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- Apr 14, 2024
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The comparison will be geared more towards limbing and brush clearing application for these two blades. This test was done in the Western US to help remove some branches in a shelter belt. In these belts are oak, pine, cedar, mulberry trees, elm, and whatever else grew in over the decades.
Blade Specs:
Sirupate: 14" blade, 554g, Performance Grind, Medium handle length
Mk1: 13" blade, 734g, Performance Grind, Medium handle length
I have done nothing to these blades aside from lightly sand the handles and oil them. I used many many thin coats of pure tung oil and they are quite grippy.
Results:
Without burying the conclusion, it is what you might expect: the Mk1 is better for heavier chopping and the Sirupate is better for lighter, more flexible limbs/brush. HOWEVER, the gap between them is not near as large as I had thought going into this. Both were able to handle thicker tree limbs and both were able to handle smaller things like 1" or less cedar branches, and stalky weeds like milkweed and thistle. I'll be honest and say that I have a hard time picking a winner here and I think I would need more time to work with them. If the work was only the 1" branches, I think I would give the win to the Sirupate not because the Mk1 didn't handle them just as well, but because the Mk1 is more tiring (it's heavier). However, the opposite is true on the thicker stuff where I can let the Mk1's weight do a lot of work for me. The shelter belts were a mix of thick and thin so each blade had to handle either end of the spectrum so things more or less balanced out.
Sirupate:
I wrestled with what length and edge grind to get on this blade and on the advice of Bigeard09, I did not go with the 16" and instead selected the 14" and I'm glad I did. The length gave the tip speed I needed (and som reach for higher limbs) but was not so long that it hindered my swings where there were too many branches around where it could get caught p. The length also helped keep my hand away from the less skin friendly branches/brush as I was working. The thin handle made it easy to keep a good grip and it never felt like it was in any danger of flying out of my hand. The flared end does rub on the heel of my palm but I think that's more due to my hands not having the proper khukuri callouses (or much of any to be honest).
This is the type of work being done. Branches overhanging and getting in the way of mowing the yard and ditch. Branches ranged from 1" to about 3" where they were being chopped. Most were taken down in one swift easy swing and the thicker branches took less that I would have thought. SAFETY NOTE: If you swing with your right hand, keep your right leg forward and your left leg back, especially for low targets. If it's in the mid 90's and you're getting fatigued, take a break. I have to get a new pair of boots now and thank God nothing anything worse than that.
As I said, heavy stuff was no issue and took very few swings to take care of. I can say though that it is far more tiring to swing overhead repeatedly than it is mid or low.
Mk1:
The Mk1 was everything I hoped it would be and is the perfect blend of looks great and works great. It's a heavy chopper that isn't too heavy, the edge profile bites good and deep just wanting to "thunk" into the wood. The distal taper makes it very controlable for it's size and the most surprising thing for me is how much I like the handle. I have average size hands if not longer fingers than average and despite the large diameter of this handle, it is surprisingly comfortable to grip and I never once felt out of control. The circular flare also does very well at not digging into the heel of my palm like the more common grip does. Ergonomically, I like it better than the Siru's thinner handle which I think gave more hand fatigue due to the more "cramped" hold on the smaller handle. But again, it's a give and take.
Chopping a thicker mulbery tree branch. The Mk1 does not need any shoulder work when chopping. Just your typical wrist flick and it will do the rest. Not to mention, you'll get better accuracy and chop far less than some of thie wild hacking in some review videos I've seen.
Mk1 biting into some cedar. Not many photos inside the shelter belt I'm afraid as it's been quite a year for mosquitos and I simply wasn't going in there.
Complaints:
I work as an Industrial Designer and a chief complaint I have now as I did back during critique in school was that too many people are too nice to give negative points to grow from. This is a "take it with a grain of salt" section. I do not know their process or limitations.
Everything about these blades has been phenomenal so, I have to get picky. There are some fit/finish issues. The Mk1 rings are rougher than what I typically see in photos which hurts from an aesthetics/collector standpoint. It still works, still feels good in the hand. The sirupate has deep texture marks that have already been brought up and Andrew said he would address it so, no more to get into there. It also has a void in the epoxy where the blade comes out of the bolster, likely as a result drying/curing process since the bolster opening looks biased to one side. Again, absurdly minor and I'm just going to fill it with some beeswax to keep it plugged and no one will ever know. Just a little trick learned in a flintlock build class from a professional builder. Honestly, I'm hesitant to call them complaints since these are handmade and that's part of why I buy them. If I wanted a mass produced machine made tool with no soul or character, I wouldn't be here.
Final Notes:
Each blade did quite a bit of work and both were still paper slicing sharp afterward. Just because it was there, I did a little chopping on some dry wood (cross grain chopping) but they did very little as one might expect. That's saw work, not khukuri work anyway but, the edges still held up. All in all I am very pleased with the work the Kailash team has done. The blades are excelent, the handles are excelent, the sheaths (which never get enough credit) are excelent and each blade fits like a glove. I already had a couple more blades on order before this review so we'll see where that goes in the future!
Blade Specs:
Sirupate: 14" blade, 554g, Performance Grind, Medium handle length
Mk1: 13" blade, 734g, Performance Grind, Medium handle length
I have done nothing to these blades aside from lightly sand the handles and oil them. I used many many thin coats of pure tung oil and they are quite grippy.
Results:
Without burying the conclusion, it is what you might expect: the Mk1 is better for heavier chopping and the Sirupate is better for lighter, more flexible limbs/brush. HOWEVER, the gap between them is not near as large as I had thought going into this. Both were able to handle thicker tree limbs and both were able to handle smaller things like 1" or less cedar branches, and stalky weeds like milkweed and thistle. I'll be honest and say that I have a hard time picking a winner here and I think I would need more time to work with them. If the work was only the 1" branches, I think I would give the win to the Sirupate not because the Mk1 didn't handle them just as well, but because the Mk1 is more tiring (it's heavier). However, the opposite is true on the thicker stuff where I can let the Mk1's weight do a lot of work for me. The shelter belts were a mix of thick and thin so each blade had to handle either end of the spectrum so things more or less balanced out.
Sirupate:
I wrestled with what length and edge grind to get on this blade and on the advice of Bigeard09, I did not go with the 16" and instead selected the 14" and I'm glad I did. The length gave the tip speed I needed (and som reach for higher limbs) but was not so long that it hindered my swings where there were too many branches around where it could get caught p. The length also helped keep my hand away from the less skin friendly branches/brush as I was working. The thin handle made it easy to keep a good grip and it never felt like it was in any danger of flying out of my hand. The flared end does rub on the heel of my palm but I think that's more due to my hands not having the proper khukuri callouses (or much of any to be honest).
This is the type of work being done. Branches overhanging and getting in the way of mowing the yard and ditch. Branches ranged from 1" to about 3" where they were being chopped. Most were taken down in one swift easy swing and the thicker branches took less that I would have thought. SAFETY NOTE: If you swing with your right hand, keep your right leg forward and your left leg back, especially for low targets. If it's in the mid 90's and you're getting fatigued, take a break. I have to get a new pair of boots now and thank God nothing anything worse than that.
As I said, heavy stuff was no issue and took very few swings to take care of. I can say though that it is far more tiring to swing overhead repeatedly than it is mid or low.
Mk1:
The Mk1 was everything I hoped it would be and is the perfect blend of looks great and works great. It's a heavy chopper that isn't too heavy, the edge profile bites good and deep just wanting to "thunk" into the wood. The distal taper makes it very controlable for it's size and the most surprising thing for me is how much I like the handle. I have average size hands if not longer fingers than average and despite the large diameter of this handle, it is surprisingly comfortable to grip and I never once felt out of control. The circular flare also does very well at not digging into the heel of my palm like the more common grip does. Ergonomically, I like it better than the Siru's thinner handle which I think gave more hand fatigue due to the more "cramped" hold on the smaller handle. But again, it's a give and take.
Chopping a thicker mulbery tree branch. The Mk1 does not need any shoulder work when chopping. Just your typical wrist flick and it will do the rest. Not to mention, you'll get better accuracy and chop far less than some of thie wild hacking in some review videos I've seen.
Mk1 biting into some cedar. Not many photos inside the shelter belt I'm afraid as it's been quite a year for mosquitos and I simply wasn't going in there.
Complaints:
I work as an Industrial Designer and a chief complaint I have now as I did back during critique in school was that too many people are too nice to give negative points to grow from. This is a "take it with a grain of salt" section. I do not know their process or limitations.
Everything about these blades has been phenomenal so, I have to get picky. There are some fit/finish issues. The Mk1 rings are rougher than what I typically see in photos which hurts from an aesthetics/collector standpoint. It still works, still feels good in the hand. The sirupate has deep texture marks that have already been brought up and Andrew said he would address it so, no more to get into there. It also has a void in the epoxy where the blade comes out of the bolster, likely as a result drying/curing process since the bolster opening looks biased to one side. Again, absurdly minor and I'm just going to fill it with some beeswax to keep it plugged and no one will ever know. Just a little trick learned in a flintlock build class from a professional builder. Honestly, I'm hesitant to call them complaints since these are handmade and that's part of why I buy them. If I wanted a mass produced machine made tool with no soul or character, I wouldn't be here.
Final Notes:
Each blade did quite a bit of work and both were still paper slicing sharp afterward. Just because it was there, I did a little chopping on some dry wood (cross grain chopping) but they did very little as one might expect. That's saw work, not khukuri work anyway but, the edges still held up. All in all I am very pleased with the work the Kailash team has done. The blades are excelent, the handles are excelent, the sheaths (which never get enough credit) are excelent and each blade fits like a glove. I already had a couple more blades on order before this review so we'll see where that goes in the future!
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