HI Friendship knife - review

[hunglvq]

Been receiving this knife from Auntie for a while but only until last weekend that I could take this knife out for some chops.

Actually, I was surprise to see Tirtha treatment at first. He mixed and matched both the H’mong and the Khukuri together, leaning more on the khukuri side with a bulky peak. Strange as it looks, when I took it out for a chop, I see Tirtha is totally right doing so.

Quenching was perfectly done at file-skid hardness along the edge. The hardened area is long starting 2 & ½” from tip to 2” from guard.

The forward balance together with the flat bevel is a great combination. It bites wood like crazy. I tried with the same force for the chop, the Friendship knife created a deeper bite than my 37 oz 18” Rajkumar M-43. Though this is a flat grind, it’s not weak at all. 1/2” from the cutting edge, blade thickness is 3/16”.

Besides supporting the handle and for decoration purposes, the brass rings also create nice “ridgy” feeling on the hand when chopping. When I received this knife, the wooden scabbard and horn handle shrink and let loose the brass rings. I filled them up with super glue and they stick.

The scabbard is another point of interest for this knife. Seems that this is the only design I’ve seen which has a wood & brass scabbard.

The only problem I have with this knife, also with most of the HI blade is the big sized handle. I’m thinking of shaving it down. Another interesting project to come…



Main specs:
OAL: 16 & ½”
BL: 10 & ¾”
HL: 5 & ¾”
Spine thickness: 13/32”
Blade weight (excl scabbard): ~25 oz
Kami: Tirtha

 

[oldschool45]

hunglvq, nice knife, review and insight:thumbup: How well do you think this would work on light brush?
Side note, am I the only one who thinks ancient Egypt when they see this blade?

 

[DanSmithy]

Thanks for the good review.
just missing the spine comparison shot

Another proof that light blade can excel at chopping...when done right.

 

[warty]

Been really enjoying mine for sure and am happy you brought these to us Hung. Mine is a villager so it was a bit less attractive than yours, for instance the scabbard brass rings fall off even after I super glued them. The handle rings though are solid as a rock so the scabbard doesn't bother me. I agree that the rings add a nice feel to the handle and make things a lot nicer when trying to hold on to this monster when using it. Over all I think this is one of the nicer of the "New Big Blades" that HI has come out with and for sure Tirtha Kami is on a roll when it comes to producing great blades. IMO, he is on par with any of he old time kamis with maybe the exception of Bura.

Old School, I thought Vietnam the minute I go the blade. Would love to know what says Egypt to you about it. Also, the handle is just the right size for my hands diameter-wise so I won't be shaving anything down. This is actually one of the more comfortable blades I have gotten to date from HI. Sometimes I just walk around the house with it and pretend I am Warty of the Jungle...

 

[hunglvq]

Warty,

Mine is also a villager finish. I did some touch up to the blade with sand paper.

 

[warty]

You still have smaller hands than I do.

 

[hunglvq]

hunglvq, nice knife, review and insight:thumbup: How well do you think this would work on light brush?
Side note, am I the only one who thinks ancient Egypt when they see this blade?

i havent tried yet but as per my feel, it would be like using an axe for the bush. The head is heavy and the blade is short

 

[oldschool45]

Warty, the brass bands, the shape of the blade, the black of the horn handle, the guard and lack of a cho all scream "this is something I would expect to find in a pharo's tomb" in my mind.

hunglvq, without a good spine shot I just think it is thinner than it actually is. If that blade were as thin as my minds wants it to be it would be a down right viscous combat blade.

 

[Yangdu]

Great review and Pix, thank you Hung

 

[ElSitherino]

Side note, am I the only one who thinks ancient Egypt when they see this blade?

I thought the same thing when I first saw the handle on one, it looks exactly like some Pharaoh scepters and a few recovered ceremonial knives I've seen.

Those are some beautiful knives you got there, Hung. Good luck taking that handle down, let us know how it goes.

 

[hunglvq]

Actually my blade in these pix has already adjusted.

Warty, lets compare the blade part near the guard. I shaved down the topline to align it with handle's topline. Same for bottom line, i shaved it up to align with handle's bottomline for a smoother transition in the look.

Elsitherino, i worked on the handle once and confident with that

 

[warty]

I can post some pix of mine tomorrow. Too dark now for me to do it today. OK?

 

[warty]

right, well here is mine and in the interest of friendship, I used my metric scale for these pix. The edge of the scale is where it begins measuring...

and my "art" picture.

sorry folks, not in a very talkative mood right now. I twisted wrong or something unloading my groceries and now I am messed up again. Post your questions if you have them but try to work out the dimensions from the pix or I can't see the point of putting the scales in there anymore. TTYAL

 

[hunglvq]

Thanks for your picture Warty.

I just disassembled mine this afternoon for shaving down some handle. I was surprised to see the tang. It's a crazy tang with almost 1/2 width of the blade.

Will have pix for you guys soon.