Report from the field. Interesting read.

Bill Martino

Bill Martino

Joined
Mar 5, 1999
Messages
34,096
I don't usually put reports in the forum that I receive via email lest people accuse me of being a braggart. However, this one came in written by a professional writer and it was so interesting and honest I thought I should share it with all my nephews so here it is. Let me know what you think about it. I like the guy's style myself.
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Hello,

Got the 18" WWII as ordered Monday, took it up to the Pocono mountains and
did some testing with the pops. Thanks for the fast delivery. My Dad really
loves it, and thanks you for the birthday wishes, he's 62. I told him your
story about your father doing all the "bad stuff" He laughed because he
is the same, though we were both sad to hear about the passing of your
mother, we have also just had a death in the family, it is very hard, but
has brought us all closer together in a way. He is already thinking about
getting another one! He wants something that is lighter to carry when he
goes boar hunting at his home in Maui. I have to say when I first opened it
up it sort of scared me...it's not really a knife, it is something more.
It's more like a gun and Estwing roofing hammer and a magical object mixed
together. I felt like I should put on safety glasses and say a prayer
before using it. It demands a certain type of respect that a regular knife
does not garner. A balance of Tool, Weapon, Art, Religion, and History all
mixed together. Powerful. It inspired me deeply, I am a writer and I found
myself thinking, "If only I could tell a story as good as these men make
knives."

Our testing.

We did almost everything that was done in the reviews of the AK (except for
the sheet metal test) on your site and concur. The only thing we did that
they didn't do is chop stone. We have done this with a hatchet but never
with a knife. We took a block of sandstone 2 feet by 1/2 foot, 8" thick and
split it up into little chunks. This resulted in absolutely no effect,
except for blunting the edge. What amazed us most was that the tip never
bent when using the knife as a chisel. Sandstone is pretty soft, but it is
still rock. I would have thought the tip would bend or crease, but it did
not. THIS KNIFE ROCKS.

The sheath.

This to me is the only drawback we could find. It is incredibly well made,
but the thickness of the sheath makes it cumbersome to carry and the frog's
big belt loop makes it flop around on the belt. Also when the blade is
drawn it pulls the sheath out of the frog, before pulling out the knife,
forcing a two handed operation. This was helped by getting rid of the frog
and just sticking it in the belt, but it is still so thick, 2 and 1/4
inches, that this becomes uncomfortable in a pants and belt arrangement.
Also the karda and chakma are succeptable to falling out, though I jammed
them in tightly when I handed the knife to my wife, the karda fell out and
cut her toe. A small cut no big thing, but I soon found myself taking them
out for safety. We found ourselves wishing for a sheath that did not have
the karda and chakma holes, making it thinner, and had a belt loop that was
built into the sheath, lower and tighter on the belt (I think the latter is
true of sheaths for other model knives you offer.)

However I don't think that I would want it any other way as a historical
knife and I feel I could always get another sheath made. Also, much of this
bulkiness is due to it being a bigger knife than the standard 15"er and the
sheath's military history. And I have to say that for my father and I we
never really intended to carry it much since it is so big and heavy. We
wanted it as a camp knife that would ride in the truck or in a backpack like
a hatchet so for our own purposes it worked just fine.

So all in all...the best knife that we've found for chopping around the camp
and when a black bear and her three cubs walked through our camp on
Thursday, we both quickly found it with our eyes, consoled. But she was
just coming to say hello and see what we had to eat. We said hello, and
"offered" her the remains of our breakfast...a skillet of bacon fat, which
she lapped up and promptly left, kids in tow.

Thanks for everything, I'm sure I will be using up that credit soon.
============================================

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Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ
 
As an addendum, back in New York City. We could not stop the chopping. The wife left for a moment to run some errands and we soon had the WW2 out again, looking around for things to chop. So, we went out to the alley and dug through some demo dumptsers. 2X4's in hand we returned to the apt and set up some saw horses. I had the circular saw with a very dull blade and he had the WW2 and we raced. He beat me 6 times out of ten, of course half the time he was just breaking the things in half on the third swipe. Is this cheating? We measured one penetration at 1 and 1/2 inches on a downward V angle. And they say that AK chops better? By the time it was over we had wood chips in our hair, woodchips in the kitchen, and smokey sawdust in the air. Quickly we removed the evidence of our deeds and when my better half came home she found us bored in front of the TV set. Thanks again for an excellent knife. -Blue
 
Glad to hear your dad enjoyed using the khukuri. Most of my family think I'm derange.

How do hatchets fair at stone chopping? Are they fairly soft? Except for one, my hatchets are quit soft.

Three wacks to get through a 2x4 is very impressive.

Will

 
Absolutely great posts. Thankyou Sporty and thanks to your Dad.

Bill, this type of great story is always worth posting.

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JP
 
Thanks for again for posting those Bill and thanks for your kind words in your e-mail. I have to qualify that my dad is a very big ex-football player, I don't think I could have done it in three chops. I will have to test when I can decide on the HI knife I get next. As to hatchets, we used the cheap hardware store kind and the blades chip, which I guess is dangerous, but are better than a hammer because you can score the cut. It really doesn't take much force to split sandstone. We use the stone to build fire pits when we are bored at camp. -Blue

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The pen is mightier than the sword...but not as much fun!
 
I train combat Kukri, just a tip. To keep the sheath from coming out of the frog, take a plastic wire tie and wrap it around the sheath and through the frog. The tie is not a twist tie but one of those plastic one that lock. cut off extra. this enables one hand draws
 
Sporty; if you are not cheating, you are not trying. There are no rules. Thou shalt win at all costs. You are paid for thy results: not thy methods. Verily, I say unto you; use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of death, wounds and destruction in the minimum amount of time.
 
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