Well I bought this PGA, and it's arrived
Scabbard is great, the tooling, while not as deep as my old-style scabbard, shows just fine with a little polish, and its the new, thick leather. Perfect fit too, except the small tool loops are a little small. The small tool handles are so fat and round, that I would have sanded the sides down a little anyway, and things will be perfect.
A few surprises--
Surprise 1: It's a Bura, not a Sanu. Wonderful shape to karda and chakma. Edge on karda needed a LOT of stoning, but it is very well shaped all the way to the handle. Except for a couple of tiny pinholes, seam in bolster is invisible. Buttcap and tang-holder are so close to perfect, they may as well be.
Surprise 2: The way it feels, the balance. I expected something different, but not this. Hard to describe, feels light and surprisingly quick. Seems to want you to hold it inclined up about 60 degrees, and then it kinda feels weightless. Even holding it all the way back on the handle it feels light. And what a handle.I can't imagine what the "big" handled ones are like. Feels OK though, it might be a little more manuverable if I reduce the diameter a little. I'll wait though. Chops pretty much like a khuk. I like the upswept tip shape a lot. I might be wrong, but I think that it would serve pretty well for machete work, and the tip would work well on thinner stuff. Add a few inches to the blade length, keep the same width and extend the fuller closer to the tip to keep weight down, and I think you might have one heck of a brush clearing tool. Spine is a tad over 3/8 at bolster, tapers to about 1/4 at tip before bevel starts. Bevel is pretty much flat, except pretty near the edge. Haven't really handled a large quality Bowie, so can't compare.
Surprise 3: Took off the rouge with the Murphy's wet sanding, and the khuk handle's color is nearly unchanged. Beautiful fine-grained reddish wood with dark, almost black streaks. Maybe the S. robusta? Looks like my Bing cherry colored chakma handle, just lighter. Great stuff whatever it is!
One dramatic, wonderful looking and handling rig.
I'm anxious to do some real work with it to compare to the khuks. Maybe soon, but I can't chop up everthing in the yard...
Sanu has an active mind. He might be well satisfied with an individual blade, but my big UBE, and Finn's even larger one, proves that the hunt is still on for Sanu. The skill he continues to show with the original blade shows how well satisfied he is with it (as well he should be) but it is fascinating to see the variations come along, and wonder "what's next". One of these days, you may see me and Finn in an extravaganza two-man feeding frenzy
