Taliesan wrote:
I am new to the site and am trying to decide which knife to buy. I understand that HI ran out of WWII 18" today. I like the look of the Bowie and that is a knife that has always interested me, but the Kumar Kobra 20 or 25 looks interesting as do the Sirupati 20 or 25.
I want something that is hefty, good for self-defence, useful for camping, and could chop if it had to. Impossible?
First of all let me add my welcome to the others. Pull up a seat and rest a spell, tobbaccy is always permitted here if you're a user and good beer and whiskys are welcome to, same deal.
That question always brings out more opinions than H.I. has khukuri's as the answer reflects our favorite khukuris within the criteria given.
Just by their nature and design a khukuri will out perform any Bowie at almost any task, but especially chopping!!!!
So therefore to give a really proper answer to the question it means the question has to be narrowed down to certain aspects of not only the specific tasks, but also to the build and shape of the person going to be using the knife.
All the answers given by everyone are proper and true for generalities which explains why the question has to be narrowed down.
"I want something that is hefty, good for self-defence, useful for camping, and could chop if it had to."
None of the khukuris mentioned are particularly "hefty", but any will do the job.
All will work for self defense, some just better than others.
Same with "useful for camping" and "could chop if had to."
The Chitlangi and YCS are both, double fullered, lighter weight, well balanced, khukuris that will cut like a heavier knife because of their weight being able to generate more speed at the tip.
Another really good all around khukuri that's just a bit heftier is the Baby Ganga Ram Special. All will do the jobs you have described.
Personal taste, choice in stock at present, and sometimes price range will help one make a decision from here.
Personally for me the H.I. AK Bowie, although an excellent knife, is the one I would leave in camp for the wife and kids since they are _generally_ more used to a straighter edge than the khukuri has.
The YCS or Chitlangi would go with me out of camp into the wilderness to solve any potential problems I might run into.
The standard YCS has the advantage of having 2 kardas and a 3 cornered awl.
The plain YCS has the standard karda and chakma.
Not around here, anyway. My favorite "all-around" is the smaller WWI. More oriented toward the weapon side, but still very capable as a "woods companion" are the Malla and the Gelbu Special". Nearly ALL of the Khukuris began life as agricultural knives, and evolved along the lines for which they were most used (including heavy chopping, or brush & vine clearing, or fighting bandits and invaders). As for their effectiveness in all these persuits, well, the Nepali are still here, and they still favor the Khukuri.
