Limping Sirupati...

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Alright, I know that a 20" Sirupati is for light to medium-duty chopping and the like. BUT... Tonight I was out getting wood for the fire. I got a bunch of firewood for free, however some of it is too long to fit in my stove. Chainsaw is on the blink, plus the neighbors wouldn't appreciate it if I fired it up at 1:00 AM! Sooo, I took out the Khuks to see how they would do. I have done this several other times with my 20" General Utility Villager (GUV) with very good results. Tonight, I took both the GU and the Sirupati Villager (SV). The difference in the feel of these two blades is astounding. I had never used them back to back before. The GUV at about 2 1/2 lbs. takes fairly large chunks with each swing. My arms, however do feel the extra weight. The SV, on the other hand, gets better penetration due to its thinner blade. It gets stuck a little more, but if you adjust your chop to add 'a little english', just as you strike the wood, this is minimal. The GUV is great, but my arm strength isn't, yet. So I used the SV extensively. I was alternating arms and Khuks, and averaging about 5 minutes per log (VERY HARD OAK about 5-6" in diameter). When I was done, I brought the wood and the Khuks inside. When I went to clean and oil the knives, I was shocked. The SV is torqued! It has what appears to be a 1/2 to 1" bend starting at about the curve and continuing to the tip. It also has a few deep indentions in the blade. There don't appear to be any chips, but MAN it looks REAL bad. The GUV, on the other hand, has no indentions, and can almost still shave. I also noticed another couple of cracks in the horn handle of the SV.
I really like the feel of the SV, but obviously it wasn't up to the task at hand. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what might be the correct Khuk for this type of stuff? The 15" AK is one that pops into my mind, but I don't know. I REALLY like the SV for lighter and medium machete-like work. It works great, and again FEELS SOOOOO GOOD to use. I rather bummed out! Please help me make a good decision what to do next. BTW, funds are an issue (5 kids and all...). Still hooked, still infected, a little deflated right now,

Rob

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'He's losin' it... (Words spoken about me by a visitor seeing me with my Khuk!)
Lucky for them I'm not...
 
Rob, how soft is the Village Sirupati, can you file the edge easily? How thick is it and is the edge profile significantly more acute than on the utility villager?

As for heavy chopping on hard woods an AK would quite likely be best.

-Cliff
 
Cliff,
The edge profile is significantly thinner on the Sirupati than on the General Utility. As for the softness, I'm not sure, I haven't had to do any work on it yet. I've done a lot of chopping with it, but it was all green/living stuff, and consequently not very hard. I like the feel of the Sirupati, and the light weight makes it MUCH less tiring than the GUV. How much does a 15" or 18" AK weigh? Bill can be the judge of the hardness of the edge, it's on its way to him as we speak. Thanks for the input. Rob

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'He's losin' it... (Words spoken about me by a visitor seeing me with my Khuk!)
Lucky for them I'm not...
 
Cliff is definitely right about the choice of khukuris for chopping hard wood. However, every knife I ship carries the full HI guarantee so I'll be happy to replace the knife.

We expect to lose about one out of fifty village models to failure, and do. We can live with this failure rate but we would rather see no failures, of course. The problem with the village models is we don't know for sure what type steel they were made from. We check the edge to see if it is hard enough and check for obvious flaws. We do not expect a village model to be up to HI standards but we expect it to be good enough to do work for a lifetime. This one didn't so we'll send another and hope for better steel this time.

This is why village models are sold at a lesser price. They are not as good as HI models. One out of fifty will bend or break.

Remember, if you want a knife that will NEVER fail get an HI Ang Khola or Chirwa. You can do anything with them and to them and they will keep on going.

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Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ

 
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