Khukri abuse by the masked fellow

[C.S. Graves]

Be interesting to see the ratings for each blade divided by weight and price. Then you might have a better idea what you're getting for the material and your money.

 

[Cpl Punishment]

Let me first say,"I don't let these tests influence my buying at all",However the test did bring up questions/suggestions as to what I would want in a khukri.

1.Full tang
2.A guard(even a small one)
3.Micarta or G10(grippier handles)

1.) All HI Kukris are full tang. The tang goes all the way through the handle, peined over at the pommel. If you want an exposed full-width tang, the aforementioned Chiruwa-style handles are your ticket.
2.) Not necessary. See the rib at the center of the handle? That goes between your middle and ring finger, or your ring finger and little finger (my favorite way). It keeps your hand from sliding forward, IF you chose to stab with it (outside of a fight, there's no reason to do such, and a kukri will part flesh easy enough to not need a guard). The flared pommel keeps it from flying out of your hand.
3.) I have both horn and wood handled kukris. The wood ones are plenty grippy. My horn handled ones I bought for their beauty and are wall hangers. My wood handled ones are my users (I like the satisal wood the best).

 

[Phil Brown]

I think the test would've been a little better if the guy had done enough research to learn what the "unsharpened little knife" was for and what part of the blade to cut with [oh well].

Yeah, he seemed to approach the khuk as if it were some kind of alien artifact. Perhaps they should come with instruction manuals.

I'd suggest somebody sending him a CAK and some tips on proper use, but I don't think I could stand to see him destroy another HI.

 

[JTR357]

Couldn't view the vids, but the pics were interesting.
Note sure quite how useful such tests are, but I guess there's a school of thought out there that enjoys this sort of thing.



1. Full tang khuks are also available, they're known as chiruwa khukuri. When folk here refer to the "CAK" for example, it's an abbreviation for the Chiruwa Ang Khola.
2. Hmm, the odd "True Villager" khuks that have been turning up now and then are about all there is in the line of khuks with guards right now.
Given that the khuk is predominantly used in a swinging motion, though, a guard probably wasn't considered necessary over the years, as it's unlikely the hand would slip onto the blade unless you're thrusting with it. They're kind of like the Filippino barong in that sense.
3. These synthetics would certainly be tougher than the traditional wood and horn. Mind you, the latter are had to come by in Nepal, where the steel for the blades themselves comes from junked Mercedes Benz truck leaf springs. But that's okay by me, since I prefer natural materials in my blades anyway. As a note, horn could be made grippier with a coarse grit of sandpaper, as many here have noted in a myriad of other threads.

Thanks for letting me know about the chiruwa:thumbup:

1.) All HI Kukris are full tang. The tang goes all the way through the handle, peined over at the pommel. If you want an exposed full-width tang, the aforementioned Chiruwa-style handles are your ticket.
2.) Not necessary. See the rib at the center of the handle? That goes between your middle and ring finger, or your ring finger and little finger (my favorite way). It keeps your hand from sliding forward, IF you chose to stab with it (outside of a fight, there's no reason to do such, and a kukri will part flesh easy enough to not need a guard). The flared pommel keeps it from flying out of your hand.
3.) I have both horn and wood handled kukris. The wood ones are plenty grippy. My horn handled ones I bought for their beauty and are wall hangers. My wood handled ones are my users (I like the satisal wood the best).

Bet that satisal wood looks good.Like I said earlier, I don't know anything about khurkris except for their shape.

 

[shecky]

I think the test would've been a little better if the guy had done enough research to learn what the "unsharpened little knife" was for and what part of the blade to cut with [oh well].

This brings up a good point. Nobody is born with the inherent ability to utilize a kukri to the maximum ability. Some tools are not intuitively designed, which may be a drawback in the real world. Noss shows that kukri nuts are a relatively small subset of knifenuts. It's not clear why there should be some advantage for a tester to have extended knowledge of the tool he's testing. In fact, I think there's a great advantage to testing being done by someone who isn't so invested in the tool. Like most of us here.

 

[Cpl Punishment]

It's not clear why there should be some advantage for a tester to have extended knowledge of the tool he's testing.

Because if you saw how a kukri works for someone who knows how to use one (all it takes is reading the FAQs on the HI website, or hang here for a while), you'd see just how horrible he was doing at chopping. It'd be like me trying to test the ability to slice tomatoes by slicing them with the spine of a battle mistress and then saying it's not so good a slicer.

Maybe I'm strange, or it's my background, but it was rather easy to discern that the kukri would have a sweet spot, and where it would be. What was NOT intuitive was the wrist-snap, and the fact that you want to keep the kukri moving in an arc. If one is used to working with hatchets, both of those things will reduce the effectiveness of a hatchet strike.

However, if one is used to using large knives, they SHOULD know about both, because they are how you chop with a large knife.

Finally, if you use a kukri like any old large knife, then you'll get no more performance than you would from another large knife, possibly less. Which I think is the case for those who "don't get why those guys like kukris so much."

 

[Fiddleback]

These guys at that forum seem completely unaware of the fact that ductile spine and hard edge are what makes these knives. If a blade will take a set, you canlikely unbend it and remove the set too. Additionally, bending a knife is part of the ABS test for Journeyman and Mastersmith.

Lalalala. I thoguht she did really well!

 

[Big Bob]

Yeah, he seemed to approach the khuk as if it were some kind of alien artifact. Perhaps they should come with instruction manuals.

I'd suggest somebody sending him a CAK and some tips on proper use, but I don't think I could stand to see him destroy another HI.

He did buy a CAK (wood handle) recently and posted a pic or two of it. It would be nice if he does a field report with it.

Bob

 

[wildmanh]

These guys at that forum seem completely unaware of the fact that ductile spine and hard edge are what makes these knives. If a blade will take a set, you canlikely unbend it and remove the set too. Additionally, bending a knife is part of the ABS test for Journeyman and Mastersmith.

Lalalala. I thoguht she did really well!

I totally agree! Uncle Bill talked a lot about how a khukuri should bend instead of break and that a ball peen hammer and some time was all thats needed to fix the bend. My first khukuri I bought was used with a nasty bend in the tip, you wouldn't know it today. A knife that snaps is a broken knife, but one that bends that can be bent back is still a good knife. My 15" AK is proof of that.

He did buy a CAK (wood handle) recently and posted a pic or two of it. It would be nice if he does a field report with it.

Bob

Last I heared he is planning a field test of his Chiruwa AK. I'm looking forward to it. Hope he learns how to swing it properly cause they are awesome choppers.

Heber

 

[C.S. Graves]

Thanks for letting me know about the chiruwa:thumbup:

No problem, ol' chap! I'm surprised no one beat me to it.

Hope he learns how to swing it properly cause they are awesome choppers.

I hate to say this... but I pretty much use a smilar chopping motion for all my big blades... kind of a whipping motion with the wrist, elbow, and shoulder. If anything, chopping with a khuk seems MORE intuitive to me, because of their weight-forward design. Maybe my technique isn't perfect, but I'm not underwhelmed by the results.

On the subject of familiarity though, there's folk out there that really have a hard time with chopping of any kind. Straight blade, bent blade, knife, hatchet, doesn't matter to some newbies. Reminds me of a time I loaned a buddy my Special Forces Shovel... I was a little worried!

 

[Cpl Punishment]

I hate to say this... but I pretty much use a smilar chopping motion for all my big blades... kind of a whipping motion with the wrist, elbow, and shoulder.

For a large knife, machete, kukri, that's the proper way. For an axe/hatchet, it's the opposite, you want to swing, but when you make contact, you want it to be a straight in motion to maximize cutting. I thinkt hat's why hatchet people have trouble with kukris in the beginning.

 

[kronckew]

i was surprised he spent the whole 8 videos complaining about the grip and never did anything about it. those big clumsy gloves need changing to something a bit more useable, you can get a nice pair of kevlar cut & penetration resistant gloves fairly cheaply & can even get them with a grippy palm coating. as mentioned, if he'd read up on hi's forum and/or here and asked a few questions he'd have known about differential tempering and how the sweet spot area is the only hardened area. thrusts and stabbing tests make about as much sense with a kuk as with my round nosed dha - yup, they're pointless tho i'd not want to be stabbed with either. after all that, the hi did a lot better than most of the production line cookie cutter knives made of super steel and much more expensive ones i've seen in his other tests.

 

[demon tessu]

"Maybe my technique isn't perfect, but I'm not underwhelmed by the results."


this is why HI kuks have the rabid following they seem to evoke

give the masked guy a mans knife next time
a 12" really my 10 year old uses better than that

 

[Cpl Punishment]

And really a 12" kukri is just a medium sized knife. What? 8 inches of blade or so?

 

[C.S. Graves]

For a large knife, machete, kukri, that's the proper way. For an axe/hatchet, it's the opposite, you want to swing, but when you make contact, you want it to be a straight in motion to maximize cutting. I thinkt hat's why hatchet people have trouble with kukris in the beginning.

Been a long time since I've used the latter for anything other than splitting... so you basically keep the wrists fairly rigid for axes/hatchets for chopping?

i was surprised he spent the whole 8 videos complaining about the grip and never did anything about it.

While we HI forumites are quite accustomed to modifying and tweaking our blades, many in other knife circles will want to see the "out of the box" performance.

 

[37up]

i thought the test went well for what it is.

the sweet spot clearly held its own.
the differential temper did what it was supposed to do, bend rather than break.

i think that it is important to understand that H.I is purposely and specifically engineered to behave in a certain fashion. i don't know if that is completely acceptable to all communities of knife owners.

i was surprised though that the tip held up as it did. a khuk's design is to facilitate chopping primarily and the tip is typically untempered so wow, i thought that the tip would have bent almost immediately.

i was not surprised that he didn't like the handle size. considering he used a 12" model (where i consider 16.5" to be a great size).

i can't speak for others in the cantina, but i have personally found out that through actual usage, i have become a huge fan of the khukuri design and how amazingly tough HI makes them. they are, and will always be, my all around, go to knife.

 

[Cpl Punishment]

Been a long time since I've used the latter for anything other than splitting... so you basically keep the wrists fairly rigid for axes/hatchets for chopping?

Pretty much, same for splitting. If you ever watch someone good with an axe, you'll note they swing, and just before they make contact, they'll bend their knees. This is so the path of the axehead is no longer an arc, but a straight line to contact. That's kind of the "trick" to axes, like the wrist snap is the trick to kukris.

 

[Mike L.]

It's a terrible shame and a waste to deliberately abuse and break a handmade khukuri. The blade represents a humble man's way to make his living doing what his forefathers did. It's not some mass-produced "thing" spit out by some machinery. Hurts me to see a real khuk treated like that. I won't take space here to comment on the intelligence of the "tester." That has been done already elsewhere on this forum.


--Mike L.

 

[SkagSig40]

It's a terrible shame and a waste to deliberately abuse and break a handmade khukuri. The blade represents a humble man's way to make his living doing what his forefathers did. It's not some mass-produced "thing" spit out by some machinery. Hurts me to see a real khuk treated like that. I won't take space here to comment on the intelligence of the "tester." That has been done already elsewhere on this forum.


--Mike L.

I have bought well over 100 HI khuks and I have tested them to destruction myself a couple times. This test Knife Tests did for us and all destruction test are a good thing to do. You need to test any and all products to their limits...even khukuri knives that are nothing but 100% steel and nothing more. You may feel your khukuri has a soul(I felt that same way about some of mine) but if you don't test it and test it HARD that khukuri you feel has a "soul" could very well fail you when you need it most and that failure may cost you your life.

 

[JTR357]

This brings up a good point. Nobody is born with the inherent ability to utilize a kukri to the maximum ability. Some tools are not intuitively designed, which may be a drawback in the real world. Noss shows that kukri nuts are a relatively small subset of knifenuts. It's not clear why there should be some advantage for a tester to have extended knowledge of the tool he's testing. In fact, I think there's a great advantage to testing being done by someone who isn't so invested in the tool. Like most of us here.

+1:thumbup:...an inexperienced hand is an unbiased hand