Sirupati 15 and 18 inch review

M

Mr. Bowie

Joined
Nov 9, 2005
Messages
106
Both Sirupati were made by Tirtha and are excellent fit and finish both also came really sharp right out of the box. After inspection and cleaning the grease off it was time too see what they could do so and since I bought these too be used as carry blades and not my heavy use knives since I already have a few for that. I grabbed a bag of bottles and a few milk jugs all filled with water. First up was the 18inch and no surprise it made all its cuts clean and effortlessly. It was fast and easily controlled during all cuts and easily changed direction. This 18 inch Sirupati will be an excellent blade when I feel like carrying a longer blade.

Next up was the 15 inch Sirupati this blade is light in the hand and perfectly balanced. I expected this blade to cut but not as well as it did. This little blade easily cut a milk jug in to 6 pieces. What really surprised me was the fact that it was easily stabbed through water bottles with no effort and without disturbing the bottles placement. This 15 inch Sirupati out performed a few of the swords I have that cost ten times more. To say that I am happy with this blade would be a gross understatement. This will definitely be my new daily carry.

Sorry for the lack of pics this new computer hates me.
 
Not my first two this brings me up to 5 now. I also have a WWII a CAK and a M43.
 
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Mr Bowie there was a martial arts professional who posted a review of the same two blades a couple years ago. The 18" Sirupati's outperformed his katana on tatami mat cutting. The 15" waaay outperformed his wakizashi. He like you was completely blown away by the siru's performance.
 
I'm glad to hear I wasn't the one who has been shocked by the siru's performance. And like I said the 15 inch has definitely found a permanent place on my belt.
 
Congrats on your new blades. I really like the Sirupati style Khukris. When I lived in the City, friends and I would save our empty bottles for cutting practice in the back ally. My 20" Sirupati always impressed me on how well it cut up water bottles and aluminum cans. She has helped me clear many a trail. :)
 
Yes I can't wait till I get a chance to do a little more cutting with them. I see hanging rope and mats as their next challenge when I have more time. The 15 inch definitely proves bigger is not always better.
 
Well both blades cut rolled tatami mats very cleanly and handled cutting a hanging 3inch rope easily the more I use them the more I love this 15 inch the speed and grace of it is absolutely stunning.
 
I so see what you were talking about. I did one last test this morning too check performance. I cut some for a lack of better words very high density foam about 6 inch thick very similar to the old product sword fodder but much tougher to the point that even my best swords have a hard time cutting through it expect for my one albion made sword. Both blades did very well with the 15 inch Sirupati actually producing better cuts clean all the way through that surprised me. The 18 inch Sirupati was able to make the cuts but I felt much more resistance during the cuts. Oh on a side note I did also use my M43 for this test as well and it performed very well almost on par with the 15 inch Sirupati. I also tried my WWII 16.5 inch and it was unable to complete the cuts wedging it self about 3/4 of the way through its cuts this did not surprise me because it does have the thickest spine of all 4 blades. I did not test my CAK because well I haven't had a chance to hone the edge since I used it to take down a few trees a couple of days ago.
 
Mr. B:

I'm not surprised that the 15" Sirupati made cleaner cuts than the 18" Sirupati. Can you measure the spine thickness and belly width of both blades and let us know?

Typically (but not always) a longer version of a given model will have a somewhat thicker spine and wider belly than its shorter sibling. There's more steel that has to pass through the test material. Also you can swing the shorter, lighter blade a bit faster.

When you're chopping wood the heavier blade will dig deeper, so that's the trade-off.

This is why martial artists tend to prefer the lighter, faster models, where the real or hypothetical target is not wood. Of course, the smaller HI blades are still large by general knife standards. We often see knives on Bladeforums described as "extra thick" or "heavy duty" because they have .25" spines, which is about the thinnest that you usually see on HI knives.
 
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