NMFBM & CS Khukri

PeterPHWS

PeterPHWS

Joined
Dec 31, 2005
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Well, waiting for the Killa Zilla to come out had me wondering whether a Khukri would be a better blade design than that of the traditional shape for chopping so I thought I would dig out my closest comparable to the Zilla on a size and shape wise basis and see what transpired. Here are the contenders...

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The CS Carbon V Khukri has had a convex re-profiled edge applied with a shallow fine cutting angle towards the hilt and a more robust angle on the remainder of the edge. It was razor sharp when going into the test.

The NMFBM has been stripped and re-profiled to a convex edge of around 20 degrees either side...it had a quick run over it with a glass bead blaster but this has been removed in many places with use. I used this knife to take down a blackberry orchard frame and wire construction which had given it a fair old work out and I re-sharpened the edge and gave it a bit of a leather strop. The edge was certainly very sharp...able to cut through a thick newspaper ( 50 sheets ) on an easy draw...but not quite as sharp as the Khukri.

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This was to be a chopping review though and I doubt it mattered...the NMFBM was plenty sharp for this.

The Khukri has had the sharp pine cone like chequering removed with a dremel sanding drum....

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as this is incredibly uncomfortable on sustained use but I kept the grooved chequering on the top and bottom of the handle which in hind sight could do with being removed as well...

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As this is also pretty uncomfortable after sustained use.

The knives weigh in at 23oz for the Khukri and 28oz for the NMFBM.

Blade thickness however has the khukri at a much thicker spine....

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The Khukri mic's at 0.334 inch and the NMFBM at 0.240...but balance wise the Khukri feels much more blade heavy...probably due to the hidden tang.

The test material was a fir tree brought down by a combination of rabbits burrowing around the roots and high winds...

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The tree was pretty tall but you cannot see that from the above photo and had a number of thickish limbs which would give the two knives a good work out as well as needing to quarter the trunk....

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I will have to do this review in a series of posts to enable the photo's to be allowed to go in ( 6 max per post I think ) so bear with me if you have got to here before the next set can be uploaded.
 
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To start with on the limbing I thought it easiest to just rotate the knives as I went along the tree....I began with the NMFBM....and this made short work of the limbing...

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Usually able to lop these off in one cut...

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It could do 2 inch limbs easily which is about the depth of the blade. This knife has a fearsome ability to give a deep power cut without undue force!

On the task of limbing where multiple angles...some very awkward...are needed to get at the branches it excelled but footwork and swing clearance need to be thought about all the time as the width of blade and weight of the knife are just about the optimum for "all" types of limbs...:D

The Khukri was always a close second on the limbing...

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It would bite deep but the width of the blade seemed to affect it's one swing "go through" ability....

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It often needed the slightest of finish strokes to complete the removal of some limbs.
 
Some of this may also have been the angle of the cut or the obstructions other brances made to the limb you were cutting....

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But with a khukri shaped blade if you miss the sweet spot right on the curve and hit towards the tip you get significantly less "depth" to the cut...

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and as I say the width of the blade does seem to hang up a little. It is the type of knife which needs some careful "selection" of cut angles and "aim" on a swing. Try to go to powerful and your aim is off and all you get is another parallel cut to the first one you made...instead of linking up the cuts and removing wood. It can have good results though if you get it right....the limb at the bottom of the above pic was cleanly done with one cut...

To be fair though the same was true of the NMFBM...if you did'nt get the angle right and were a bit loose on your swing the knife could turn on you and go parallel down the limb as opposed to straight through....

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They are both knives where "slow and smooth" and a selective aim equals "fast and quickest to finish the job". You don't want to be hacking away with these like a machete...it is better to use them more like an axe...

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Taking a wide V cut to start with ( about the depth of the log in width ) the Khukri could remove a fair bit of wood once it began on the trunk.

Removong the top end of the tree trunk only need four strokes with the Khukri

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If you have your "eye in" aim wise the Khukri is a pretty effective chopper.
 
Taking the knives back to the base of the trunk to seperate the stump for seperate removal was more of a test though for both of them.

I began by using the NMFBM to open up a V on one side and then the Khukri on the other...the idea being to do the same number of chops and see how they got on....

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Some of this was difficult by the angle of presentation of the tree as can be seen by the NMFBM beginning to bite and then turning and running down the trunk.

But after 4 chops either side with the NMFBM on the top of the pic below and the khukri on the bottom both were looking neck and neck...(some of the other marks in the pic are from the limbing)

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A further four wacks from the khukri on the bottom brought the cut to a much deeper level...

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and four more on the other side with the NMFBM had the task completed...

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So on the trunk chopping session the Khukri had more or less held it's own with the NMFBM....perhaps because using a V cut meant that it did not suffer as much from the thickness of the blade catching as it had done when limbing.

After the stump was cut free of the remaining roots the knives had done a fair old job...

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The main body of the trunk I have kept for other chop offs and I did a couple of logs from the trunk to use on some battoning work with other tests on some knives. I want to do a comparison of some 7.5 to 8 inch blades later....

But on this test if I was to pick a winner it would be the NMFBM for the following reasons....

It limbs better....
It chops just as well....
It is an awful lot more comfortable to use...

I could have used the NMFBM all day long and done another tree....

The Khukri however was starting to give me hot spots from those line grooves on the top and bottom of the handle....

The Killa Zilla should have grips as good as the NMFBM and that should sort out this issue.....but on the general chopping front it's brother NMFBM may well still give it a good run for it's money....:thumbup::thumbup:

Now that would be one :cool: chop off!!
 
GREAT review.....:thumbup:

This makes me think that I should maybe look for a NMFBM....:cool:

Thanks again for the review
 
Great review!!

The Killa Zilla will be an interesting blade. Much thinner than the CS, so it may scream through logs. :thumbup:
 
I modded my CS handle, had the same experience as you did specially that rear knob, just cut it with a knife and sand it. The handle is just as important as the blade geometry specially in large choppers, some manufacturers forget that. I purchased to Kukri blanks from the Camillus overstock and I'm looking for a maker to do G-10 handles (due to added weight it should improve balance).

I purchased 2 NMFBM, one in G-10 and one in Micarta, the weight difference is notable, the G-10 feels better balanced (same experience with my Hell Razor in G10 vs the Micarta), feels more lively, the NMFBM in micarta feels a little blade heavy. Also the G-10 smoothness is good so it does not abrade the skin during heavy chopping. When ordering the Zilla I think I'm going hand finished G-10.

Great review!
 
Great review, I own both knives and the CS Khukri is a great chopper as well but I agree the handle just sucks.

I look forward to seeing your reviews of the smaller knives.
 
Awesome review and pics Peter!!! :thumbup:

I'm thinking, after reading your review, that I might be just fine with the NMFBM...
Never really used a Khuk before, and always wondered how the angled blade would work for me.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to share. :cool:


Also... Dante, good comments on G-10 versus Micarta and its effect on balance. Very true!. :thumbup:

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Excellent review Peter! Thanks for taking the time to do this and post it.

One thing.......I don't think the weight is quite right. I can see 23 & 28 oz., but not pounds (lb.). :D (I'm surprised you didn't use drams. ;) )

Cheers!

∞
 
Peter, great review captions with your pictures. I was reading it so closely I did not notice that my CGFBM had bit me while I was reading it! Right along the base of my left thumb, nice 2" 'paper cut' type slice....Did not notice it until I put down my CGFBM!
 
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