HI Kukri help

The Moose

The Moose

Joined
Mar 13, 2006
Messages
376
What would be the best kukri for the type of scenario, Your out in the woods, Or wherever FAR away from civilization, youve need to chop wood make shelter so on and so fourth, What kukri woud you need to have to do this sort of work? I hope you know what i mean by this im trying to find out the best kukri from HI, Thanks :] :)
 
CAK, I would go about 18" The full tang would be helpful if you broke the handle and needed a cord wrap to finish the job
 
All of the HI khuks are suited for this work. Its like asking what Hummer is suited for a gravel road.

If you have to hike in there, then weight/bulk is an issue, and I'd suggest the BAS.

Handle failures are very rare IMHO, and the hidden tang khuks are extremely strong.

You need to jump in. Most people start with a CAK. IMO its one of the toughest to maintain. Any time you get shrinkage or movement of the scales you have to file down the metal on the tang and repolish.

I'd start with a rat tailed tang BAS, WWII, Ganga Ram, Pen Knife, or Ang Khola.
 
Fiddleback said:
All of the HI khuks are suited for this work. Its like asking what Hummer is suited for a gravel road.
Click to expand...

That is a good way of putting it. :D

Even the smallest and lightest khuks are coming in at around 1/4" thick. My personal preference would be for something in the 14" to 16" range with a weight of around 22 to 26 ounces.

Any of these would fit the bill for me.
Top to bottom. 17" WW2, 16 1/2" Chiruwa AK, 16" AK, 15" Tin Chirra, 15" Baby Ganga Ram Special (BGRS). My 14" BDC which is my all time favorite isn't pictured since it is getting a new handle right now.

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For your scenario, chopping lots of wood, I'd go with an Ang Khola (Chiruwa, or hidden tang) or a Ganga Ram. They're pretty much the creme de la creme for chopping, although any kukri will chop. Any size from the small 15" (remember HI kukris are sized by overall length, not blade length) to the monster 25" will work.

Now you have to decide where you want the balance point in the carry weight vs utility equation. The smaller the kuk, the easier it is to pack. However, the larger the kuk, the easier it will be to handle larger pieces of wood.

If you stick to the "rule of the wrist", i.e. you don't use wood for shelter building larger in diameter than your wrist, you can get away with anything. If you want to make shorter work of larger pieces, like 6-8" diameter, I'd recommend one in the 18-20" range.
 
Bruche, that BGRS is very nice!
 
ilbruche said:
My personal preference would be for something in the 14" to 16" range with a weight of around 22 to 26 ounces.
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A second vote for this, although my preference is 15"-16.5" and my ideal weight is 24-26 ounces. I suspect Ilbruche and I are after the same thing here -- small enough to be convenient, but just large enough to chop efficiently.

You'll find that there's a certain minimum size requirement for efficient chopping. Something smaller will work, sure, but you're going to expend more energy making up for the amount of work that the tool is no longer doing for you. My cutoff is 15" for this although obviously, there's a bit of wiggle room here. Likewise, after a certain length the chape starts stabs you in the calf if you take a knee, the scabbard hangs up in tight spaces, and the length strains the wrist. Too little weight and it won't cut, but too much weight and it tires you out unduly. ~15"/25 oz. or in that ballpark is a figure that comes up a lot as a good one.

As for models, certain things recommend themselves. One school of thought is that the tool ought to be optimized for chopping, particularly if it's going to be this small. The Ang Khola and Ganga Ram are often mentioned for this. Both styles work extremely well when of this size. (They work in other sizes as well, but I believe that they're at their best here.)

Tang design is a matter of personal preference. I haven't noticed a full tang transmitting significantly more shock than a hidden one, and I've never experienced any tang failure at all. A full tang ought to be a bit heavier and more neutrally balanced than a hidden tang but consider the overall picture, not the design method. If it works reliably I'm not particularly concerned about how it was constructed, only that it works.

Larger khukuris can tackle larger tasks obviously, but when I have to pack the thing there this is what I want.
 
Reckon I'd go the opposite to most, and give serious consideration to a 20" or so Gelbu Special.
Not got one, but if as I've read before it is a bit better at chopping than a sirupate of around the same length (them I do have, and use a lot) - well, that would seem a pretty good all-rounder.
 
l like the Chitlangi because it (IMO) is a great compromise between the Ang Khola's brutal chopping power and the Sirupati's agility.

Make sure you pick a khukri that fits you. I'm 6'5" and have no problem handling 20"+ khukri's. I can handle my 25" Sirupati and 26" Chitlangi well... but neither would be my first choice in the situation you described.

My first choice would be my 21.5" Chitlangi... until the special modified Chitlangi I ordered a few months ago gets here.

:cool:

26" Chitlangi and 21.5" Chitlangi. My two favorite khukri's.
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The M43 I think is another good choice. My brother loves his. It's agile, graceful, and very rugged.
 
I would go with a good ole 15" A.K.
There's a reason why it's a "standard" by which all others are compared.

--Mike L.
 
When I need to CHOP, I reach for my 18" AK.

When I need to do some chopping, and possibly a bunch of other things ... and carry it somewhere .... I always reach for my 16 1/2" WWII. The AK is a beast, and supremely good at what it does. For all 'round, though, the slightly smaller and lighter khuk is a better choice for my 5'9" 180 pound frame.

t
 
My collection isn't as diversified as many members here, but my 21" Ganga Ram Special is the hands-down winner. Trying to chop with 16" and under just doesn't work for me.

(I'm also about 6'4" which might have something to do with it.)
 
My 16.5" WWII at 24oz works great out in the woods. I've cleared trails with it, chopped and split wood... It will handle anything from Medium vegetation to hard wood. I've chopped down a few 7 to 9 inch Diameter Aspens with it before. When making shelters I've mainly used branches from twig sized to about wrist sized. The WWII handles all of that beautifully. For the covering of a shelter I typicly use Pine bowes and needles. When I have to use green brush stuff, I don't worry about it cause my WWII will cut that too. Of course sometimes you can just pull it up. ;)

All around use, WWII or 20" Sirupati, the Sirupati has been used to clear trails also up to and including 8 to 9 inch Diameter Aspens same as the WWII. I'm sure there are other blades that will work just as well, those are my Big two so they get used the most. If back packing though, I carry a 15" Sirupati, it seems to handle some stuff pretty well. I do miss my 16" Gelbu Special, might replace it with a 18" model. Thinking it would be a good backpacking blade.

Heber
 
16" WWII. Maybe a 16.5" Chiruwa AK, 18" AK or 18" Sirupati.

Mostly because if I'm FAR away from everywhere, I had to get there somehow, and most likely carried the khuk in. I wouldn't plan on bringing three pounds of steel unless I wanted to build a cabin. Those are also good general places to start. If I was walking in and didn't plan on much wood-cutting, I'd probably pack a Pen knife or BAS. Still plenty of blade for fire and shelter building, but the handles can be a bit small.
 
Fiddleback said:
All of the HI khuks are suited for this work. Its like asking what Hummer is suited for a gravel road.

If you have to hike in there, then weight/bulk is an issue, and I'd suggest the BAS.

Handle failures are very rare IMHO, and the hidden tang khuks are extremely strong.

You need to jump in. Most people start with a CAK. IMO its one of the toughest to maintain. Any time you get shrinkage or movement of the scales you have to file down the metal on the tang and repolish.

I'd start with a rat tailed tang BAS, WWII, Ganga Ram, Pen Knife, or Ang Khola.
Click to expand...

+1

great post
 
Most khukuris will chop well. I'd stay away from the ultra-thin ones like kobras and chainpuris. In my experience, anything else will chop from okay to great. Anything under 14 inches may be compromised as a chopper, but you can still get through wood if you're okay with taking an extra minute or two.

Sirupatis are among the slimmer blades that are not in the ultra-thin category, but I still find that they chop just fine. For them, I'd go 17 inches or up if I planned on chopping a lot of wood. I find that khukuris 18 inches or over tend to get kind of unwieldy--it's just a heck of a lot of knife and scabbard to be carrying around.

Gelbu specials are a great mix of chopping and "other" use. I also think you couldn't go wrong with a British Army Service (which is what I'd usually recommend as a first khukuri), an ang khola or chiruwa ang khola. I find that the BAS is the one I'm likeliest to pack on a trip--it'll chop just fine, slice okay, but isn't a monster to carry or hard on the hand to use for a long time.

I'm not as much of a WWII fan as some. Take a look at the tip/point shape, and you'll see that most WWII khukuris have a very blunt tip--the bottom edge just rises pretty abruptly toward the spine. I find that this makes it a bit harder to do anything else but chop with them. They're fine, but I think they're a little less versatile than other varieties.

A couple of other considerations. The angle at which the blade curves can impact functionality a lot. I end up liking the less-drastically-curved models better than the sharply-curved ones, just because they're easier to use for general-purpose cutting than the sharp-bend ones.

Blade thickness is also worth considering. I LOVE chiruwa ang kholas for hard outdoor wood-chopping. However, I have to admit that any knife with a half-inch-thick spine is a bit more unwieldy for non-log-chopping uses than one that's a third of an inch.

Finally, bear in mind that all H.I. khukuris come with at least somewhat-functional kardas. A karda is a little knife, with a blade about 2 inches, give or take, that goes into the khukuri scabbard and is used for smaller cutting tasks. So, you'll probably end up having and carrying a littler knife for the small stuff, as part of the bargain.

Good luck--and enjoy! I imagine you will!
 
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