Kudu vs Okapi?

M

Mitch Taldison

Joined
Jan 26, 2019
Messages
87
Guys hello to you all again. :)

I was in the market for an authentic South African Okapi knife, the classical style with the ring locking mechanism. So I went on a hunt on the internet and these are hard to find it seems like! And so I found one company, called CAS Iberia whom I heard sold these ones, but of course they were out of stock. So I email them when they will have them back in stock? Two weeks later and no response guys! And they wanted like $15 plus shipping for that one.

So research leads me to the Cold Steel Kudu knife:

5186-B639-823-A-4-C87-AB3-E-9-A25577-C1927.jpg


Based on the Okapi knife, but Cold Steel says even tougher/better, and I bought one on Amazon for $9 with free shipping. I thought if Okapi wants to make it hard to find this knife in the USA, and the customer service people of one of their big (or only?) importers won’t even answer emails, then I’ll just get the Cold Steel reversed engineered and improved one for half the cost!

But guy is it true? Is the Cold Steel Kudu better than Okapi knife? Bought it as a curio but if you guys think it’s a solid and good knife, durable, etc. I may carry it at work for those awful jobs as I do construction and don’t want to mess up my others.

Thoughts?

Thanks guys!

-Mitch
 
I have heard good things about them, especially considering the price point, but have no first-hand experience. You may want to ask about real-world experiences in the Cold Steel sub-forum...probably get better response than here in GKD.
 
The Kudu is a great knife, I have one and I carry it more than knives costing much more.
I also have an original Okapi and while the CS version is inspired by it, they are different.

The big difference is the handle, the original is wood and the Kudu is a polymer. Also the Okapi's blade is carbon steel and the Kudu's is stainless. And if my memory is correct the Okapi is smaller.

But Okapi's are not known for a high level of fit and finish, they are rough but serviceable. The Kudu on the other hand is made very well for a $10 knife.

If you're like me you'll eventually buy the Okapi too, it's a classic with a lot of history.
 
Mitch Taldison said:
But guy is it true? Is the Cold Steel Kudu better than Okapi knife? Bought it as a curio but if you guys think it’s a solid and good knife, durable, etc. I may carry it at work for those awful jobs as I do construction and don’t want to mess up my others.

Thoughts?


-Mitch
Click to expand...
I havent handled the CS in question but in general SC makes solid durable knives. What in some cases might get lost, is the 'soul' or feel of the original.
Im no expert on Japanese blades but it seems to me, that some of their Japanese swords for example are way more overbuilt i.e. heavier than the originals.
There is a reason for that of course. Japanese samurai were hardly in the habit of wacking tree stumps, batoning or clearing brush and tree limbs with their swords.
Theres no doubt a hard use CS for work around a construction site. Im not sure, Id have chosen the Kudo for that (if it gets to be used hard, that is). Look up the SR1.
 
I had an Kudu, and it was a great user. Theyre durable, sharp and cheap. The lock was reliable. Lots of blade but still light and thin. The steel is ok, but I wanted carbon and I didnt like the plastic. Im a sucker for pretty things I guess, so I sold mine.
I think you could do a lot worse!
 
I have one of each. I use the Kudu a bit more but mainly for kitchen stuff or something to keep with a cuttingboard in the cooler. Really handy and can dismantle a mango pretty efficiently
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Get the Kudu. It will hold up to abuse and cut well. The lock is good. It's amenable to modification. It's as stainless as anything out there. However, the Krupp steel they use doesn't hold an edge very well. I have to touch it up on a ceramic stick or a diamond plate after a half day's use in the barn.

It's cheap, though, so you won't lose by trying.

Zieg
 
I can’t explain it, but I love the ringlock ratchet knife. I have several Okapis and even more specimens of the Cold Steel offering.

It does seem that the Okapi ratchet is nowhere to be found at this time (must have been a popular Christmas gift?) but this may be a blessing in disguise... The Cold Steel is the far better knife.

In my experience, the blade steels are comparable performers in that both sharpen nicely and neither holds much an edge for long. This doesn’t bother me because I enjoy putting an edge on a knife. I will say that the carbon steel of the Okapi will patina nicely after a year of cutting up bacon for sandwiches.

8cyWdM.jpg


The back spring and handle of the Kudu are just made of stronger materials. Every time you unlock your ratchet knife, the back spring steel is stressed ever so slightly. The lock on my first Okapi snapped after a year of pocket time and is now useless. The backspring on my Kudu is still going strong after two years.

This is my first Okapi after lock failure. I guess it could still open envelopes....

8Cir9i.jpg


My curiosity led me to the Okapi but it isn’t worth it. The market is rife with fakes and there is a good chance that the blade on a real one will be so off centered that you’ll need to widen the channel of the cherry wood handle just to close the knife. I have bought dozens of Kudus (thus my dumb forum name) as gifts and users. You can almost always find them for half of what an Okapi sells for. I can honestly say I have never received a lemon Kudu.
 
LPThe Cold Steel Kudu is a good beater knife, it laughs off any abuse I put it through with only a quick sharpening to bring back the edge after I destroy it. Or hosing it out after some dirty jobs.

I work in a rock yard the Kudu is my go to knife for cutting into a bag of 1ton or more of rocks to drop them I to a loader or truck. I do not baby it, I jam the blade into the bag and start cutting. This will destroy any edge with ease but I have never once chipped it and after a minute on the stone I'm back in business.

I've used it for scraping, cutting, extremely light prying, clearing out drain covers that get caked in mud/rocks/sand/etc and then hose it off after. Still locks up tight with zero blade play.

Big perk of this knife is it can be had for $5-10 and most people won't pay attention to how to close it when they borrow it so their bringing it back immediately. And it's so big and awkward most won't want to steal it. Though it is very lightweight, I've never had it slip in my hands, and it will fit good in a safety vest or any pocket you can keep it vertical.

It's a great knife, one of two that has laughed off the abuse I put it through and I never feel the urge to baby. The other being a Kabar Dozier. So my advice if your on the fence about this knife just get it, the knife can take a beating it's definitely made for that.

And from my experience the simpler low wear resistant steels like the 1.4116 Krupp steel in here are perfect for construction type of work. Reason being is even if you end up destroying your edge abusing it the ability to get back to sharpen very quickly makes it more versitile than more wear resistant steels

And just a heads up a Lansky Dog Bone sharpener fits perfectly inside the pen pocket in a safety vest, or at least mine results may vary.
 
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For the OP to buy a CS with a Tri-ad lock and a beefier blade for what he himself terms 'awful jobs' at a construction site is still a safer and more sturdy alternative.
 
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