Who likes the thick blades?

wildmanh

wildmanh

Part time Leather Bender/Sheath maker
Joined
Jul 9, 2000
Messages
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Thinking about Khukuris today on my day off, I was wondering; Who here is into the thick Khukuris? I have a 1/2" thick 15" Ang Khola I use for limbing trees, also used to have Godzilla a 3/4" thick 25" long 5lbs Ang Khola.

Had me a really thick 15" Sirupati by Kesar that was a pretty good chopper and had a really strong edge. Mentioned it in another thread this morning. It could handle chopping through spare ribs with out much dificulty or edge damage. It went backpacking with me many a time. Was my Version of the Pocket Battle ship. A term I believe Rusty used to describe one of his 12" Ang Kholas. :)

So yeah, anyone still like blades on the thicker side? Sure I have thinner ones, but man, I still like a thick one now and again. ;) So who's with me?

Heber
 
Heber,
While we are relatively khuk noobs compared to many fine folks here, we are getting a pretty good idea of style capabilities, between Kobras, Sirupatis, WW II, AK's, CAK's, a seax and many R- knives, and the cute kagas katnes my youngest avidly collects. While the lighter and faster ones are fun and sturdy, for me personally, the farther away from civilization I get, the thicker the blade, the higher the comfort level. I have seen, high end, fancy pants bush/combat knives fail under harsh conditions, not one khuk has failed us thus far. I mean anything can be misused, but not one of our HI knives are shelf queens, we use em hard.
For example, I have some nice sharp leather cutting tools, but far away in the forest I couldn't have a better tool than my Gool.
And as for Khuks, the 18" Cak and little helper 12" AK,( both by Santosh ), are nigh indestructable. I chopped a hole in 4" ice with the 18" then cut up some fish with it a bit later. To me the weight is worth the wallop.
I pried open a big fat, wet log this winter with my 17" WW II (Bura) to get at some dry bits, in sleet, and was grateful to the strength and reliability of these khukuri aka emergency pry bar, under conditions where making fire for heat was a matter of health and safety.

My 2 cents...
mark
 
Mark, thank you for sharing that. :) How thick are your 18" CAK and 17" WWII?

I started buying from Uncle Bill back in the summer of 2001. I missed a DOTD so he asked if I wanted a used 15" AK. It was a customer return that had seen lots of use cracked horn handle, bent tip, dings in the edge and so on. IIRC the owner had used it to cut and dig out tree roots. Today you wouldn't know it. Been restored. Anyways, at 1/2" Thick and around 1.8 pounds it's a monster for it's size.

I've used it to pry logs apart, split wood, stand on when it's wedged in a stump and so on. There's no way I could break it under my own power and I love that about it. When I want something I know will last, I grab for it. Sher used to make lots of over sized blades back in the day. I kind of think it is one of his. But it reminds me of some Kesar made blades I've had. UB called Kesar old Reliable because he could make the standard models really well and was with them from the begining, First Kami from what I remember.

I'm 6'5" tall and about 180 pounds. Swinging Big blades for me is fun exersize and makes me feel like Paul Bunion. LOL! If I could afford to I would have Khukuris of the same length in different thicknesses: standard and Thick!! :D

Heber
 
Heber,
The 18" CAK,(Santosh), is 1/2 inch and th WW II,(Bura), is 7/16. The CAK was a gift from my Missus as a separating horn scale project knife from christmas,( will be Bocote ), but try as I do I have not been able to abuse those scales off. As I mentioned in another post, I believe that Himalayan Epoxy has some Yeti dung in it or something really tough. I have been giving it a real workout.
Santosh being a younger Kami has that tendency to make a much heavier beast, that WW II from Bura is high and tight and finesse and as close to perfect as I've ever held in my hand in balance,temper, a gradually thinning tang .Art.

mark
 
I like shorter thicker khuks. But with the longer ones if they are thick then for me it makes them harder on my wrist and shoulder.
 
My heaviest kukri is 21" x 42oz and is a good chopper and splitter.
But by far the most often used of mine are of the "sirupate" type with 15" or 16" blades and a maximum of 30oz weight.
At least for me, any heavier and for general use they would be too clumsy.
I'd reckon that "gelbu" which was in DoD just the other day is pretty well an ideal weight/length combination.
If more impact is needed, it's a two-handed axe not a kukri I use.
 
I like the 17" 23 oz Ganga and Foxy Folly

I also have a 16" 25 oz bonecutter I really like.

I think the larger ones are better for heavy chopping and felling for stuff over 6" but they are much harder to chop for long periods with or wear on your hip up to where in the woods you might chop with them.
 
I love the thick blades, but then pretty much every khuk is a thick blade compared to "normal" blades. I actually like what probably would be "slim" blades by HI standards. What I mean is that as handmade tools, and with Kami's preferences there can be a fairly substantial variation in the thickness of some of the blades even if they are a "standard" configuration.

My altime favorite blade is the 17" Foxy Folly. (not my alltime favorite khuk, which is my 18" WWII)
 
I love Thick Blades!!!!
That is why i Buy from H.I.
None of that Thin,ill fitting tourist junk for me.

when i got my first H.I. Khuk, a UBMSS, i was amazed at how thick the blade was for a 12 incher as compared to khukuri you find elsewhere.
 
Just found this thread from Fedruary while looking for something else. Thought I would bring it back to the top for talking about thick Khuks. No new khuks for me since I started this thread but I still like em. Was telling a friend about Godzilla last night, now thats one Huge blade!! Wish Roger would post pics. ;)

Heber
 
hollowdweller said:
I like shorter thicker khuks. But with the longer ones if they are thick then for me it makes them harder on my wrist and shoulder.
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hollowdweller said:
I like the 17" 23 oz Ganga and Foxy Folly

I also have a 16" 25 oz bonecutter I really like.

I think the larger ones are better for heavy chopping and felling for stuff over 6" but they are much harder to chop for long periods with or wear on your hip up to where in the woods you might chop with them.
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A man whos reached the same conclusians as I. ;) I do go to 28oz on one 15 inch blade user for heavy felling though.

Spiral
 
I used my Bura made M-43 for an extended period of wilderness survival/ homelessness. I have used it buiding two different cabins and in the process of notching logs and prying have flexed the blade over 30 degrees with no ill effects. The blade chops better than larger heavier axes, and works as an excellent drawknife. These larger koks can't be beat.
 
wildmanh said:
Was telling a friend about Godzilla last night, now thats one Huge blade!! Wish Roger would post pics. ;)

Heber
Click to expand...


I will try to take some pix tonight. That behemoth deserves it!!! hehehehe

keep trying to edit this to keep Heber updated. Started in the oilpatch this week. sleep now. brain full. More pics soon. 2 taken so far.
 
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seaice said:
I'd reckon that "gelbu" which was in DoD just the other day is pretty well an ideal weight/length combination.
Click to expand...

My Gelbu Special has just about a perfect ratio between weight and thickness for me, one of my favorite things about it over my Ontario machete is that it doesn't bind in the wood! I had my ontario so sharp it would slice into the hardest woods... the problem was getting it out again, one time I was in the woods hiking and it stuck in some super hard wood, I spent 20 minutes getting it out (eventually got a log and bashed it out).
The gelbu has such a comfy handle over the ontario also; with my ontario, if I wasn't wearing gloves my hands would 'ring', now I take the glove off on whichever hand I happen to be chopping with (I'm fairly ambidextrous in my chopping, I can chop just about as well with my left as with my right). My main reason for starting to really chop on a regular basis with my left side was the fact that the gun is on the right side... and anybody who has bashed the bottom of the elbow into something hard and metal knows it is no fun : |
The gun, incidentally, is bloody heavy. It's a Ruger Super Redhawk .480. I really like it, despite the weight. All I need to disassemble and clean it is my SAK.
The reason I'm comparing only with my ontario is that I don't have any other Khukuris; I have my hands full just keeping one khukuri occupied, the thing has quite a bloodthirst for thorns and other nasties.

I did just order a short Tibetan sword though : )
Been dreaming about getting a sword for a long time, was seriously considering getting a Paul Chen PPK for a long time, but I read about how it's not meant for use as a machete (guess I should have known that)... and then read a topic on sword forums about the guy who stuck his katana through his arm practicing a technique - luckily he turned out okay, but if he did that after years of practice, I figure I would probably hurt myself eventually. I realized I didn't want something that I'd be afraid to use; I don't want an especially 'delicate' sword. I still want a katana though... something about it. When I do get one though, I think I'd like a nice one, I've heard good things about Bugei. Until then though, the Tibetan sword should hold me, which I can hardly wait to try out. I'm probably going to end up going to the mailbox to check every day : )

This post ended up being longer than I intended : )

-David
 
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as far as UBEs go my thinner spined ones are a lot more lively and easier to use without a significant loss of cutting power..
 
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