That's... not a knife. (New Kukri)

Joined
Oct 16, 2006
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970
It's as thick as my Kephart is in the sheath!
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Gotta say, there's a LOT of cool in having a knife this big. And, a pile of impractical. But as an introduction to the Kukri, it's a place to start, and a beautiful piece of workmanship.

No, it's not a knife, it's an ax disguised as a knife. The weight is massive, and with my pipe-cleaner-esque arms it is wearisome to use. My little hand hatchet is of similar weight, but I seem to be able to go longer with it. That said, I've never used a tool like this one before and perhaps once I learn to work the geometry better I'll increase output with lower input. However, in its turn it gives me a nice edge near to the handle which, with all that weight on the end flies through bark when peeling sticks. Though, again, the same weight that pulls that area of the blade along the stick also... wears out my hands. So far, I love the idea of the Kukri and look forward to getting to know the format for a while using this bad-boy.

Oh, I almost forgot the little gem hiding in this package... the Karda (do I have the right word?) That tiny little knife is dandy. I like it more than I thought I ever would, which was none at all. It's just dandy though.

Thanks HI
 
Nice M-43. Which thread on here did you get it from? I'm curious about weight/length. Is that horn for the handle?
 
Nice M-43 man, I hope it brings you much pleasure and years of service. It takes some time and practice to get use to the way a khuk works and once you get it down it is one heck of a tool.
 
I am in full 100 percent agreement. I have the same blade, mine might be heavier even and I too find it heavy and cumbersome. Im not a huge guy by any means but im not small and Mine is simply too big. A great place to start? yes! An awesome introduction to this blade style? absolutely ! But when i get another it is going to be MUCH smaller. Important pont to remember is to use any "tool" for its strengths... When i need to decapitate a brontosaurus neck then I got a blade that will handily do it! BTW, i love my Khuk and it is VERY well made !
 
Jedi,

15 inch 31 ounce M-43 by Kumar. Gray horn handle. All fittings are white metal.
 
Jedi,

15 inch 31 ounce M-43 by Kumar. Gray horn handle. All fittings are white metal.
Thanks for the info! That is INDEED a beefy M-43. I'm on the lookout for one that length but around 22oz tops! I also want a full 18" one, but around 24-25oz.
 
You'll get used to the weight. If I'm not mistaken, my WWII is about the same weight, and I thought it was too heavy at first, but once I used it a bit (and compared it to my much heavier CAK), it seems perfectly fine. Of course, it's still heaver than my KLVUK, which is insanely comfortable...but before I got into kukris, the KLVUK would probably have seemed heavy compared to my other knives.
 
Great pix and post, thank you
 
I cannot stress enough how important is good choping technique, instead of muscling your way into the wood. I posted this week alone two times on this subject, do your research and you will thank yourself later.
 
I made the same lovely mistake.
First blade was a massive 18" Ang Khola by Bura. So lucky I got one of his last blades.
Next was an 18" M-43. That's when I learned the value of what I thought was that "odd" ring in the middle of the handle on traditional khukuris. It keeps things in place, lessens fatigue, etc. The M-43 felt "slippery" in my grip by comparison.
After that I got wiser. I'm 5'8" and 150lbs. Mainly do long-distance bicycling and hiking for fun. Although I can knock out 50 push ups and 12 pull ups at a moment's notice, not a ton of upper body strength, and clearly not a large man and no bear paws for mitts.
So I started focusing my HI obsession on knives better suited for me and my pack, mainly 15" blades.
Now that I can no longer justify further purchases, I mainly haunt here because I'm a recovering HIKV patient; the blades are just so gorgeous and well-made, it's tough to look away. But as I look back, the blade that's become my "go-to" is a 13" Balance.
We learn, and enjoy every beautiful piece along the way.
 
You know that's dangerous, just a peek? I would not trust a recovering alcoholic near a bottle...Mtnfalcon sir. :p
 
Moon,

I've been trying to find some good video and writing on the subject. I haven't really turned up anything particularly useful, aside from perhaps the recommendation that it is to be more 'whipped' snap-of-the-wrist, than muscled. Which, is what I am trying to do. I'm hoping there's more to be learned than this. The simple fact, so far is, that even though I'm not trying to muscle it, it's still a heavy lever and wears my wrist and hand quickly. Even simple motions (peeling bark) tire me, and I do believe it's a lot to do with the sheer mass. It has to be brought safely into motion and up to an appropriate speed, and decelerated safely. There is no avoiding that a greater mass requires a greater effort to do these things.

Anyhow, if I don't currently love the weight, I love the geometry. I'm hoping with some practice to build strength and stamina along with technique.
 
Well, you pretty much know what there is to know.

Grab the knife with 3 fingers, leave the rest dangling :). Don't put more effort into this than elevating. Going down - don't add any extra effort into it, than the final wrist flick, using the last two fingers. Let the kukri's own weight bring it down. Try to hit a little at an angle. I am always temped to add some extra umph when the wood is of harder essence, and maybe the knife not sharp enough.Today I was reminded again that I need not do that, when I got better results letting gravitation do the work for me - somehow, the chips flew higher and I was less tired afterwards.

Sadly, as far as video examples go...indeed, I found more on the line of "don't do it like that".
 
Moon,

Thanks! I've never tried, or really run into this 'three finger' approach. So if you don't mind, I could use some clarification.

1) I assume the three fingers are the thumb, index and middle fingers.
2) How do the final two fingers incorporate into the final flick?

I guess I'm going to head outside for a quick minute and see what I can do with this new information.


Again, my thanks!
 
Not entirely sure I understand what to do with those two spare fingers but I took the 'three-finger-flick' for a spin and liked it. We have some kind of woody plant growing on the side of the property near the highway here. We clear them every year. They grow straight up, no branches, fibers not too dense, but not too pulpy either. They grow about 6-7' a year and about 1-1.5" in diameter. Yesterday with my 'wrist-flick' I knocked down five or so after a number of blows to each and a fair amount of fatigue. I knocked down about 15 today, using the 'thre-finger-flick' method. Only one or two needed more than a single blow and the more stubborn ones required far fewer than yesterday.

Thanks Moon,
 
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