I recently received the M43 by Shaila I purchased in the 7/25/08 deal of the day. The shipping was very quick. Upon inspecting the khukuri I noted first a very poor fit job on the handle. Which is probaly why it was a dotd.
I decided the first thing I would do is smooth handle up before proceeding to the rest of the testing. Some sandpaper,elbow grease and linspeed soon had the handle looking a bit better.
Note that,as well as the wood being poorly fitted (with plenty of laha),the bolsters are uneven and the tang is tappered unevenly and slightly off-center to the blade.
Despite these flaws I still felt that the M43 deserved a chance. I am a strong proponent of function over beauty. I tested the M43 against a 3-4" standing oak. I reasoned if my sirupate can do this than surely the much heavier M43 should manage this easily. I was wrong, the blade took a couple bends right off. As soon as I realized the blade was deforming I stopped chopping and set the blade aside. My personal opinion is that the heat treat is bad.
In summation the only thing that was done correctly on this khukuri was that it looks like a khukuri.
I am well aware that some people will consider this to a be a very harsh review . It's not,any flaws associated with the cosmetics can be fixed ,and I'm willing to do that. The heat treat being poor to non-existant I'm unwilling to overlook. To forestall the inevitable, I'll tell anyone that reads that I believe is is a bad heat treat based on the fact that my sirupate and kobra will complete the task the M43 failed at. It's not blade geometry,it's not poor "chopping technique" ,thin blade or anything else.
The only questions I have is why Bura thought Shaila was ready to make khukuris? Why did the QC dept at HI allow this to happen? And should I contact Yangdu to see if I can exchange this KLO for something else?
I decided the first thing I would do is smooth handle up before proceeding to the rest of the testing. Some sandpaper,elbow grease and linspeed soon had the handle looking a bit better.
Note that,as well as the wood being poorly fitted (with plenty of laha),the bolsters are uneven and the tang is tappered unevenly and slightly off-center to the blade.
Despite these flaws I still felt that the M43 deserved a chance. I am a strong proponent of function over beauty. I tested the M43 against a 3-4" standing oak. I reasoned if my sirupate can do this than surely the much heavier M43 should manage this easily. I was wrong, the blade took a couple bends right off. As soon as I realized the blade was deforming I stopped chopping and set the blade aside. My personal opinion is that the heat treat is bad.
In summation the only thing that was done correctly on this khukuri was that it looks like a khukuri.
I am well aware that some people will consider this to a be a very harsh review . It's not,any flaws associated with the cosmetics can be fixed ,and I'm willing to do that. The heat treat being poor to non-existant I'm unwilling to overlook. To forestall the inevitable, I'll tell anyone that reads that I believe is is a bad heat treat based on the fact that my sirupate and kobra will complete the task the M43 failed at. It's not blade geometry,it's not poor "chopping technique" ,thin blade or anything else.
The only questions I have is why Bura thought Shaila was ready to make khukuris? Why did the QC dept at HI allow this to happen? And should I contact Yangdu to see if I can exchange this KLO for something else?
Just contact Yangdu, and I'm sure she'll set it right. My trisul is Shaila-made. I happen to agree that he needs a little more polish when it comes to finishing his blades. My trisul has a couple of spots where he gouged the metal with the cutting wheel. It probably does nothing to hinder the function of the knife, but I would like to get another example of his work maybe 6 months from now to see how he has improved
