I just returned to Korea after a few weeks of leave back in the states. While I was at home in Virginia, I got to test out my heavy 18" WWII model khukuri made by Murali. I bought this one as an UBDOTD a few months ago but hadn't been able to test it as I was (and currently am) halfway around the world from the house. The blade is about 1/2" thick and the total weight of the knife is 2-3 pounds. I was thrilled to finally get my hands on my HI khukuri!
My wife asked me take down part of a busted tree in the back yard. Somehow during some severe weather, the top third or so of the 35-foot tree had snapped off and was lodged partly on our back fence and partly in the remaining branches of the tree. Due to the height of our back fence and the orientation of the snapped off segment, I had to make most of my cuts overhead and/or at odd angles.
For those of you screaming "UNSAFE!", it was safer than standing on a ladder and certainly was safer than using a chain saw. Most of the branches were too thick for a pruning saw.
Anyway, the WWII looked nice out of the sheath, but I didn't become amazed until I started hacking away at the branches. Anything under 1 1/2" in diameter took only one swing, and I couldn't even feel them pop off the main trunk. Even some of the thicker branches, 2 - 2.5" diameter, came off with one swing, two at most!
When I finally exposed the main trunk, 8 - 9" in diameter, I switched to a steel battleaxe that I purchased from a medieval weapons shop. This thing was a little over 3 feet long and weighed almost 10 pounds. The reason I refer to it in the past tense is that after about 15 swings, I broke the head off. I don't know what kind of tree is in my back yard, but apparently the wood is fairly hard.
After the demise of the battleaxe, I switched back to the khukuri. I didn't count the number of swings, but I've chopped through trees with machetes, Atlanta Cutlery India-made khukuris, and normal axes before and I believe my thick WWII model out chopped them all. Whether it was due to the edge hardness, edge geometry, blade weight, or whatever, big wood chips -- make that wood chunks -- were flying out upon every cut.
It took about an hour of tree surgery to get that big broken-off tree section dismounted from the back fence. Though the gripping muscles in my forearm were tired, I had no blisters, hot spots, or bruising on my palms from blade shock. The blade edge appeared the same as it was before I started. No damage that I could see or feel. I used the chakma to burnish the edge anyway and after a couple of minutes, the edge appeared sharper than when I first unsheathed the khukuri.
I waited a long time to get my hands on an HI khukuri and it was well worth it. I don't know when my next purchase will be, but my WWII model won't be my last HI blade.
------------------
Danny
aka "kuma575"
[This message has been edited by kuma575 (edited 12-09-2000).]
[This message has been edited by kuma575 (edited 12-09-2000).]
My wife asked me take down part of a busted tree in the back yard. Somehow during some severe weather, the top third or so of the 35-foot tree had snapped off and was lodged partly on our back fence and partly in the remaining branches of the tree. Due to the height of our back fence and the orientation of the snapped off segment, I had to make most of my cuts overhead and/or at odd angles.
For those of you screaming "UNSAFE!", it was safer than standing on a ladder and certainly was safer than using a chain saw. Most of the branches were too thick for a pruning saw.
Anyway, the WWII looked nice out of the sheath, but I didn't become amazed until I started hacking away at the branches. Anything under 1 1/2" in diameter took only one swing, and I couldn't even feel them pop off the main trunk. Even some of the thicker branches, 2 - 2.5" diameter, came off with one swing, two at most!
When I finally exposed the main trunk, 8 - 9" in diameter, I switched to a steel battleaxe that I purchased from a medieval weapons shop. This thing was a little over 3 feet long and weighed almost 10 pounds. The reason I refer to it in the past tense is that after about 15 swings, I broke the head off. I don't know what kind of tree is in my back yard, but apparently the wood is fairly hard.
After the demise of the battleaxe, I switched back to the khukuri. I didn't count the number of swings, but I've chopped through trees with machetes, Atlanta Cutlery India-made khukuris, and normal axes before and I believe my thick WWII model out chopped them all. Whether it was due to the edge hardness, edge geometry, blade weight, or whatever, big wood chips -- make that wood chunks -- were flying out upon every cut.
It took about an hour of tree surgery to get that big broken-off tree section dismounted from the back fence. Though the gripping muscles in my forearm were tired, I had no blisters, hot spots, or bruising on my palms from blade shock. The blade edge appeared the same as it was before I started. No damage that I could see or feel. I used the chakma to burnish the edge anyway and after a couple of minutes, the edge appeared sharper than when I first unsheathed the khukuri.
I waited a long time to get my hands on an HI khukuri and it was well worth it. I don't know when my next purchase will be, but my WWII model won't be my last HI blade.
------------------
Danny
aka "kuma575"
[This message has been edited by kuma575 (edited 12-09-2000).]
[This message has been edited by kuma575 (edited 12-09-2000).]
