which kukri to get

kalama

kalama

Joined
Feb 27, 2008
Messages
1,231
need some advice,i own some HI's ,but i want to try a kukri with a kraton or rubber handle,no knife stores here carry kukris period ,,looking at the coldsteel in sk-5,ontario kukri,or the kabar kukri.so what do you like an why.i also was looking at the codor it dosnt have a rubber handle,,but the handle looks comfy...
 
I have the SK-5 Gurkha and haven't chopped yet, but it feels incredible. I have a very old, well used CS LTC Carbon V and it performs wonderfully.
 
I've got a couple Ka-bar's, and the CS Gurkha in SK5. Like both of them, although I kinda prefer the Ka-Bar ones. Why do you want one with a rubber handle? They tend to be a LOT less comfy chopping than the more traditional ones, unless you're planning on wearing gloves.
 
I have the Ka-Bar Kukri machete. I haven't gotten around to using it yet, but I find the handle comfy enough as it is.

I have to agree with wanting to use gloves with it, just in case of preventing blisters while using it.
 
The SK5 kukri from cold steel is a really good chopper and its surprisingly light for how big it is. Id say go for that. I liked mine alot while I had it. The edge retention isn't all that great though.
 
Cold Steel's handle design has a bad habit of working loose after some use, where you'll feel the tang bouncing around inside the handle. To be fair, I've never had a handle come OFF, it's just disconcerting to have only the lanyard hole liner holding such a big, heavy blade in from flying away in a swing. I had two replaced under warranty, and when the third came loose, I cut the handle off and replaced it with micarta. That worked much better, and eventually I gave it to a friend of mine. Since I found HI, I haven't gone back.

All of that said, the Cold Steel has a better cutting geometry than the KABAR does, and due to it's distal taper, is less clumsy. The Kabar seems made well enough, and should be strong, but the balance is...well, I don't think the word balance can be attributed to it.
 
I too am a carpenter(master)...i use my heavy hammers (20-24OZ for nailing work) and my wooden mallets for chisel work etc...easier to (feel?) with the wooden mallets...
kalama said:
I am a professional carpenter,I have hammers with both rubber an wood handles.I use both it depends what I use them for.
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I only have 2 and have only owned 2 Kukris, a Cold Steel Ghurka in SK-5 and Busse Killa Zilla. The Killa Zilla is a beast of a knife but this is also it's downfall. It's thickness doesn't change from the handle until nearly the tip and maintains it's thickness until the convex grind begins. The Zilla is a lot of work to heft and a wide grind... you're not gonna shave with it without a lot of work. It's great with gloves but has some hot spots that would wear on most hands .

The Cold Steel is very tough, I've chopped much dry spruce with it without any negative effect to the edge or knife as a whole. The thickness tapers from the handle to the tip and it's a V grind from the tip to the edge. It's significantly lighter than the Zilla and the geometry of the blade makes it a superior chopper. Again, there are hot spots that wear on the hand without gloves but it's a wicked chopper. Also comes with a great sheath!

I love my Killa Zilla for it's pure beastliness but the Cold Steel is a better working blade which kills me considering the Zilla was >2x the price.
 
festerfromnzed said:
I too am a carpenter(master)...i use my heavy hammers (20-24OZ for nailing work) and my wooden mallets for chisel work etc...easier to (feel?) with the wooden mallets...
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the last guy said he was a (master) carpenter on a job i did got fired in four days...im not dissing you bro ,there is a funny storie that happened on a job i worked on ,when we hired a self proclaimed master carpenter from california.i can say he showed us what not to do..when i was younger i always used the 18 oz craftsman frammer w/ rubber handle,but nail guns took over,i am a finish carpenter now an i use a wood handle stilleto,i just think the rubber handle lessens the vibration,thats just my opinion
 
what is the difference between handle length of the HI'S an there counter parts,i have big hands an find my HI'S are kinda on the small size i think,,hows the handle on the coldsteel an others in length..
t1mpani said:
Cold Steel's handle design has a bad habit of working loose after some use, where you'll feel the tang bouncing around inside the handle. To be fair, I've never had a handle come OFF, it's just disconcerting to have only the lanyard hole liner holding such a big, heavy blade in from flying away in a swing. I had two replaced under warranty, and when the third came loose, I cut the handle off and replaced it with micarta. That worked much better, and eventually I gave it to a friend of mine. Since I found HI, I haven't gone back.

All of that said, the Cold Steel has a better cutting geometry than the KABAR does, and due to it's distal taper, is less clumsy. The Kabar seems made well enough, and should be strong, but the balance is...well, I don't think the word balance can be attributed to it.
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kalama said:
what is the difference between handle length of the HI'S an there counter parts,i have big hands an find my HI'S are kinda on the small size i think,,hows the handle on the coldsteel an others in length..
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What size are your H.I.'s? The larger you go the larger the handles are. You can always have one made to fit you or ask Auntie Yangdu to pick one with the largest handle she can find. You obviously havent found "the one" yet.
 
kalama said:
i am interested in your reason,can you please explain.
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When I was driving nails for $$ there were rubber-handled hammers around. Some tried them. No one struck with them. The story was that they caused blisters. Being a rookie, I followed the advice of the older carpenters. I did try rubber-handled hammers a couple of times - not enough to tell about blisters, but they felt strange after hickory -- or even fiberglass.

(Mechanical nailing guns were just coming in and pneumatic guns had not appeared.)
 
kalama said:
what is the difference between handle length of the HI'S an there counter parts,i have big hands an find my HI'S are kinda on the small size i think,,hows the handle on the coldsteel an others in length..
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Like Karda says, they vary so heavily that I really can't say (from HI). The M43 (for example) tends to have a fairly short handle regardless of maker. I have some 18" WW2 models, on the other hand, with absolutely huge handles. The other problem is that I obtained such a large collection of khukuries in such rapid succession, that I very seldom buy any now, so I'm a little behind on the tendencies of the current kamis. Back in the day, Kumar especially seemed to understand the needs of the western hand. It has been my experience that, generally, the full tang khuks have smaller handles than the hidden tangs. I know that "full tang" has a nice ring to it, but in my years of khukuri love I have NEVER had a HI handle even sort of act like it was coming apart---they've been made the way they're made for literally hundreds of years, and if there were an inherent weakness to it, it would have been changed.

As far as Cold Steel's handle, I no longer own one so I can't measure it for you. According to Cold Steel's specs, they're five inches long.

Just as an aside, while I generally feel that Cold Steel has suffered from the loss of Camillus as its manufacturer for carbon steel blades, I do have to say that I think the SK-5 that they use now is actually more suited to a khukuri than the original Carbon V (0170-6) that the Gurkha kukri started out with, being a bit more ductile now while still providing good abrasive edge holding. Changing the steel doesn't fix the handle problem I mentioned, but it is an improvement that world events forced on them. I do miss the Carbon V versions of the smaller knives, though, like the Master Hunter and SRK.
 
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