- Joined
- Feb 22, 2002
- Messages
- 131
I recently acquired some Indonesian (Malay) goloks from the Austalian based Valiant Trading Co. (http://www.valiantco.com) . I think they are well worth putting a review in here.
It might be strange, but lengths are in inches (because I understand inches better than centimeters for blades and knives sizes), and weights in grams (I'll never get used to pound and ounces
) .
From the bottom, you see a
Survival Golok Medium, 22 3/4" overall, 14 1/2" convex forged blade, distal tapered, false edge, horn handle, partial tang, superb ironwood sheath with horn circlings and fittings, 800 grams with scabbard, 36 USD (!).
Golok Loka 1, 22 3/4" overall, 16" convex forged blade, distal tapered, hard wood handle, partial tang with brass ferrule, hardwood sheath, 600 gr with scabbard, 36 USD (!)
On the top is my Himalayan imports Chiruwa Angh Khola, 16.5 inches total 11.5 inches blade, 1000 grams with scabbard, for reference.
Inspection:
First I must say that I was impressed by the quality of the blades.
They are brush finished, and come scaringly (20 degrees edge angle!) sharp. Forging took place, and the symetry shows it, although less visible symetry defects are seen than on the HI Chiruwa AK. There are some superficial forge splits on the back of the Loka blade. I epoxied the sheath of the Survival G to fix the bottom horn fitting and belt loop fitting, and the sheath of the G Loka ad splitted along the glued joint of the two parts, so I epoxied it back. Unnoticeable now. Changes in air wetness and careless transport from Australia to France must account for this .
The Survival G sheath is a marvel and fits tight (the fit can actually be controlled with the horn circling). The handle is marvelously confortable and rounded, finger grooved, and fits nicely in the hand, yet providing a nice secure hold for swinging movements due to the rounded butt. The feeling of the blade when swinging is slightly ligher than the Chiruwa, it must weight a 100 grams less.
The Loka is a short sword, swings quickly, feels the same than a Cold-Steel Gurkha light to swing. The handle is confortable, and the angle helps retain the blade.
The steel of these is spring steel. The hardening seems perfect, the blades are hardened from the start (+ 1cm ) of the handle to to the tip, constant at the same harness. A file running on the edge seems to point between 54 and 58 RC, which is good, even perfect, for this type of blade.
As a comparison MY HI chiruwa is ~60 RC on the middle of the edge, and not really hardenned at the tip and handle, which I find a problem, as I rolled edges twice now in these places. On the other side, I could hammer them back...
Closer view, the top one is called a Badik:
Tests:
So I took the CS gurkha light, HI Chiruwa , Survival Golok and Golok Loka to the garden. I tried them on all kind of wood, dried and hard, green soft, thick thin, high in the air, low on the ground, some mixed with earth and sand...
As expected, the Survival is wonderful, no vibration felt when hitting hardwood, very very good penetration of both hardwood and green wood. The handle feel is marvelous. The blade never sticks, and the reach it gets is superb, thus saiving my hands in deep bush. The belt carriying is to my taste much more confortable than the Chiruwa, because it is flat, and 200 grams lighter, so one can just stick it under the belt, and not really feel it. The square tip proves usefull for reaching far away things and push-cutting with a rapier-like movement. The sharpened false edge is good for splitting wood and cleaning bamboos.
The Loka, I was quite dubious. The result is quite good, the reach is fantastic, and the penetration is quite good too. The handle is confortable, although the carving is slighly aggessive (will disapear with time). I sticked the tip in a wood trunk and began bending the blade, I got to 45 degrees and back, no trouble. It is is a saber, and if you know the proper movement of pulling while hitting, the cutting effect is really amazing. It began showing it's limits when I started cutting a 4" very dried nut-tree branch, but nevertheless did it with just some more effort, weight being compensated with impact speed. Belt cary is also hardly noticed except for length. There is no loop hole, but a wooden clip!
The blades did not move in their partial tangs, even after heavy whacking on hard wood.
The Chiruwa is my reference for hatchet use, (750 grams) it is excellent on hard wood, not much reach, the handle is OK, but I cannot say confortable, sticks a bit in wood, due to the saber gring, and is generaly more physical. It is a pain, I find, to carry it on the belt, as it weights 1000 grams, pulls my pants down, has a pointy sheath, must be looped in the belt, therefore not allowing quick deposit. But it comes with a burnisher and small knife.
The CS is my reference for edge holding and bush whacking. Light, flat package, needs a loop to carry, but due to it's flatness can also just be sticked under the belt, sticks a lot in wood (epoxy coating!), but penetration is OK.
The kukhuries, due to their geometry have sometimes a tendancy to turn in the hand at impact, which may be dangerous. I found none of this with these golok blades.
To my surprise, a few 1" and 2 " branches were cut without even feeling an impact with the Survival G.
Edge holding: my preference to the CS, very narrowly followed by the Survival G and the Loka G, Chiruwa last. The Chiruwa is last because any bad hit outside the hardned area is a dent or rolled edge. I did tests on some wood which was sand impregnated, and this order reflects the sharpness left after this and hardwood cutting test. The CS, Survival and Locka were back to original in a 1 minute job, the Chiruwa took a bit more (5 min) on some parts of the edge (not sure 60 RC is good), and needed hammering on one dent. (all blades started with the same sharpness).
All blades suffered scratches, that was expected although a bit less showed on the fully tempered blades. None of the blades sustained damages.
The only negative thing I can say about the Golok is about the partial tang. But is is only a theoritical aspect of the blade construction, and only use will tell how resistant it is. So far my tests could not put it in defect, even when hitting with the blade sideways. It seems anyway that Valiant has got some full tang with scales versions.
Survival G blade thickness:
Survival G in hand:
G Loka in hand:
Comparison of the packages:
Compared to a HI 16.5 Chirwa AK and HI 18" GS
More on malay weapons can be read at http://perso.wanadoo.fr/taman.sari/home.htm. (to which I am not related)
As a conclusion, I'll just say that at a minimum of one third of the price of the other blades (which are > 100USD), these Indonesian blades are very very good value. They sustain the comparison and often exceed the performances of the other blades. They excel as machetes, and are overall good replacement hatchets.
I have not and will not cover the self-defense aspect, but one can imagine what the Golok Loka can do, and what are it's advantages in this field....
I personally find the geometry much more useful and versatile than khukuries.
The overall preference order is therefore:
Survival Golok, Loka Golok, CS Kukrie and (to equality) HI Chiruwa.
There are some other blades geometries that I want to try at Valiant Co, and I'll post new reviews when I get them.
PS: I am in no way related to Valiant Co, and the comments I have done on Valiant Co goloks, Himalayan Imports kukhuries and Cold Steel kukrie are only valid in the context of this comparative test, as they are all nice blades.
It might be strange, but lengths are in inches (because I understand inches better than centimeters for blades and knives sizes), and weights in grams (I'll never get used to pound and ounces
) .
From the bottom, you see a
Survival Golok Medium, 22 3/4" overall, 14 1/2" convex forged blade, distal tapered, false edge, horn handle, partial tang, superb ironwood sheath with horn circlings and fittings, 800 grams with scabbard, 36 USD (!).
Golok Loka 1, 22 3/4" overall, 16" convex forged blade, distal tapered, hard wood handle, partial tang with brass ferrule, hardwood sheath, 600 gr with scabbard, 36 USD (!)
On the top is my Himalayan imports Chiruwa Angh Khola, 16.5 inches total 11.5 inches blade, 1000 grams with scabbard, for reference.
Inspection:
First I must say that I was impressed by the quality of the blades.
They are brush finished, and come scaringly (20 degrees edge angle!) sharp. Forging took place, and the symetry shows it, although less visible symetry defects are seen than on the HI Chiruwa AK. There are some superficial forge splits on the back of the Loka blade. I epoxied the sheath of the Survival G to fix the bottom horn fitting and belt loop fitting, and the sheath of the G Loka ad splitted along the glued joint of the two parts, so I epoxied it back. Unnoticeable now. Changes in air wetness and careless transport from Australia to France must account for this .
The Survival G sheath is a marvel and fits tight (the fit can actually be controlled with the horn circling). The handle is marvelously confortable and rounded, finger grooved, and fits nicely in the hand, yet providing a nice secure hold for swinging movements due to the rounded butt. The feeling of the blade when swinging is slightly ligher than the Chiruwa, it must weight a 100 grams less.
The Loka is a short sword, swings quickly, feels the same than a Cold-Steel Gurkha light to swing. The handle is confortable, and the angle helps retain the blade.
The steel of these is spring steel. The hardening seems perfect, the blades are hardened from the start (+ 1cm ) of the handle to to the tip, constant at the same harness. A file running on the edge seems to point between 54 and 58 RC, which is good, even perfect, for this type of blade.
As a comparison MY HI chiruwa is ~60 RC on the middle of the edge, and not really hardenned at the tip and handle, which I find a problem, as I rolled edges twice now in these places. On the other side, I could hammer them back...
Closer view, the top one is called a Badik:
Tests:
So I took the CS gurkha light, HI Chiruwa , Survival Golok and Golok Loka to the garden. I tried them on all kind of wood, dried and hard, green soft, thick thin, high in the air, low on the ground, some mixed with earth and sand...
As expected, the Survival is wonderful, no vibration felt when hitting hardwood, very very good penetration of both hardwood and green wood. The handle feel is marvelous. The blade never sticks, and the reach it gets is superb, thus saiving my hands in deep bush. The belt carriying is to my taste much more confortable than the Chiruwa, because it is flat, and 200 grams lighter, so one can just stick it under the belt, and not really feel it. The square tip proves usefull for reaching far away things and push-cutting with a rapier-like movement. The sharpened false edge is good for splitting wood and cleaning bamboos.
The Loka, I was quite dubious. The result is quite good, the reach is fantastic, and the penetration is quite good too. The handle is confortable, although the carving is slighly aggessive (will disapear with time). I sticked the tip in a wood trunk and began bending the blade, I got to 45 degrees and back, no trouble. It is is a saber, and if you know the proper movement of pulling while hitting, the cutting effect is really amazing. It began showing it's limits when I started cutting a 4" very dried nut-tree branch, but nevertheless did it with just some more effort, weight being compensated with impact speed. Belt cary is also hardly noticed except for length. There is no loop hole, but a wooden clip!
The blades did not move in their partial tangs, even after heavy whacking on hard wood.
The Chiruwa is my reference for hatchet use, (750 grams) it is excellent on hard wood, not much reach, the handle is OK, but I cannot say confortable, sticks a bit in wood, due to the saber gring, and is generaly more physical. It is a pain, I find, to carry it on the belt, as it weights 1000 grams, pulls my pants down, has a pointy sheath, must be looped in the belt, therefore not allowing quick deposit. But it comes with a burnisher and small knife.
The CS is my reference for edge holding and bush whacking. Light, flat package, needs a loop to carry, but due to it's flatness can also just be sticked under the belt, sticks a lot in wood (epoxy coating!), but penetration is OK.
The kukhuries, due to their geometry have sometimes a tendancy to turn in the hand at impact, which may be dangerous. I found none of this with these golok blades.
To my surprise, a few 1" and 2 " branches were cut without even feeling an impact with the Survival G.
Edge holding: my preference to the CS, very narrowly followed by the Survival G and the Loka G, Chiruwa last. The Chiruwa is last because any bad hit outside the hardned area is a dent or rolled edge. I did tests on some wood which was sand impregnated, and this order reflects the sharpness left after this and hardwood cutting test. The CS, Survival and Locka were back to original in a 1 minute job, the Chiruwa took a bit more (5 min) on some parts of the edge (not sure 60 RC is good), and needed hammering on one dent. (all blades started with the same sharpness).
All blades suffered scratches, that was expected although a bit less showed on the fully tempered blades. None of the blades sustained damages.
The only negative thing I can say about the Golok is about the partial tang. But is is only a theoritical aspect of the blade construction, and only use will tell how resistant it is. So far my tests could not put it in defect, even when hitting with the blade sideways. It seems anyway that Valiant has got some full tang with scales versions.
Survival G blade thickness:
Survival G in hand:
G Loka in hand:
Comparison of the packages:
Compared to a HI 16.5 Chirwa AK and HI 18" GS
More on malay weapons can be read at http://perso.wanadoo.fr/taman.sari/home.htm. (to which I am not related)
As a conclusion, I'll just say that at a minimum of one third of the price of the other blades (which are > 100USD), these Indonesian blades are very very good value. They sustain the comparison and often exceed the performances of the other blades. They excel as machetes, and are overall good replacement hatchets.
I have not and will not cover the self-defense aspect, but one can imagine what the Golok Loka can do, and what are it's advantages in this field....
I personally find the geometry much more useful and versatile than khukuries.
The overall preference order is therefore:
Survival Golok, Loka Golok, CS Kukrie and (to equality) HI Chiruwa.
There are some other blades geometries that I want to try at Valiant Co, and I'll post new reviews when I get them.
PS: I am in no way related to Valiant Co, and the comments I have done on Valiant Co goloks, Himalayan Imports kukhuries and Cold Steel kukrie are only valid in the context of this comparative test, as they are all nice blades.
