- Joined
- May 9, 2002
- Messages
- 12,666
The bell on my office door jangled as the cowbell hanging off the push bar clanged against the metal frame. By the time I got up from my desk, like a ninja, the lady who delivers my mail had come and gone. The only evidence of her presence was a pile of junk mail fliers, some bills, and the always pulse-quickening triangular box
Inside was one of the new Villager Baby Chiruwa Ang Kholas
I was elated when I saw it. It really bridges the gap between the tiny KK and the 12" khuks. While not a powerhouse chopper, obviously, it is a robust knife ready for the most rough and tumble chores. Actually, that's exactly what I have in mind for it. I envision this as my new go-to yard work knife.
As a guy in a seasonal business, my time to spend in the yard is limited. All of my work is done at a breakneck pace on Sunday afternoons. On top of all of this, our new homestead not only has a larger yard but also needs more than a pinch of TLC. What I need is a tool always on my belt that can cut open mulch bags, snap cut small branches on my hedges, poke around in the dirt to find old dead root balls, cut weed barrier, etc. Actually, before it was stolen, this is exactly what my 12" Pen Knife was used for. But to be honest, it was always a tad big for the job.
The VBCAK is a perfect candidate. It's incredibly well constructed, has a long handle in relation to the blade so that you can grip it a multiple of different ways, and its less-than-high-gloss finish means that I'll actually use it instead of fretting about scratches. I see it as a knife I can always have stuffed in my belt for the jobs my KLVUK is too big to handle.
Here are a few specs:
OAL: just a touch over 9 3/4"
Blade Length: 5 1/4" with a cutting edge of about 4.5" in front of the cho
Useable handle length: 5". You really have a lot of ways to get some purchase on this knife since you can choke up to the cho comfortably.
Spine thickness: 5/16
This little blade only comes in around 9oz but it feels so solid, you would swear it's 12 or 13oz. However, the balance point is right at the blade/bolster junction. If you choke up on the knife, it disappears in your hand. It almost feels like you're handling a Mora.
The edge is very sharp. Mine actually came with just a slight bit of a flat spot on the edge that wouldn't have bothered me, but I wanted to take the edge to a very sharp but durable convex edge. In the process of using a sanding sponge to strop a basic edge, I scratched off some of the black scale. This was a non-issue as it was going to get scratched up doing yard work...but I took the opportunity to just buff off most of the scale and give it a fast phosphoric acid bath to gray up the blade a bit. There are a lot of really cool little hammer marks that really pop in the light.
The only downside I see to this cute lil bugger is that while the scabbard is top notch, the frog doesn't balance it well enough. It's pretty floppy. An easy peasy modification strap that would simply snap around the handle to secure it to the frog would work. Instead, I have elected to just remove the frog and stuff the VBCAK in my belt sash-style. The scabbard is just loose enough at the throat that I can draw the blade with a quick tug while still keeping everything else in place yet holds firmly enough that even bending forward won't cause the blade to want to slide forward. It rides perfectly there at about a 60 degree angle so that the chape doesn't grind into my thigh when I squat down, and the handle is long enough to get to at pretty any direction if I need it on a whim.
It's an incredibly handle little knife I'll try to take a picture or two this weekend when I give it its first big work out
As always, a huge thank you to Yangdu and the kamis. It's an honest to goodness work knife that will handle anything that I will be able to throw at it.
Inside was one of the new Villager Baby Chiruwa Ang Kholas
I was elated when I saw it. It really bridges the gap between the tiny KK and the 12" khuks. While not a powerhouse chopper, obviously, it is a robust knife ready for the most rough and tumble chores. Actually, that's exactly what I have in mind for it. I envision this as my new go-to yard work knife.
As a guy in a seasonal business, my time to spend in the yard is limited. All of my work is done at a breakneck pace on Sunday afternoons. On top of all of this, our new homestead not only has a larger yard but also needs more than a pinch of TLC. What I need is a tool always on my belt that can cut open mulch bags, snap cut small branches on my hedges, poke around in the dirt to find old dead root balls, cut weed barrier, etc. Actually, before it was stolen, this is exactly what my 12" Pen Knife was used for. But to be honest, it was always a tad big for the job.
The VBCAK is a perfect candidate. It's incredibly well constructed, has a long handle in relation to the blade so that you can grip it a multiple of different ways, and its less-than-high-gloss finish means that I'll actually use it instead of fretting about scratches. I see it as a knife I can always have stuffed in my belt for the jobs my KLVUK is too big to handle.
Here are a few specs:
OAL: just a touch over 9 3/4"
Blade Length: 5 1/4" with a cutting edge of about 4.5" in front of the cho
Useable handle length: 5". You really have a lot of ways to get some purchase on this knife since you can choke up to the cho comfortably.
Spine thickness: 5/16
This little blade only comes in around 9oz but it feels so solid, you would swear it's 12 or 13oz. However, the balance point is right at the blade/bolster junction. If you choke up on the knife, it disappears in your hand. It almost feels like you're handling a Mora.
The edge is very sharp. Mine actually came with just a slight bit of a flat spot on the edge that wouldn't have bothered me, but I wanted to take the edge to a very sharp but durable convex edge. In the process of using a sanding sponge to strop a basic edge, I scratched off some of the black scale. This was a non-issue as it was going to get scratched up doing yard work...but I took the opportunity to just buff off most of the scale and give it a fast phosphoric acid bath to gray up the blade a bit. There are a lot of really cool little hammer marks that really pop in the light.
The only downside I see to this cute lil bugger is that while the scabbard is top notch, the frog doesn't balance it well enough. It's pretty floppy. An easy peasy modification strap that would simply snap around the handle to secure it to the frog would work. Instead, I have elected to just remove the frog and stuff the VBCAK in my belt sash-style. The scabbard is just loose enough at the throat that I can draw the blade with a quick tug while still keeping everything else in place yet holds firmly enough that even bending forward won't cause the blade to want to slide forward. It rides perfectly there at about a 60 degree angle so that the chape doesn't grind into my thigh when I squat down, and the handle is long enough to get to at pretty any direction if I need it on a whim.
It's an incredibly handle little knife
I'll try to take a picture or two this weekend when I give it its first big work outAs always, a huge thank you to Yangdu and the kamis. It's an honest to goodness work knife that will handle anything that I will be able to throw at it.
Did ya lick them fullers clean when you got done?
