Khuk cutting tests -- metals

Ferrous Wheel

Ferrous Wheel

Joined
May 16, 2002
Messages
4,437
Hi all:

I was reading some post a ways back re: severe cutting tests on khuks. I think Uncle Bill actually cuts iron nails with khuks, or something, and a post mentioned some story (fiction or fact?) about the cutting test for a khuk on a soft iron bar.

Well, in the spirit if putting my khuks into test mode, I decided to do some cutting tests with my 18" AK by Sher. I cut coins, so we're taking copper, zinc, and nickel. I laid the coins flat on a big stump, and swung away...Here are the results:

New penny - Copper jacketed zinc - Cut right through it, flat-wise and edge on. Actually polished the zinc interior smooth, suggesting a very smooth edge on the AK.

Old penny - Solid copper - Cut right through it, flat-wise and edge on. The cut area was smooth, shiny.

Quarter - Copper center and nickel outer faces - The coin folded into the stump around the blade when cutting on the flat. The nickel layer was barely cut through, and the copper layer compressed. Obviously the nickel is much harder than the copper. Cut right thru it when striking edge on.

Nickel - Knowing that nickel was harder than the copper, I decided that the edge-on swipe at the coin would be the more drastic test. It was. The coin got embedded in the stump, and suffered only a little slice out of the edge. The khuk made contact more towards the point, away from the really hard zone of the blade. Edge suffered minor folding (.25mm-.5mm), a couple of runs on the chakma, and it was back to new.

My next test I think will be a more dramatic one, inspired by our first Afghani Khuk story in which the hero cuts the perp's cheap stainless blade in twain. I will cut a stainless steel knife, edge-on (which is normally a no-no!) and see what happens.

Anybody else cut some really hard materials with their Khuk? something besides wood? Post away, I wanna know!

Keith
 
It is your decision to do this...but please wear some sort of protection while you have your fun.

Wait....er...you know what I mean...glasses or goggels.:p
 
uh...yikes. Ferrous, you are going to damage your Khukuri...a hard steel blade is not a nail, and the Khuk will get damaged.

In a way I'm glad you are doing it...but I couldn't do that to one of mine. Wood yes. But another knife?

I know the AK is the 'unbreakable knife' but that doesn't mean put it on a train track.

Well, if you're going to screw it up here's a test for you: test it slamming into one of those 'other khuks' currently on the market...

(There are always dead animals around here....cows, deer, elk, anyone up for a corspe penetration test?)

Alert the media, call Cliff Stamp...

munk
 
That test cost 32 cents. :)

That was some testin'. How hard does one have to swing to cut through the penny?

What I'd like to see is someone cut a ham or something hanging on a string. Maybe I'll send munk a leg of lamb.
 
I know, I know, Munk. I was once like you, but the Cliff Stamp tests made me think, and I trust in Sher's smithing skills (especially since I got to confirm them). There is indeed something satisfying about knowing what your own khuk can do, and as a Shakespeare professor of mine once said "Sometimes you've gotta go too far to know you've gone too far."

"hard steel blade..." I dunno if I'd call the target blade hard steel. It is stainless steel, soft like a butter knife, but thicker. I actually tested it by taking the karda and shaving off a bit of stainless steel from the spine of the target knife. I think the AK will bast right thru that puppy.

"put it on a train track..."-I'll consider this one, munk! That'd rank right up there with Yvsa's Sherman Tank test!

"How hard to swing..." About the normal pressure you'd use to cut wood or any other target. I always aim for (and visualize) a point inside the target, not on the surface of the target. So, I was swinging full on, trying to embed the blade into the stump a few inches.

Keith
En Ferro Veritas
 
Munk,just have to tell you that I had the thought this morning of a Road Kill test, that's why I jumped when when you posted " corpse test":eek:
 
You've inspired me Ferrous. Next time I see something laying in a meadow I'm conducting a few tests. Reminds me of the time I saw a bloated cow in Idaho. I wanted to test my .41 for penetration, but didn't think the farmer would appreciate a city boy from Idaho Falls blasting any of his animals; dead or alive.

I usually carry a khukuri with me wherever I go. I will now be on the lookout for tissue and bone. I'll ask my friend the local sheriff if any of his cows have taken ill lately....

Yes, I will do this. I have found a something I can offer all you knife experts here. Should have some results in next few months. Hunting season always brings in some of those: "I must have missed him. Let's go back to the truck and leave."

munk
 
Alright Keith. You stick to metals and I'll try meat and bone. Hey, wonder what a khuk would do to the miracle plastics..like the stock to an AR? Seems like there is always discount Vietnam era forends around..

Here is test I thought of but do not propose. I mean it, don't do this. You know what, I won't say it. Too horrible. If anyone wants to know email me. I disavow all knowledge.

Anyway, I'm hanging up and calling ranchers right now.

munk
 
I don't think I'd swipe at a road kill, cause they can get pretty gamey. Think of all of those trapped gases, just waiting to escape! Please, wear a chem suit or some trash bags (gas mask optional).

If you cut a fresh killed animal or a hunk of beef from the grocery, please exercise caution when you later eat it (if you plan to, and I hope you won't waste it). Cutting bone can cause slpintering or fragmeting, which may embed in the meat.
I worked at a meat packing plant and they had huge carcass cutting saws. If a saw lost a tooth, or the saw misaligned along the carcass spine, then the bone would sometimes splinter, sending the bone splinters thru various parts of the meat. Not fun to eat!

Keith
 
I remember Will Kwan posting a thread on chopping a deer leg or something like that.

Maybe the guy who works at the local rendering plant would like this thread. He told me he got his CCW so he could shoot dead bulls with a .454.
 
Maybe the guy who works at the local rendering plant would like this thread. He told me he got his CCW so he could shoot dead bulls with a .454.
Click to expand...

That is not quite as sporting as shooting live bulls. :)

Keith,

Edge to edge knife test are very distructive, and not all that informative. You may want to leave that one for last.

n2s
 
You are correct, N2S. I apppreciate the concern. I know that they can be detrimental, and it is normally a thing to aviod...

And that's what will make it such a dramatic test! Youse guys are already (and rightfully) cringing! Oh, the joy of HIKV madness!

P.S. I will not try such experiments with my GS or YCS. they are thinly profiled slicers, not the brutish chopper my AK is. Take heart, I've not totally lost it.

Anybody got an old car to which they wouldn't mind a few new 'air intakes' added?

Keith
 
I have been lucky up to this moment in having a couple of mature cadagi trees in my yard that I could use for test cutting. That all stopped on the weekend. I was cutting through a 5 inch branch with my M43 when I noticed something wrong with my khukuri blade. I had one small piece of the blade missing about two inches from the tip (about 1/8 inch by 1/16 inch) and another more noticeable part about 3 inches from the tip where there was a gap in the blade where the metal had rolled back to the left side of the blade(about 3/8 inch by 1/8 inch). I couldn't figure out what had happened. My first thought was that the blade had failed. But then I noticed something in the branch that I was half way through cutting. It was what was left of a very large nail. The nail had obviously been cut by the khukuri, possibly a couple of times while I had been cutting. It was not obvious when I started cutting. The branch was a horizontal one and I can only assume that a previous owner of our house had at one time had a swing from this branch. I think as the branch had matured, it had grown over the nail and embedded it within. It looks like a nail that is reinforced in its position by wood is a very tough proposition to cut. As bad luck would have it, I was cutting the branch in a V shape and the nail was perfectly positioned in the middle of the V. The angle of the cut probably was the cause of the roll back of the metal on the blade 3 inches from the tip. The metal is rolled to one side. The moral to this story - I ain't going anywhere near those cadagi trees again, I've heard of hard wood but these cadagi trees are ridiculous.
 
Ferrous, I won't be testing my khuks on that night's steak. We purchased a beef to slaughter a year ago..I'm wondering about doing the honors myself. There are many animals killed in the course of their lives without auto's and I will be looking for these.

munk
 
I call tests like this severe testing and I think Cliff may use that same nomenclature. We realize that damage is probably going to be done but the extent of the damage tells us a great deal about what we can generally expect the knife to do when put to very rigorous use. I say "generally" because the khukuris are hand made by different kamis at different times under different circumstances. The kamis at BirGorkha were not doing their best work when the Maoists were on the rampage and we had some failures. Normally, failure rate runs something like 1 in three or four hundred. During Maoist pressure we were running 1 in 100 -- 3 or 4 times the normal rate.

I strongly suggest and would insist if I could that anybody taking a khukuri to Afghanistan test it severely before testing in a combat situation. Same for guys who might have to depend on the knife to keep alive. Actually, it's not a bad idea for everybody. If I could subtract 40 years off my age and add about 20 hours to the day I'd test every knife myself -- severely -- before I shipped it to anybody.
 
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