- Joined
- Feb 4, 1999
- Messages
- 5,786
I went out to the woods this week to get a really good idea of just how well a khukuri chops. I now have...4, I think...khukuris and decided that I could afford to beat on the first one I got, a Dhankuta village model. 15", horn handle...your typical village utility knife. I have chopped on boards and stuff at home, but I thought a more realistic test would be cool. I reviewed the Dhankuta aesthetically a while back, if you're interested. Otherwise it has a pretty sharp edge, but nothing like shaving sharp.
I started on the first downed tree I saw. I am not a tree guy, so I have no idea about wood types and whatnot, but these are all non-coniferous (i.e., not pine or varieties thereof) typical Iowa woods trees. The one I went to work on first was covering a mountain biking trail, so I decided it needed to be eliminated. It didn't look real old, so it was probably freshly downed (I would say within the last month or so). I went to work on the trunk, which was probably a good 5-6" in diameter. I knew with the first chop that this sucker was doomed! The blade suck in nice and far and I just started chopping the hell out of it like crazy. I was mainly using the weight of the knife do all the work, and the trunk was about at knee level. I was coming in at an angle of about 35-45 degrees alternating every few chops beteen the left and right side of the cut i was making. This technique made a nice wedge cut really fast. Within thirty chops or so the trunk was rendered in half! I was REALLY impressed! There was no edge deformation and it felt as sharp as when I'd begun. So, satisfied with that I decided to see what it would do with branches. I was REALLY surprised with this test! The branches I cut were 2-2.5" diameter, and, honestly, the Dhankuta knife went right through them with ONE CHOP at a 45 degree angle cut (which widens the effective diameter considerably from the 2-2.5" estimate). I did this on three branches and was giddy with the powerful feel of the khukuri!
My next mission was to tackle a much larger tree that looked to have been there a lot longer. I would say this thing was a good 12-14" in diameter, and it had no bark left on it. No rotting, either. It stood at a little higher than waist height, too, which probably diminished my power, as well.
My first swing was full power and I knew right away this tree was completely different from the last. The knife sank in about 1/4" and shocked my hand a bit. Uh-oh! I went at it with all I had, though, and 30 minutes later of continuous pounding I had a tree trunk that was about 1/3 cut through and a tired, cramped, slightly bruised hand from the shock. I was sure the edge would be dull as anything, but I checked it out and it felt as sharp as it did when i began. That tree was ultra-hard wood!
I learned a few things:
1) If you are going to be doing a ton of chopping, throw on some padded gloves or wrap the handle in padded cork handlebar tape froma bike shop.
2) A khukuri is no substitute for a 2-handed full size axe on a hard, large tree.
3) A khukuri is better and more useful than the typical hatchet or axe on smaller chores (i.e. splitting firewood at camp, etc etc).
It did a lot better than expected, and I think tackeled the super hard tree pretty darn well myself. My hands gave out before the khukuri did!
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My Custom Kydex Sheath page:
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/1298/knifehome.html
Palmer College of Chiropractic
On Two Wheels
agocs_s@dd.palmer.edu
Madpoet (Mel Sorg, Jr.) Tribute page:
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/1298/madpoet/main.html
I started on the first downed tree I saw. I am not a tree guy, so I have no idea about wood types and whatnot, but these are all non-coniferous (i.e., not pine or varieties thereof) typical Iowa woods trees. The one I went to work on first was covering a mountain biking trail, so I decided it needed to be eliminated. It didn't look real old, so it was probably freshly downed (I would say within the last month or so). I went to work on the trunk, which was probably a good 5-6" in diameter. I knew with the first chop that this sucker was doomed! The blade suck in nice and far and I just started chopping the hell out of it like crazy. I was mainly using the weight of the knife do all the work, and the trunk was about at knee level. I was coming in at an angle of about 35-45 degrees alternating every few chops beteen the left and right side of the cut i was making. This technique made a nice wedge cut really fast. Within thirty chops or so the trunk was rendered in half! I was REALLY impressed! There was no edge deformation and it felt as sharp as when I'd begun. So, satisfied with that I decided to see what it would do with branches. I was REALLY surprised with this test! The branches I cut were 2-2.5" diameter, and, honestly, the Dhankuta knife went right through them with ONE CHOP at a 45 degree angle cut (which widens the effective diameter considerably from the 2-2.5" estimate). I did this on three branches and was giddy with the powerful feel of the khukuri!
My next mission was to tackle a much larger tree that looked to have been there a lot longer. I would say this thing was a good 12-14" in diameter, and it had no bark left on it. No rotting, either. It stood at a little higher than waist height, too, which probably diminished my power, as well.
My first swing was full power and I knew right away this tree was completely different from the last. The knife sank in about 1/4" and shocked my hand a bit. Uh-oh! I went at it with all I had, though, and 30 minutes later of continuous pounding I had a tree trunk that was about 1/3 cut through and a tired, cramped, slightly bruised hand from the shock. I was sure the edge would be dull as anything, but I checked it out and it felt as sharp as it did when i began. That tree was ultra-hard wood!
I learned a few things:
1) If you are going to be doing a ton of chopping, throw on some padded gloves or wrap the handle in padded cork handlebar tape froma bike shop.
2) A khukuri is no substitute for a 2-handed full size axe on a hard, large tree.
3) A khukuri is better and more useful than the typical hatchet or axe on smaller chores (i.e. splitting firewood at camp, etc etc).
It did a lot better than expected, and I think tackeled the super hard tree pretty darn well myself. My hands gave out before the khukuri did!
------------------
My Custom Kydex Sheath page:
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/1298/knifehome.html
Palmer College of Chiropractic
On Two Wheels
agocs_s@dd.palmer.edu
Madpoet (Mel Sorg, Jr.) Tribute page:
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/1298/madpoet/main.html
