Kailash Chitlange review

[Rowan McDirk]

Of my last Kailash order the Chitlange is my favourite.

It is the 14” Chitlange with buffalo horn handle (medium), brass hardware, a performance edge and a Salyani, rubbed leather sheath.

I’ll start with the conclusion. Everything about this is absolute perfection. Knife and sheath are both stunning. If you are in doubt, get one. It will not disappoint. It is the finest kukri in my collection.

The Salyani sheath has a fantastic fit and finish. The leather is of very good quality. It carries comfortably on the belt, the belt loop fits a regular belt well. One hardly feels the knife on the belt.

The Chitlange itself is not light, it has a certain heft to it, but it is a heft that wants to move, fast and nimble The spine is a sturdy 8 mm that tapers to the point.
It takes no effort to get it into motion and even less to keep it in motion. It moves fluently.
I’ll keep you informed on the cutting performance. It is more of a cutting than a chopping blade.
The fit and finish are outstanding, it is a thing of dangerous beauty.

The handle is very comfortable to hold. The carving on the bolster is very functional, it lets one feel when one holds close to the blade.

Ordering at Kailash has again been a pleasure. Customer service is perfect. The updates are messages one looks forward to.

 

[Kailash Blades]

Awesome stuff. I've sent this through to the team- Bikram will be stoked to hear his work is appreciated

I have a 14" chitlange also and I love it. Mine was an early blade of mahesh's and the handle dimensions were off spec for the customer and the ratios were a little different. Ended up being an eerily perfect fit for me though, so I took it home as handle reference and later came to really appreciate the blade as well. You pick it up and just immediately feel that it's ready to move and very solid.

The earliest chitlanges of this redesign didn't quite have this solidity- they had very, very lean tips and the whole knife was a bit thinner and lighter overall. After a few months we concluded that the narrowness and straightness made the blade naturally light and that material should be added along the spine and tip with a little removed from the bevel for a slightly deeper bite. The resultant blades had a more reassuring and solid feel in hand. Not at all flimsy and felt like they could really "commit" to a strike while still being very fast and agile.

I think the 14" is probably my favourite chitlange length. 12" is more handy around camp but it's not that great a camp knife vs other khukuris. In real CQB military situations perhaps the added speed and more manageable point makes this the goldilocks length but for swinging in the air and test cutting it doesn't feel as exciting in hand. The 16" has more power, more reach, more tip speed and rewards larger, flowing motions that conserve angular momentum where the 14" feels like it can dart around and jab a lot more. I think the 16" feels more like a sword and while it can definitely make good use of the tip in that style of use it can't be positioned as rapidly, intuitively or deftly.

In terms of cutting performance this is probably the weak spot of our chitlange. It's a narrow blade with pretty steep bevels which gives great rigidity and speed but is more of a slasher than a chopper as a result. Good for brush clearing and chops well compared to a knife but by khukuri standards it doesn't hit the mark. I think this is okay though- it's a martial blade first and foremost with acceptable outdoors/survival capability. Sort of like the kabar in that sense but far larger and far more capable. I feel that if ever an mk6 comes around it would be a good blade to start with.

Would be very interested to hear your experiences with cutting

Take care,
Andrew and the team at Kailash

 

[Rowan McDirk]

My friend ordered the 12" Chitlange with a steel guard. It is a very fast blade.
We'll see how it compares in bottle cutting.
I have high expectations for both Chitlanges in bottle cutting, the speed of the blades will be very high. Let's hope my theory gets confirmed.