Over the last week, My brother and I have been in the north GA Mountains clearing out trails on our 14 acres. This was a good time to try out my newest khuks.
I have:
- 21" gelbu special (L.B) (very well balanced and light)
- 16.5" AK (R.R)
- 25.5" Kobra (S.B)
From a balance standpoint, you hardly know you are swinging the GS and it is really a dream. The metal end of the Handle on the Kobra needs to be sanded down a bit, it is heavier than I expected, but that comes in handy. The AK was not as well balanced as the others but is light enough to swing, but lacks the reach.
Several months ago I was looking for something that had a long reach and was good for small trees. Our property has river canes, blackberry briars, stringy greenbriars (ouch), muscidine vines, popular, hickory, yellow pine, dogwood, birch, mountain laurel and rhodadendrons.
We are chopping trees as thick as 5" since the slope on these hills makes it dangerous to carry a chainsaw. I am hard on equipment and really put every tool I have to the test. In all, over 8 hours of work we cleared several hundred yards of old logging trails.
Results:
- The Gelbu's metal is very soft, it could not cut a tree larger than 2" without giving you the feel that you had reached your limit. while clearing the river canes and briars I managed to notch the blade in the sweet spot. I used s pair of pliars to straighten the notch and got a feel for how soft it is, this is not bad for some applications, it gets very sharp, it had the right reach but the weight of the blade was too light for the momentum you need to slice the smaller trees. It blazed through the canes and the briars with enough reach that I didn't get gouged by the briars too much.
- The AK was great for the harder woods and dead pines. It is tough and has enough weight to dig deep, but the reach of this blade made me bend over a lot when cutting the base of small trees and briars, I wasn't able to get a good sharp edge on it using the steel and strop, I will need to spend some time with sandpaper and get the edge formed a bit better. Not to complain, this is a good knife, but compared the the kobra, it was not as good, mostly due to the reach.
- The kobra was a real surprise. It held a very good edge the whole time and all it took to get it back was a fewruns with the steel until the burr came off then a leather strop. I duct taped the leather strop to the scabbard so I would have one. This blade held up like the AK and got no notches. The reach of the 25" made me clear out of the path of the briars and was especially good at de-limbing small 8' tall pines with a single stroke. I cut through a 4" popular ( very soft wood) with only 6 chops. Small 2" and 3" trees would sometimes be cut in a single slice. The balance of the blade was just right for cutting the trees and brush I encountered. The wiry laurels and rhodadenrons were easy.
we had a 12" thick dead pine in the path. The only knife which cut through this was the AK, the kobra was too long and not heavy enough in ratio to its length to try it. Both of us ended up hitting the ground several times and were thankful that the sweet spot is not at the tip, even with hitting the ground, we did not notch the blade.
Overall I had to re-steel/strop the blades in the woods about 5 times, but it was understandable due to the number of trees we cleared. My Brother ended up with the AK most of the time, when I gave him the Kobra to try out, he said " now this is what i'm talking about" so the difference surprised him as well.
Now that I have a better understanding of what the blades are best for, I am keeping the GS as a defense knife. It feels the best and is really a smooth and graceful blade, best not for abuse. The AK is good for the stubborn stuff. After using the Kobra I could tell that more weight and length would really help since the chainsaw is not an option here. I expect that the 30" Sirupati might be the extras that I am looking for and buying that would let my brother carry the 25" Kobra. We would carry the AK for the dead logs and really hard woods.
I won't get the 30" for a little while but I expect it will have the reach to keep me standing more than bending and keep my hands and head out of the briars.
I have:
- 21" gelbu special (L.B) (very well balanced and light)
- 16.5" AK (R.R)
- 25.5" Kobra (S.B)
From a balance standpoint, you hardly know you are swinging the GS and it is really a dream. The metal end of the Handle on the Kobra needs to be sanded down a bit, it is heavier than I expected, but that comes in handy. The AK was not as well balanced as the others but is light enough to swing, but lacks the reach.
Several months ago I was looking for something that had a long reach and was good for small trees. Our property has river canes, blackberry briars, stringy greenbriars (ouch), muscidine vines, popular, hickory, yellow pine, dogwood, birch, mountain laurel and rhodadendrons.
We are chopping trees as thick as 5" since the slope on these hills makes it dangerous to carry a chainsaw. I am hard on equipment and really put every tool I have to the test. In all, over 8 hours of work we cleared several hundred yards of old logging trails.
Results:
- The Gelbu's metal is very soft, it could not cut a tree larger than 2" without giving you the feel that you had reached your limit. while clearing the river canes and briars I managed to notch the blade in the sweet spot. I used s pair of pliars to straighten the notch and got a feel for how soft it is, this is not bad for some applications, it gets very sharp, it had the right reach but the weight of the blade was too light for the momentum you need to slice the smaller trees. It blazed through the canes and the briars with enough reach that I didn't get gouged by the briars too much.
- The AK was great for the harder woods and dead pines. It is tough and has enough weight to dig deep, but the reach of this blade made me bend over a lot when cutting the base of small trees and briars, I wasn't able to get a good sharp edge on it using the steel and strop, I will need to spend some time with sandpaper and get the edge formed a bit better. Not to complain, this is a good knife, but compared the the kobra, it was not as good, mostly due to the reach.
- The kobra was a real surprise. It held a very good edge the whole time and all it took to get it back was a fewruns with the steel until the burr came off then a leather strop. I duct taped the leather strop to the scabbard so I would have one. This blade held up like the AK and got no notches. The reach of the 25" made me clear out of the path of the briars and was especially good at de-limbing small 8' tall pines with a single stroke. I cut through a 4" popular ( very soft wood) with only 6 chops. Small 2" and 3" trees would sometimes be cut in a single slice. The balance of the blade was just right for cutting the trees and brush I encountered. The wiry laurels and rhodadenrons were easy.
we had a 12" thick dead pine in the path. The only knife which cut through this was the AK, the kobra was too long and not heavy enough in ratio to its length to try it. Both of us ended up hitting the ground several times and were thankful that the sweet spot is not at the tip, even with hitting the ground, we did not notch the blade.
Overall I had to re-steel/strop the blades in the woods about 5 times, but it was understandable due to the number of trees we cleared. My Brother ended up with the AK most of the time, when I gave him the Kobra to try out, he said " now this is what i'm talking about" so the difference surprised him as well.
Now that I have a better understanding of what the blades are best for, I am keeping the GS as a defense knife. It feels the best and is really a smooth and graceful blade, best not for abuse. The AK is good for the stubborn stuff. After using the Kobra I could tell that more weight and length would really help since the chainsaw is not an option here. I expect that the 30" Sirupati might be the extras that I am looking for and buying that would let my brother carry the 25" Kobra. We would carry the AK for the dead logs and really hard woods.
I won't get the 30" for a little while but I expect it will have the reach to keep me standing more than bending and keep my hands and head out of the briars.
