw? Very lightweight and perfect for the pack. Will saw easily through wrist size wood. Or you might try a Becker Companion. It's a "small" knife that is also a big knife. It will chop pretty well (but nothing compared to a good hatchet). Still, it's a wonderful knife for the money and will take down small saplings fairly easily.




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Hoodoo

The low, hoarse purr of the whirling stone—the light-press’d blade,
Diffusing, dropping, sideways-darting, in tiny showers of gold,
Sparkles from the wheel.

Walt Whitman
 
Cobalt, Heavy Duty refers to a specific part of the product line. Barteaux offers economy models and Heavy Duty models. The Heavy Duty handles are of a better quality, esecially finish values and the blades are thicker. The thicker blade is nice, I think, it makes them a good deal stiffer than the economy models.

I have only held the Ontarios, but even that little bit of feel combined with Cliff's report on the performance of the Ontarios confirmed my like of the Barteaux's.

One thing in particular, the Barteaux's are stiffer than the Ontarios in my experience, make them better for levering out of the cut when chopping hardwoods. At the same time, I believe the Ontarions to be thicker.

Hope that helps,
MDP
 
I am a big machete fan. I prefer the weight-forward design of a sugar cane knife. The sharpened hook is THEE thing for clearing briars.

Having said that, I recently did a field comparison between a cane knife and a Ghurka House WWII khukuri. The Khuk compared favoribly to the machete in harvesting mature bamboo and excelled in "limbing" the stalks. The khuk behaves like a cross between a machete and a hatchet. Once I figured the correct angle to cut, the khuk was able to cut 3" bamboo in a single stroke without splitting the stalk. The machete can do this at a flatter angle but is an exact match between tool and work. The khuk's piggy-back small knife and flint striker/sharpener gives it the edge if carried for unknown type chopping work.

The khuk won't replace my cane knife nor my Estwing camp axe, but I believe it could pinch-hit for both.
 
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