My first HI khukuri arrived, and already I had a little accident with it...

Eikerværing

Eikerværing

Joined
May 30, 2002
Messages
374
Hello Uncle Bill and all forumites. God Jul to all (Merry Christmas).

The 25 inch Kobra arrived at my mother's adress in Sweden. Like all other buyers of HI khukuris I was impressed and felt a kind of respect and thankfulness towards the kamis in Nepal. Truly a piece of artful handicraft. My regards to the makers in Nepal.

Such a knife certainly had to be put to a test, I thought, and so I did. My mother and her boyfriend run a camping ground by a lake, with some forest on some of the property. And some of that forest is young trees that needs to get cut down, and so I went to work.

On day 3 of working I managed to bend the Kobra. I don't know why it bent. I made a clean cut into a tree with the thickness of my own wrist. The cut seemed to have gone fine, but when I raised the Kobra for the next cut it felt off balance, and I immideatly felt that it had become bent even without looking at it.

Picture of the field I have cleared:
http://groups.msn.com/justmypictures/shoebox.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=8

Picture showing a reconstruction of the fatal cut that I made. The tree that I am holding with my hand and placing the Kobra against is the very one that I was cutting into when I felt the blade had gotten bent. You can see the cut:
http://groups.msn.com/justmypictures/shoebox.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=7

Pictures showing the bent blade next to a straight "rettholdt" for carpenter's work:
http://groups.msn.com/justmypictures/shoebox.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=9

http://groups.msn.com/justmypictures/shoebox.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=10

Could the cold temperature have weakened the steel? It was minus 15 degrees celcius. However, it was equally cold on my first working day but this didn't happen then.

Did I misuse the Kobra in any way? Is the Kobra not meant for tree cutting of even young thin trees? Most of those trees went off after 3-7 cuts.

Any chance of fixing it if I turn it over to a knifemaker do you think? Or should this one be replaced by the HI guarantee?

By the way, I have no doubts about the HI products. And I am sure I will buy a longer and heavier one in the future wich would give me more power for more efficient tree cutting. During these 3 days of tree cutting I many times felt myself asking the khukuri for more weight and swing radius (increase of speed). I felt I had more to give but the khukuri couldn't give me more. I also found myself wishing for a handle twice as long for a clean double handed grip. I think that is what I am going to purchase in the future when I have the money.

Greetings
 
The Kobra isn't the best choice for heavy chopping. It's more of a weapon than a tool.

You would have been better off with a Sirupati or a GS.
 
The kamis did not want to make the Kobras in lengths over 20 inches. They said, "this is really a sword that looks like a khukuri and because it looks like a khukuri people will try to use it as one and it will bend." And so it did. Most don't but a few do.

I'll replace it but if you want a chopper I'll send a 25 inch Sirupati as the replacement. It is much more suited to heavy duty chopping than the Kobra. And if you really want to chop get a 20 inch AK or 22 inch GRS.

It's not the kind of a report from the field I like to read but it's the truth and I thank you for sending it along.
 
I think I see the problem. You are left-handed, and you got a right-handed Kobra. If you switch hands and go back, and work for three days doing the same type of work, it will straighten itself out.:D




OK. maybe not.
 
I think I see the problem. You are left-handed, and you got a right-handed Kobra. If you switch hands and go back, and work for three days doing the same type of work, it will straighten itself out
Click to expand...

:D Listen to the experts! :D
 
Kismet:
You have a logic there. :)
Thanks for the humour.

(By the way, actually I am right handed. Except for during physical work when my brain seems to pick any hand indiscriminetly for work.)


Uncle Bill:
Thank you for replacing it.

Do you think we could make some kind of khukuri switch? If I wish for a 20 inch Ang Khola or 22 inch GRS (Ganga Ram Special?) now, I could just send you the extra cash?

The cost of extra shipment comes extra on me or HI?


Question to other forumites also:
What is the difference between a 20 inch AK and a 22 inch GRS?

I will be back tomorrow night to check for answers.
 
Uncle Bill, your posted response to this person's problem with the bent blade really impressed me. It's hard these days to find that kind of service. I believe I have just become one of the 85%.
 
Colour me astonished. That's just the sort of job I'd have said the long series Kobra was ideally suited for. All I can say is that my twenty-five incher (a blem, incidentally) sliced its way quite happily through hundreds, if not thousands, of similar poles with no ill effect whatsoever. Also, having used both a 25" Kobra and a 25" sirupati for all-day coppicing sessions; though both are superbly suitable tools for the job, I'd choose the Kobra over the sirupati every time - also over a WW2, GS, AK or any non-khukuri tool whatsoever.

Maybe I got lucky and happened to get an exceptional example. But I can only speak from my own experience.
 
Hmm...after seeing the pics I have the feeling, possibly its a chopping technique problem that caused the bend. If the pic of you chopping shows an average chop, it seems youre hitting at an improper angle near the tip. Such sideways force, especially at the end of the fulcrum, caused the bend. Which speaks for the quality, IMHO of the khuk. Instead of breaking like many other knives would at the lateral stress, it bent and could be repaired. Normal HI khuks are so over-built that they easily compensate for bad technique. However, the thin kobra, as has been said, lacks that over-compensation. So mabe a bigger khuk for now will help hone your technique, and you could take another shot with a kobra later down the road. And I seem to have forgotten the point of my post, oh well:rolleyes: :footinmou
 
All I can say is that my twenty-five incher (a blem, incidentally) sliced its way quite happily through hundreds, if not thousands, of similar poles with no ill effect whatsoever.
Click to expand...

Tom,

When did you cut those poles? Depending on the ambient temperature that wood can freeze and become quite hard.

n2s
 
I'd estimate that more than 98% of Kobras never fail in any way. Most that do bend and it's usually because the user tries to free a stuck blade by leaning against the handle and the Kobra is not made for that. The kamis do tend to overbuild because they despise failures about as much as I do but you can't overbuild a Kobra and get a Kobra.

It could be technique as mentioned but I'm not going to argue about that since I wasn't there to watch. And, it really doesn't matter -- bottom line is the knife bent. My advice would be bend it back straight and continue on but I'll replace the Kobra with anything you want, including upgrade to heavier blade and simply pay difference in price, and since the failure belongs to us I'll pay shipping, too.
 
Bill,

I don't think anyone comes close to matching your warranty plan. :D

n2s
 
I still think that the Sirupati would have been a better choice for that use. Or even a GS for that matter. They are still light, but plenty strong enough for that work.

Also at 25" for a Kobra with the thin blade I wouldn't expect it to hold up to heavy work like a heavier Sirupati would. The Kobra was ment to be a weapon from the start looking at the Info on the Website.
 
I've found that at the 18" length the kobra, sirupati and GS are practically interchangeable. The blade weight and thickness seem to depend more on who made it than on which model it is. Seems to me I've read others making similar comparisons between a 25" kobra and sirupati.

My 25" kobra seems plenty stout enough to cut 4" poles all day long, but the AKs will never allow it the opportunity. :rolleyes:

I'm sorry to hear about the bent blade. I'm sure any of the wider khuks in the 18"+ range will handle those poles with ease.
 
My 25" kobra seems plenty stout enough to cut 4" poles all day long, but the AKs will never allow it the opportunity
Click to expand...

raghorn,


You said it all there. ;)

I always reach for my 18" AK first. :D
 
Hi.
I dont post very often but read many of the posts.
I have a few questions about this blade.
Who made the blade?
How much does the blade weigh?
Where is the center of balance?
Could it be a bad temper job?
I was planing on getting one so this is of great interest to me.
Thanks.
 
china,

What are you going to use it for?

Who Made it doesn't really matter that much.

The fact that it bent and didn't break shows it was tempered correctly.

The best thing you can do is tell us what you want to do with it and read the recommendations you get.
 
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