small khuks chopping ply

A

arty

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Oct 18, 2003
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I like to test new khuks agains some 1/4" exterior fir ply in the end vise of my workbench.

I just tried out my 14" 16oz Sgt. Khadka and compared it to a 12" Pen (11 oz) and a Bura special 15" (17oz). I didn't see any difference between the balance and the 15" Bura special. Both took chunks out of the ply at a similar depth and width - comparable to a 15" sirupati or evan a heavier 15" BAS.

The small Pen surprised me. It chopped as deeply, but the profile of the cut was different. It is a thinner blade (1/4") and cut a narrow slice, more like a knife.

None of these "small" knives will chop like a 17" BGRS or a 19" Chitlangi.

I was surprised at how well the Pen did in comparison to the larger -- 14"-15"-- blades. None of the knives had any edge damage - the ply did not fare as well.

The 14"-15" knives take much larger chunks out of the ply with every bite.
 
Dan must have endowed the Pen with magic features, or else the weight forward design, similar to the Ganga Ram, really works.
I have never heard a single complaint about the Pen? Always nice things.

Darn thing works, eh? Good stuff.


munk
 
Honestly that pen knife is tempting me more and more for a backpack/arrow quiver knife . I,m still definitely Sirupati bound . I think there is more to the Siru than just chopping ability . The pen knife looks like it would be half decent as a skinner . Its even been said you could flip burgers and flapjacks with it . I think it would take a pro to flip a flap with it ,
 
I don't have pictures. All blades were sharpened first to the level of a Dan's white hard Arkansas - not a black or translucent Arkansas. The Dan's hard stone is finer than a currrent Norton soft Arkansas and perhaps similar to a Spyderco fine ceramic stone - the white one, and NOT the ultra fine.
The Dan's Arkansas stone seems slightly finer than the fine ceramic stone and produces a sharper edge. I have Norton translucent and black Arkansas stones and a Dan's true hard, but reserve them for carving and woodworking blades. I also own waterstones, but only use them on plane irons and not knives. I did not strop the edges.

I chopped and used moderate force - I did not try to chop really hard, and the cuts were straight down onto the ply.

The cuts from the Pen were about 3/4" deep and about the same depth from the longer knives- the Bura special and the Sgt. Khadka balance. The chops were much wider and the same depth from the thicker Bura special and the Balance - both were much thicker blades and weighted more than the Pen. For work in the field, the heavier and larger blades would be likely to work better.

For reference, I checked the depth of cut from a 19" - 22oz Chitlangi and it was 1 1/4 inches. A similar sized Sher chainpuri gave cuts that were about 1" deep in the 1/4" fir ply.

None of this is scientific, but it does give you an idea of the utility of these "small" knives. The Pen did not do as well before it was sharpened.
 
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