Ontario Kukri uneven blade grind

W

Wowarning

Joined
Feb 1, 2015
Messages
31
Hope I'm posting this in the right place - it's my first post in the forum though I've been lurking for a little while since recently getting hooked on knives. My situation is this - I ordered an received the Ontario Kukri from Amazon and was unimpressed by the uneven grind on the blade. The right side is uniform and appears perfect, but the left side of the blade has more material removed (actually notched in a little at the rear) and there is an area about 2/3 up the blade where too much material was removed making a slight wave/depression. At first I thought the blade was bent, but the right side is perfectly straight, so I realized it was a problem in the manufacturing. I exchanged the blade with Amazon and the replacement is identical. Is this normal for this blade? I'm torn as to whether I should keep trying for a blade without these issues, or give up and get the Condor Heavy Duty Kukri. I also don't know if my expectations are too high and this type of poor manufacturing is normal for this blade. Am I being too picky? I did a lot of searching but didn't find others discussing this.
 
Can you even the bevel up with a file? I've had to do that on a few lower-priced blades. If it's not a safe queen, no harm done.
 
You could post in the Ontario forum...they've got a rep that is fairly active here.
 
Oh, it's not the edge bevel I'm talking about - it's the actual grind. The edge bevel is not very even or impressive either, but that I could probably take care of once I get better with the Lansky. There was just too much material removed from the left side of the blade. Unfixable. I'm sure it still chops the heck out of stuff, but if I could get one without this problem I'd feel better about it. I just don't know if everybody's is like this, or I just got 2 from a bad batch.
 
I bought one for my son and it's really nice. I was highly impressed with it, especially for the price. Definitely check with Ontario. A bad batch could have slipped through to a dealer. It's a good design. Good luck.
 
A pic showing too much material removed from left side of blade

DSC02060.JPG
 
Mine is the same way. I didn't think it would be enough to cause it to break and if it does break I'll get a replacement from Ontario. It is perfectly reasonable to expect the blade to be symmetrical though.
 
Considering how much the blade costs, I wouldn't think it would be out of the ordinary for the grind to be asymmetrical.
 
I bought one about six months ago. One of the worst grind jobs on a production knife from a "reputable" company I have received. The blade grind from side to side was almost an inch different in starting point from the handle end. The blade edge was dull. I won't be buying anything from them again for so time.
 
I got a Rat1 which I couldn't be happier with. Great quality despite the low price tag. I was expecting similar from this blade, especially given all the good reviews and high praise.
 
I bought my son the khuk and the USMC copy and they are great. The QC was top notch and the edges were razor sharp. Something bad happened for this blade to leave the Ontario factory.
 
Figured I'd post the pictures of the replacement blade issues that I put in the other thread in the Ontario sub forum. The Ontario Rep did post over there and say to email them and they will make it right. They seemed genuinely concerned that there is such a QC issue with the blades I got - I am impressed.


Uneven grind left side from rear
DSC02081.jpg


You can see how wonky the left side is...
DSC02085.jpg


and the bevel near the tip on the left side varies wildly
DSC02088.jpg
 
Already posted this over in the Ontario thread but thought folks over here may be interested as well. I received a replacement blade from Ontario today - their customer service is great - however, the blade is another loser. I emailed customer service and am hoping that I may eventually get a blade free of manufacturing defects. I will update as events occur. Attaching a pic of the wandering and twisting blade. (The good news is that it shipped with a new style sheath that is much better.)
DSC02102-2.jpg
 
People flamed the crap out if me for this before but I don't like Ontario very much. I had a marine raider bowie and I took it and tossed it tip first into a log a few times from about 3 feet away. It was close enough when it didn't spin. And it stuck perfectly each time. After I pulled it out I looked and the blade was bent near the guard at aproximately a 20 degree angle. Complete bullshit
 
I picked one of these up back in 1999.

It had a really uneven edge grind—it was almost a chisel grind on one side with a much smaller bevel on the other.

I had a whole bunch of the Ontario Spec Plus line, but after this one, I decided that was enough of that.
 
I don't think I have anything near this bad Wong with mine. I will have to go look.
 
That sucks man. Customer service took care of you quickly, then dropped the ball totally. I though Tooj was going to personally pick one out? The two Ontario's I have, my son's actually, the khukuri and Marine Kabar copy, were great. I can't stand this sort of thing. I had a defective khukuri I bought from England, and it wasn't cheap. It was too soft at the tip end (Way too soft near the belly). After months of emails complaining (and posting on a forum;)), I was told it'd be replaced. 6+ months later the replacement arrived. Hand picked as well. Great balance and incredibly light weight, but the edge meandered to and fro like a lazy river. Impossible to sharpen. It is the last I'll own from that company. It's a shame when that happens. Good luck.

Here's a pic of mine's edge.
IMG_0168_zps58af8254.jpg
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top