KZ2 back from the shop

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The new rear pommel allows for a dropped down grip with a wrist snap/full swing, where before you were limited on how far forward the blade could tilt before the pommel flare either hit your wrist or brought the handle along side it, potentially loosening your grip on the overall handle.

 

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In explanation of this mod:


http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8424579&postcount=32

I edited the original to include the rounding to get rid of the cut-in-half hole

and here is the no-lanyard-hole flat from the palm swell version
gotta say, it would pretty good like this. not as severe as the TT, but more than enough to remove the pommel swell issues. actually, it looks a whole lot like the ergo handles, but with less difference between the index and pinky positions.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8424878&postcount=36

No. There are two issues at play, the sharpness of the micarta, and the nature of having a pommel flare that curves upward toward the palm. The part peter was talking about causing blisters is mostly the sharpness of the micarta, which can be rounded by sanding.

However, the pommel swell will still come up and hit the wrist/palm on the downstroke. this is most noticeable when you grip downward. in order to avoid having the pommel swell come up and hit your wrist, you have to keep it slightly angled so it comes up past the wrist on the palm side.

When you grip it from the center the pommel swell isn't that big of a problem, but when you grip it farther down:

that pommel swell becomes much more noticeable. The only way around this is to lessen the upsweep by taking off metal like the picture in my previous post with the red line on it. my understanding of how pommel swells interact with the hand is based on past experience with khukuries rather than the kz2, it is inherent in the khukuri handle design. The kz2 is basically a traditional khukuri handle shape, and thus has some of the inherent flaws in that design. I think peters modification, where the palm swell is continued on it's downard slope so that the rear lanyard hole is removed is an ideal solution. It would make a handle shape that is very similar to the older ergo handles, but much improved. You would still get the long handle for multiple grip positions and the wide curve/berth for wrist snaps, but without the pommel flare in the wrist problem.

In a normal or choked up grip, you probably won't notice it. It's a traditional shape that is good as it is, it would just be more versatile with the pommel flare clipped off on the palm side.

Even with the modification, I can honestly say that I liked the TTkz's handle better because it felt more secure. This handle is much more versatile, allowing for a very choked up grip or a very dropped grip, where the TTkz had one grip, and one grip only. So far, the TTkz is the best handle busse has every produced in my eyes. I really like the taller handles that maintain their tallness from index to pinky. The ergo's suffered from having a small index finger position and a huge square pinky position, where the fusions had the opposite problem, where the index finger position was fine but the pinky position was very small. The TTkz had the same height at both positions, and it was awesome. This mod is a good compromise between versatility, security of grip, and comfort while chopping. Give and take to try to have all at once.

 

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If you flip between these two photo's, you'll see that the KZ2's handle gets less tall at the index finger, so that the pinky position is slightly larger, this is similar to the ergo's but no where near as big of a difference between the two. The TTKZ on the other hand gets just a big taller. That height at the index finger gives a huge amount of grip stability, and I wish it was a feature on all of the large chopper handles.


Both have their ups and downs, the TTKZ was so heavy, and had a really rounded pommel. If you are considering one or the other, I would highly recommend getting both or trading back and forth to figure it out. Even once you've handled both you'll probably go back and forth between which one you want to keep. Either way, beautiful work on the mod, thank you Garth/whomever in the custom shop worked on this.

 

[Jaxx]

Looks great! :thumbup::thumbup: Thanxx for the comparison and all the before & after shots too.

 

[d762nato]

Looks pretty good and less likely to dig into the palm. It also looks like she was sharpened up a bit. Nice mod and thanks for the pics.

 

[oge14]

that's a pretty nice mod.

 

[RussMo]

EXCELLENT idea Bro!!!, I never did understand the moving on the pommel hole to the top of the pommel to begin with.

 

[Bigfattyt]

Nice.

I, for one, like the pommel flare at the end. Much more like a traditional khukri handle.

One of the things it helps me with is the feeling that I don't have to have a death grip on the handle, and can be a bit more natural and loose with it, and the knife won't slip out of my grip as easily.

The one thing I still plan on modding on mine is the little rat tail of handle scale that is a bit of a pain in the hand after extended use. Right around the rear lanyard hole. I need to take that spot down a bit, or maybe even cut it off and round it.

I don't plan on taking the exposed tang down any though. At least not right now.

The first thing I did was to convex the edge, which I believe made a huge difference.

 

[Tyrkon Lawson]

Great mod. That's going to be a mean chopper.

 

[JParanee]

nice mod

 

[PeterPHWS]

Nice pic's LVC and a good explanation of both grips .... the shop have done a very smart job on the modification .... some nice little touches which just make for a proper professional job.

When comparing the two KZ's after doing my modification I found that the rearward grip on the KZII gave slightly more mechanical advantage ( as if the blade were longer because of the rear hold ) to make up for the extra weight in the TTKZ's blade .... and hence they were more or less performing the same in use .... despite feeling a fair bit different in hand because of weight differences.

I liked the lighter weight of the KZII but like you I much preferred the TTKZ's grip. I agree it is the best designed grip Busse have ever done for chopping. For this reason I am going to take my grips off the KZII and replace them with a custom set of grips to replicate the design of the TTKZ's .... or as near as I can get allowing for the TTKZ having a more downward curve at the rear of the blade.

The main thing I want to get right though is the forward swell in the TTKZ's grips which give a great "locked in" feel when chopping .... that is where the "magic" comes from when the TTKZ is in use .... :thumbup:

 

[Last Visible Canary]

Nice pic's LVC and a good explanation of both grips .... the shop have done a very smart job on the modification .... some nice little touches which just make for a proper professional job.

When comparing the two KZ's after doing my modification I found that the rearward grip on the KZII gave slightly more mechanical advantage ( as if the blade were longer because of the rear hold ) to make up for the extra weight in the TTKZ's blade .... and hence they were more or less performing the same in use .... despite feeling a fair bit different in hand because of weight differences.

I liked the lighter weight of the KZII but like you I much preferred the TTKZ's grip. I agree it is the best designed grip Busse have ever done for chopping. For this reason I am going to take my grips off the KZII and replace them with a custom set of grips to replicate the design of the TTKZ's .... or as near as I can get allowing for the TTKZ having a more downward curve at the rear of the blade.

The main thing I want to get right though is the forward swell in the TTKZ's grips which give a great "locked in" feel when chopping .... that is where the "magic" comes from when the TTKZ is in use .... :thumbup:

I've been going back and forth between if it would be worth it to try to get another TTKZ instead of this modified KZ2 and I've decided on keeping the KZ2. it's an awkward grip compared to the TTKZ for sure, but it has it's advantages. I've ben pickign it up and swinging it for a few minutes every night to get a good muscle memory of the handle - it has 2 pretty secure feeling grips, chocked up and chocked all the way back. Chocked all the way up it's a lot lighter than the TTKZ and chocked back it feels similar in weight, but with a little more turning in hand when swinging.

Ideally I'd like a TTKZ with a thinned out blade. But since money is an issue, this is the most versatile option of the two.