it was made by a kami that uses a bow and arrow as a mark. The fit and finish is superior, and the grind almost reminds me of a dui chirra. the proportions are nice, short collar, shorter handle than my previous AK, and a super stocky blade. If this is a new maker, watch this guy. He's really good - clean lines, good symmetry, blade profile is thick at the spine and tang.
Let be back up a bit. I'm getting this because I had an 18' AK made by Sher (IIRC), and I used it hard - really hard - for about 8 years. Last week, I was processing some fallen limbs that fell from a tree in a storm, and the AK finally gave up the ghost. broke at the tang, where it went into the horn handle. (it is my belief that if the tang had been inserted into the handle all the way to the blade shoulder, then it would not have failed, but there was a gap between the shoulder of the blade and the handle, hidden under the collar, that contributed to stressing the unsupported tang). Additinally, the steel where it broke may have been too hard, since it had the crystalline look of highly tempered steel, kind how how it looks when you break a cast-iron pan and see that ragged crystalline edge. TO be fair, this khukuri stoood up to repeated and constant use as a hammer, pry-bar, draw knife, axe, etc. Any damage I did to the edge could be fixed with a sander or a grinder, and the edge never chipped and the tip never broke. I fully got my money's worth out of it, and knew I'd need a replacement for my go-to heavy knife.
So I finally killed a well nigh unkillable knife, and what better to replace it with than a full tang Chiruwa AK?
On a side note, I will most likely remake the broken AK into some sort of other knife. I considered a re-weld of the tang but the hardness of the tang may not support the weld. I think it best to remake what's left into some sort of other blade.
Let be back up a bit. I'm getting this because I had an 18' AK made by Sher (IIRC), and I used it hard - really hard - for about 8 years. Last week, I was processing some fallen limbs that fell from a tree in a storm, and the AK finally gave up the ghost. broke at the tang, where it went into the horn handle. (it is my belief that if the tang had been inserted into the handle all the way to the blade shoulder, then it would not have failed, but there was a gap between the shoulder of the blade and the handle, hidden under the collar, that contributed to stressing the unsupported tang). Additinally, the steel where it broke may have been too hard, since it had the crystalline look of highly tempered steel, kind how how it looks when you break a cast-iron pan and see that ragged crystalline edge. TO be fair, this khukuri stoood up to repeated and constant use as a hammer, pry-bar, draw knife, axe, etc. Any damage I did to the edge could be fixed with a sander or a grinder, and the edge never chipped and the tip never broke. I fully got my money's worth out of it, and knew I'd need a replacement for my go-to heavy knife.
So I finally killed a well nigh unkillable knife, and what better to replace it with than a full tang Chiruwa AK?
On a side note, I will most likely remake the broken AK into some sort of other knife. I considered a re-weld of the tang but the hardness of the tang may not support the weld. I think it best to remake what's left into some sort of other blade.
