M43 is here!

B

Brogan

Joined
Apr 4, 2014
Messages
32
So after four months of waiting my M43 is finally here :eek::D:cool:. She is a beauty and a beast:o! The craftsmanship is superb, I was almost drooling when i opened it in my car minutes after i picked it up from the post office. No i couldn't wait until I got home. She measures 18.5" long, starts at 5/8" at the handle and tapers down to 1/4" in width. Now the beast part, she weighs in at a whopping 35.2 oz. :eek: I was a little surprised it was that heavy and was a little apprehensive. The circumference handle at its widest in the middle is 4.5" which is substantial but not unmanageable dispute having small-ish hands. I spent the first night with it cleaning off the packing oil and fondling it. The scabbard is also superb. When on my belt it has a tenancy to cant very far forward and i am totally confidant it will not slide out unless i want it to. I wouldn't call it the sharpest knife i've ever seen but its well suited for its intended task. The Karda is exceptionally sharp, very nearing shaving sharp and i am most please with it. (Side note: mine came with a full tang, is this common for this blade? I am not complaining i like full tang blades after having a partial break on me once.)

Next day my mother needed an old crab apple tree trunk removed from her back yard. It took only the slightest of arm twisting to oblige her and I headed over with my new M43 in tow. This being my first experience with a proper Khuk there was definitely a learning curve that i payed dearly for but I'll get to that part. I started by seeing if i could get it to bit into a 3 foot maple trunk they have sitting in there back yard. After a few unsuccessful swings and getting used to the forward balance on of the blade it stuck with a satisfying "thunk." I did this a few more times and then a spark flew out. "$&!*" i thought to myself did i hit a nail that was buried in the tree? I examined the blade and it seamed fine so either i was seeing things or i got off easy. After feeling more comfortable with her i made my way to the crab apple. Now most of the tree was already gone just leaving the 4-5" trunk and one limb. I practiced proper safety as stated in the "mandatory reading" sticky and after making my way through the learning curve i made quick work of the limb. I then decided to make my way through the trunk. Good golly it took huge chunks out, i felt like was using an axe 2 to 3 times its size. By this point i didn't even notice the 35.2 oz, in fact, despite my chronically protesting sprained pinky, I was grateful for the extra weight. if i felt the need to speed it up some i just choked up on the handle, but well thought out precise strong blows worked much better. This fact was reinforced to me when I got cocky and tried chopping a bit faster. My blow was not properly placed and deflected the blade straight into a good sized stone sitting on top of a mulch bag not 2 feet from the base of the tree. I then heard the sicking sound we've all heard when steel hits stone or concrete. My two year old daughter being within ear shot and my pried kept the string of expletives in my head. About 1/2" from the tip was an 1/8' gouge/bite. Not terrible but I felt and still feel pretty stupid. On top of that when i examined my new precious at great length i then notice that at 2" from the tip just before the hardened area of the belly is a minute 1/4" fold, just enough so my nail catches it but nothing a file couldn't fix. So you could say my learning curve was steep, but I now i can say its truly broken in, the crab apple never stood a chance.

Its not exactly what i was expecting, however, I LOVE IT:thumbup:. My wife said, "Its not just shinny, its BEAUTIFUL." That's high praise coming from her. I feel that I may look into a Chainpuri, a Sirupati or Kobra as my next acquisition, however, I'll need to either out shark the sharks and/or sell a kidney :p

Yangdu please thank the Kami's for the exceptional work, and thank you so much for your outstanding customer service and communication. You are the BEST! The wait was well worth it!

Thank you suffering through this long winded post this far and good night all.

PS: I will be posting photos as soon as I can figure out how, the attachment manager keep saying that they fail to attach :confused:
 
Thanks for the review. Glad you enjoy your new acquisition.

Isn't Auntie and HI the best you've ever encountered?

Love to see some photos of the beauty. PS, most here us photobucket.
 
Glad you finally got it Brogan, And being able to put it to work already is great. Now not seeing pictures I don't know for sure, but might the fold be worked out with the chak perhaps instead of a file? Hopefully all you need to do is use the steel to straighten the edge instead of removing steel. I use the chakmak to steel the blade fairly regularly, it helps keep everything nice and straight and cutting optimally.
 
remember those tools that came with the knife brogan, when you have the steel roll sometimes your chakma can put it back in place, and I would sharpen through any small chips-- and like you said worse comes to worse you can file it out-- but I say preserve steel where you can.

bummer you ran into the banes of blades, but the fact is that stuff is out there and you did not buy your item to sit on a wall, dont be shy about putting her to work, eventually the patina will be just as attractive as the mirror polish or more so.-- what shav said already :D
 
Brogan, did the same thing with my first CAK on a field testing trip. I was chopping up some firewood and one of my last strokes went right through the wood and into the ground chipping a rock. I had a slight roll, maybe 1/8", finger would definitely catch it but like Gehazi had mentioned I used my chakma to put it straight and then resharpened with rough and fine sharpening stones,, worked like a charm and my CAK was actually sharper then when originally received. Once you use it more on the regular the blade will set better and resist some of the wear. Although watch out for those rocks man! cheers!
 
I put a couple of huge rolls in my 16" WWII. I tapped them out straight with a ball peen hammer on the anvil portion of my vise then used my worksharp to bring it back to like new. I've had no issues since.
 
Like many here I also had an experience. Involving edge rolls and chips.

The first time I tried out my sirupati(19",26oz, chiruwa handle - Tirtha) I took a swing at a long piece of arbutus(read madrone wood) that my neighbor had gotten permission to cut down.

The blade cut into it, but I hadn't the skill yet to control any deflections that occur when using a khukuri. So it took a chunk out of the wood, and skated down to the rock wall atop which I placed the wood.
Saw a spark fly. It was a strong blow(Read blacksmith hammer arm) - and to Tirtha's credit and extraordinary heat treat. There were only two chips in the blade.
1 was 2mm deep x1.5 wide, the other 1.5mmx1 wide.

The edge roll was easily turned back with five minutes of mindful work with the chakmak. The chips will come out over time with gradual sharpenings. I didn't want to remove them out of hand as they are in the sweet spot and this beauty is a user and she will be going with me on my major excursions.

As has been inferred so far, there are many ways to restore edges. If you can, realign the steel and see if you can live with it. If not, shoot us all some questions about the best ways to tune it up.

Looking forward to the photos.
 
154587d1394936412-tended-beds-spring-thread-useless-pics-jpg


TEST:
M43new_zpsfd6da44c.jpg
 
Last edited:
Brogan said:
Your totally right snowwolf thanks for up loading for me, greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Actually I didn't upload it - I just pasted the link from your picture sharing site using the picture icon. :p

Very nice M43 BTW!
 
Gehazi said:
remember those tools that came with the knife brogan, when you have the steel roll sometimes your chakma can put it back in place, and I would sharpen through any small chips-- and like you said worse comes to worse you can file it out-- but I say preserve steel where you can.

bummer you ran into the banes of blades, but the fact is that stuff is out there and you did not buy your item to sit on a wall, dont be shy about putting her to work, eventually the patina will be just as attractive as the mirror polish or more so.-- what shav said already :D
Click to expand...

Shavru and Gehazi: I used the chakma and was able to work the fold out to about 95% or so from shipment. The gouge not so much but i flattened it back out substantially and ended up giving the whole blade a little more love in the process and she's sharper than she was when she came to me. Thanks for reminding me to keep as much steel as possible and I'll definitely be using the chakma a lot more often. Again, god I love this Khuk!

Thanks again every one.
 
Thank you for being a happy customer and friend for HI and Kamis, Brogan
 
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