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Good heavy duty chopping workhorse: Khuks vs 'traditional' styles
- Thread starter Mindz_I
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2003
- Messages
- 284
If you need chopping power purely, look at the GB hatchets...they are much better at chopping than any knife could be.
IMO, sometimes, we seem to get a little bit carried away with 'chopping' knives. Knives are made to cut, not chop. If you need to chop, a hatchet will be better, pound for pound, than ANY knife, simply because it has more favorable weight distribution. So, stick with a utility knife for cutting, and a hatchet for chopping.
No intent to offend anyone here, just my $.02...
IMO, sometimes, we seem to get a little bit carried away with 'chopping' knives. Knives are made to cut, not chop. If you need to chop, a hatchet will be better, pound for pound, than ANY knife, simply because it has more favorable weight distribution. So, stick with a utility knife for cutting, and a hatchet for chopping.
No intent to offend anyone here, just my $.02...
The factor that should sway your opinion is portability.
If you are going to leave it around the camp site, then you should invest in a full size GB ax, 18 or 20 inch Ang Khola and/or a collapsable saw. In addition to chopping and prying, the larger AKs make great splitters.
If you are camping with a lighter load, but still want some power, the choices are:
18" AK / WWII
16.5" AK / WWII
Battle Rat
GB Small Forest or Hunters Ax
If you intend for this chopper to be with you while you are out on long hikes, and weight is a major concern:
Camp Tramp
ATC Tomahawk
GB Hunters Ax
Obviously, as the knives get lighter, chopping ability is sacrificed. The advantage that Khuks have over an ax is that it is a knife and can be used to dig and pry. Also, they are more difficult to damage than a traditional ax, but axes definitely chop better.
If you are going to leave it around the camp site, then you should invest in a full size GB ax, 18 or 20 inch Ang Khola and/or a collapsable saw. In addition to chopping and prying, the larger AKs make great splitters.
If you are camping with a lighter load, but still want some power, the choices are:
18" AK / WWII
16.5" AK / WWII
Battle Rat
GB Small Forest or Hunters Ax
If you intend for this chopper to be with you while you are out on long hikes, and weight is a major concern:
Camp Tramp
ATC Tomahawk
GB Hunters Ax
Obviously, as the knives get lighter, chopping ability is sacrificed. The advantage that Khuks have over an ax is that it is a knife and can be used to dig and pry. Also, they are more difficult to damage than a traditional ax, but axes definitely chop better.
- Joined
- May 16, 2002
- Messages
- 4,437
Good one. Also check out the HI British Army Service (BAS) Abouut the same size, perhaps a bit lighter, and fancier.
Keith
Keith
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2003
- Messages
- 2,492
Khuks are nice chopper but if you go on a long trail, it's quiet heavy and cumbersome to keep in a backpack. If you really looking for a knifelike stuff, I'd recommend a survival golok S.
Take a look there:
http://www.valiantco.com/ and go to page 1 of java blades.
For me, on a long trail I would stick with a Spyderco Perrin and a Buck grip saw.
Keep in mind that a saw is safer to use than big chopping blade, if you're far from civilization,
that can make a huge difference...
Xavier.
Take a look there:
http://www.valiantco.com/ and go to page 1 of java blades.
For me, on a long trail I would stick with a Spyderco Perrin and a Buck grip saw.
Keep in mind that a saw is safer to use than big chopping blade, if you're far from civilization,
that can make a huge difference...
Xavier.
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2000
- Messages
- 3,002
I was just gonna comment from the perspective of a relatively new Khukri fan.
I myself wound up with an 18 inch Sirupati that I simply love. I can't comment on any other HI products, because I've only owned that one, but...for me it's as perfect as I could imagine a large cutting too being. Where my Sirupati really excels is in versatility. It chops PLENTY well, works excellent as a draw knife, digs and pries real well, and it can pull machete duty reasonably well also. (although the machete duty will definitely make a man outta ya' fairly quickly) Inspite of it's unique blade grind, even I can put a hair popping edge on it fairly quickly.
the very few disadvantages: the curve of the knife makes it awkward to carry on the belt. Much better strapped to my day pack.
Watching my beautiful new knife blade discolor in just a couple minutes when I used it to pull kitchen duty.
the handle sucks for the way I've always chopped the shape of the endcap mauls my hands within a few whacks if I don't hang on tight. I've thought about rounding it off some, but on the same token I'm afraid of mucking it up.
Obviously my Sirupati is gonna have some different characteristics than an AK, but, I'm sure you could see alot of the same advantages also.
Oh, and a final plus with the HI....you won't find nicer people to deal with or a more pleasant forum than they have. Truly in a class of thier own.
Damn...now that I'm taking time to think about 'em I'm getting about half tempted to pick up another HI myself....
I myself wound up with an 18 inch Sirupati that I simply love. I can't comment on any other HI products, because I've only owned that one, but...for me it's as perfect as I could imagine a large cutting too being. Where my Sirupati really excels is in versatility. It chops PLENTY well, works excellent as a draw knife, digs and pries real well, and it can pull machete duty reasonably well also. (although the machete duty will definitely make a man outta ya' fairly quickly) Inspite of it's unique blade grind, even I can put a hair popping edge on it fairly quickly.
the very few disadvantages: the curve of the knife makes it awkward to carry on the belt. Much better strapped to my day pack.
Watching my beautiful new knife blade discolor in just a couple minutes when I used it to pull kitchen duty.
the handle sucks for the way I've always chopped the shape of the endcap mauls my hands within a few whacks if I don't hang on tight. I've thought about rounding it off some, but on the same token I'm afraid of mucking it up.
Obviously my Sirupati is gonna have some different characteristics than an AK, but, I'm sure you could see alot of the same advantages also.
Oh, and a final plus with the HI....you won't find nicer people to deal with or a more pleasant forum than they have. Truly in a class of thier own.
Damn...now that I'm taking time to think about 'em I'm getting about half tempted to pick up another HI myself....
- Joined
- Oct 3, 1998
- Messages
- 4,842
I haven't tested everything head-to-head, so I'm depending on probably-faulty memory of Cliff's work for some of this. From what I recall, Cliff found:
- Once the limbs and trees get past a certain size, hatchets and axes are the clear winner. Don't know where that size is -- 5"? 6"? But the kukhri loses its effectiveness due to the strike being spread out along the edge length.
- Below the bigger trunk/limb size mentioned above, a good kukhri is hard to beat. That doesn't mean a GB hatchet or well-done big bowie won't perform well, but kukhris work really well for this.
- Big bowies won't beat out hatchets or kukrhis on either type woodworking, but are obviously more versatile and knife-like for other uses. On the other hand, the GB hatchets have such good edge geometry that they are useable as knives (outperforming most actual knives and bowies) for a lot of uses.
- The advantage of the machete is light weight, and works best on much lights work like brush clearing, etc. On soft wood, the machete penetrates deeply and binds badly. Great choice for lighter brushwork, bad choice for bigger woodwork.
There's all kinds of other interesting options. I recently hauled out my Valiant survival golok, and the thing chops really nicely.
Joe
- Once the limbs and trees get past a certain size, hatchets and axes are the clear winner. Don't know where that size is -- 5"? 6"? But the kukhri loses its effectiveness due to the strike being spread out along the edge length.
- Below the bigger trunk/limb size mentioned above, a good kukhri is hard to beat. That doesn't mean a GB hatchet or well-done big bowie won't perform well, but kukhris work really well for this.
- Big bowies won't beat out hatchets or kukrhis on either type woodworking, but are obviously more versatile and knife-like for other uses. On the other hand, the GB hatchets have such good edge geometry that they are useable as knives (outperforming most actual knives and bowies) for a lot of uses.
- The advantage of the machete is light weight, and works best on much lights work like brush clearing, etc. On soft wood, the machete penetrates deeply and binds badly. Great choice for lighter brushwork, bad choice for bigger woodwork.
There's all kinds of other interesting options. I recently hauled out my Valiant survival golok, and the thing chops really nicely.
Joe