Toughness Update

Jaeger

Jaeger

Joined
Feb 27, 1999
Messages
543

This is nothing new for the regulars here. For those who may be surfing through and considering purchasing an HI khurkri here is a toughness testament.

I began ripping out the old basement door on my new house today. It was all wood and it was a mess! The frame was infested with carpenter ants that had made their way into a 4x6 support beam above the doorway. I used my 15" Ang Kohla to hack/pry the beam out of the house. After I had removed enough wood to move the beam I used the AK as a pry bar to pry the beam out of place. I drove the tip of the AK into the top of the beam and levered the AK against the bricks above the beam. After about 4 or 5 trys I was able to pull the beam out of place. Absolutely no damage whatsoever to the knife. The stress on the tip of the blade was considerable. No damage at all. A quick cleaning and you couldn't tell that I had used the knife at all. No othe knife in my collection (except my other HI blades) could have stood up to this kind of use!
Let there be no doubt, HI khurkris rule!

Mike
 
Now that is a testament to their strength.

The all purpose tool you can cut with too
smile.gif
 
Big1 :

The all purpose tool you can cut with too
Click to expand...

Probably the most important aspect. It is fairly easy to make a really tough knife or a knife that cuts well. Its not as easy to make something that can do both.

-Cliff
 
I think our old pal, Jim March, called it a prybar that cuts.

The kamis might say, "why do they make such a big deal out of this?"

Uncle Bill

[This message has been edited by Bill Martino (edited 30 July 1999).]
 
Jaeger --- That's kinda like the stuff Leroy Thompson wrote about in the September 98 issue of S.W.A.T magazine. He used the H.I. 15" AK. Bill knows what I am talking about. You can back order the magazine if you want. --- Matter of fact, there's another article in the May 98 issue of Tactical Knives also about Himalayan Imports. These are keeper magazines. And if you want to go back even farther, Fighting Knives has an article in their 1990 issue about H.I.

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[This message has been edited by JAY H (edited 30 July 1999).]
 
That's right, Jay. Leroy was quite impressed with the lateral strength of the AK -- he couldn't bend it no matter what he tried to do with it.

When that article appeared in the old Fighting Knives magazine we were still wandering around the hills looking for village khukuris. It was sort of hit and miss back in those days before we started a standard product line in shop 1.

Uncle Bill
 
The Sept. 99 Tactical Knives has an article on page 38 by Ron Hood on "Survival Blades of the Amazon". It noted that the side of the machetes they carry are used to:

"... slap hard nuts, turtles, big birds, and even trees (as a means of communication in the dense jungle). The big machetes frequently die. These seeming destructive habits give the natives two blades where once there was one..."

Just thought that was interesting. A slap with the side of any HI or Villager ought to be of no consequence whatever to the knife, and quite an impact on whatever gets hit.
 
I'm not very good with physics. But it seems to me that a blade that can bend 60 degress without breaking isn't as useful as a blade that can stand equal force w/o bending at all.

I mean, if your blade is springy and bends, it doesn't translate a lot of force into the prying no?
 
Interesting stuff, Rusty. I keep on learning.

Goat, I think you've got it right with or without a degree in physics.

Uncle Bill
 
Tall :

I mean, if your blade is springy and bends, it doesn't translate a lot of force into the prying no?
Click to expand...

Exactly right. It also vastly reduces chopping ability for pretty much the same reason. This can easily be seen if you take a long thin machete to a large piece of wood.

-Cliff
 
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