Tamang? fill me in....please

H

Hawgsnawt

Joined
Aug 16, 2015
Messages
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Been looking at a Tamang for awhile now, I LOVE the shape, I'm worried about the weight, thickness, and more accurately, the strength....

I'm worried that at a 1oz per inch ratio, I'm gonna end up with an expensive cold steel machete...... are they thicker than a typical machete? anyone able to take any quick and dirty spine pics to kinda give me a feel for them?

They are not really heavy enough to be choppers, not really long enough to be machetes, I'm thinking it would be very useful for delimbing green saplings and branches and stuff, more of a light chopping garden type stuff.....

Do You have a Tamang? why? what do you use it for? does it still cause you the excitement it did before you opened the box?

I need a used car salesman here to sell me on one LOL..... feel free to talk me into or out of it!

Actually to be honest, I'm kinda looking at it from a wife's perspective.... smaller, lighter than my other Kuks, yet still sturdy enough to function as a big knife in a Bushcraft trio with a folding saw and smaller knife like a Mora or something.... easier for her smaller hands and slender build ( read as lack of muscle structure developed from a lifetime of hard work )

She just can't safely swing one of my big, heavier Kuks.... but tries her best... and her small hands have trouble maintaining grip on the larger size handles....she uses a Condor Mini Duku Parang as her larger knife atm.... would this be similar?...

Thanks guys!!

Hawg
 
This might be good one for your wife. I bought a Tamang and it is great for a long, light weight knife. It is NO Ang Khola. Like you said, I would consider it a short, razor sharp machetelike knife with a bit of a forward curve. With careful deliberate strikes it will impress you at cutting medium sized branches. Lightweight knives work so much better for clearing brush and thick grass and weeds than a heavy chopper ever could. It would also be very handy for martial arts (fighting) because it is lightning fast.

The pros: The razor sharp edge for cutting and slicing, and lightweight for carrying and martial arts, and obviously the beauty. I think the Tamang is one of the most elegant looking HI khukuris.

The cons: It is not heavy duty like an axe and will not hold up to the abuse an Ang Khola would.

That would be why you could bring a big chopper and she could bring the lighter one for little jobs and food prep. I have always been thankful when clearing a path or doing some work, with another person, when one of us has a big tough knife for large cutting and the other has a smaller one for weeds and thick grass. It is also nice to have a lighter knife to step it down to when you start to get fatigued from the big chopper. There are many reasons to get one. As long as you have the right expectation that its not a huge chopper, I don't think you will be one bit disappointed. This is just my opinion. Hopefully others will chime in.
 
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It's a good bush knife, lighter than a khuk, better than a machete. like a large bolo, actually. i carry it on hikes more than a khuk, since around here I don't chop many things. Also feel like I control it better since it handles more like a "traditional" blade and less like a khuk.

I keep looking to buy another, actually.
 
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One of my favorites. I like the shape and feel. No comparison to a machete.
It'll do most anything that needs to be done. If it don't it probably don't need to be done.
 
Bawanna said:
One of my favorites. I like the shape and feel. No comparison to a machete.
It'll do most anything that needs to be done. If it don't it probably don't need to be done.
Click to expand...

That about says it all. I love them. I bought 5, gifted 2, and still have 3 to my name. The black forge scale is a super rust inhibitor, and the blade is sharper than hell.
 
Hawg:

There's one in yesterday's DOTD for $100. Bamboo handle, 16" OAL, 16 oz. It would be a good way to get an answer to your question at a modest price. I think you and your wife will like it, and if not, make it a Christmas or birthday present for someone who does.

One caution, since you mention that your wife has small hands. It's not always easy to tell from the pictures whether the handle has a small or large girth. Whatever knife you buy, your wife should swing it for a while, without actually chopping anything, to determine if the handle is right for her. If not, Yangdu will probably take it back, and maybe she'll be able to advise you on an alternative.
 
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