WOOT! 25" chiruwa ak arrived today

i brought it down to 600, and it feels pretty good... i kinda like the way it looks satined better then polished...

the only spot on the entire hande that feels rough on the hand, is where the ring meets the tang, wich is slightly raised above the horn (ow).

so ive filled in the gab at the top near the bell with superglue, as well as about 12 layers of the stuff near the ring/tang junciton :)


how suseptable is horn to direct water damage/high moisture?
 
okay, just brought shiva down to a 220 finsih - and WOW. what a difference...

this thing is now going nowhere, unless im all weak and shakey (wich is likely with prolonged use (5' 10", 135lbs, 1.5 meals a day... i cant do super hard labor for extended periods to well at the moment... but i put my full into it when i can :D)) and my hands are to weak to keep hold of it.

its such a good result that ive now brought all of my users down to 220, the 12", 18" and 25" angs, and the 12" and 20" sirupati... gonna leave the 30" siru alone, because im not sure i'll ever find a use for her that wouldnt be fitted better by the 20" siru, or the 25" ang...

what a difference it makes... with the 18" ang, a swing that doesnt hit something (if your just waving it in the air) makes the bell slip across your hand, putting more weight to be controlled by your first 3 fingers. now that its 220grit, it stays put...

with the way it feels, i dont think having it be at this grit will cause hot spots from friction, especially if my hands are a little sweaty to keep it moist. the shape fits so naturally to the hand, that i dont think it would have enough movement to cause friction burns.... blisters, i have to use it to find out on my hand... my battle mistress gave me some pretty badones on my inner index, and on the first thumb nuckle at the crotch of the thumb/index... i would have though it would have been the pinky, but thats what experience is good for :)

and i really like the way they look satined up... takes away that feeling of "so.. those are for show right? you know, like above the mantle peice? their not for work... they look to pretty" response ive gotten out of several people who have seen them. not that thats a bad response, it just makes me want to use them more now :)

good times... the sanded down superglue around the bell worked perfect... doesnt look all that great, but i dont care, it'll be covered up by hand in use :D
 
Seth I used a piece of the maroon scotch brite on my 18" AK horn handle that was too slippery too suit my tastes. I like the satin grain better as well sine I think it stands out more. But to get the grain all of the scratches have to go in the same direction.;)

I had to remove some material from the top and bottom sides of my Busse E-BM as it wasn't at all ergonomic for my hands. I also dropped the point on it just a bit and ground a couple of angles on each side at the top of the point. I didn't want to have to use a rock or my other hand to pound the knife into something I wanted to stab and to me the original point just wasn't sharp enough.
 
the tip does go from 0 to 60 pretty fast...

good tip about bringing out the grain, thanks.
i think it stands out more as well... it adds this nice soft blur of light where everything else on the blade is sharp mirror reflections...

and now that ive got it all scruffed down, im thinking that the horn actually feels better in the hand then wood... in high polish, i still hold that i reealy dont like or trust horn, but now that its satined... the horn almost feels like a superhard rubber... still prefer the stability of plant matter over animal/ease of rebuilding, but until i have to remake the handles, that 220grit horn is pretty darn nice in the hand... really sucks in the ballistol too :D :D
 
I didn't even know what you guys were talking about until I got my 17" horn handled AK Villager yesterday. I am really glad now I got it in horn, rather than the wood I requested (which came with the 12" AK). I wish now I had also got one of the 15" Villager Sirupatis that went at the same time for only $50.

The natural unpolished horn really feels great, and although I'll probably do some work on the balde I'm going to leave the handle alone. It's finished nicely in a satin finish, but not the bright polish of the standard knives. Nice contrast. Maybe a little ballistol on the horn and that should do it.

Regards,

Norm
 
i actually have a tub of hooflex that would probably be better to use on horn... but ballistol is so eeeeaasy :D

and it is a mild disinfectent...
 
Despite my clueless missing of the entire thread Uncle Bill managed to squeeze me in on this one. It arrived yesterday, and after looking at it I can only surmise that anyone who orders a 30" AK is nuts! This thing is massive.

I can get my hand around the handle OK though. It measures 27" and weighs 4 lb. 9 oz. The scabbard is very well done, and the karda and chakma are as well. This one is going to be more of a conversation piece than a working khuk. I could see using it for a dozen good swings or so, but after that your arm will tire pretty quickly, unless you use it two-handed. In any case, Sher took his time and did an excellent job, as did the sarki.

Thanks very much to Uncle Bill for going through the trouble of a special order for this.

Regards,

Norm
 
my little shiva is 26.5 exactly", from buttplate to tip, 27.5 along the spine...

how thick is your ak? i assume that its 1/2".... i wish so much that mine was thicker...

i cant complain with how its built, because as far as im concerened, its perfect... i just wish i had another that was thicker is all...

the thing about this blade and tiring out quick, is to remember that your not controling the blade, your putting it on its path, and making sure it doesnt go flying, and thats about it. with an 18" you can curve your blade to shave of chunks of wood, but not with this bueatiy... she's all splitter. maximum skill usage, minimal physical effort whenever possible...


if i had money right now (my paycheck wich i just got is all thats keeping me from having to borrow money to sign up for 2 classes at community college next week), id put up a wanted post in the knives wanted forum for any HI product thats 5/8" or thicker...

then again, id also buy a triple beam balance so i can weigh these things, as well as a bm 520, crkt m16, lightfoot knightstrike, CR's greenberet 5" etc etc etc etc etc etc.... i think id go for the 5/8ths before anything else though...


im kind of suprised to not see any more posts saying that people have received theirs :( :confused: i know that 26.5" is a little big for the normal crowd, but it is a once in a long long while kind of offer....
 
SethMurdoc said:
my little shiva is 26.5 exactly", from buttplate to tip, 27.5 along the spine...

how thick is your ak? i assume that its 1/2".... i wish so much that mine was thicker....
Click to expand...

Yes, mine is 1/2" as well, but that seems perfect to me. I would not expect your 30" Ak to be any thicker when it arrives really. That much extra steel would just translate to unneeded weight as far as I'm concerned. But, each to his own...

then again, id also buy a triple beam balance so i can weigh these things, as well as a bm 520, crkt m16, lightfoot knightstrike, CR's greenberet 5" etc etc etc etc etc etc....
....
Click to expand...

Seth, I bought a 10 lb. postal scale on amazon for only about $30 that does the job of weighing these blades just fine. Not the fanciest but does the job and weighs mail with programmed rates to boot!

I have the Reeve Green Beret Yarborough in 7". Why do you like the 5"? I figure if I'm going to get that much knife I'll go with the biggest he makes. Beautiful work.

Regards,

Norm
 
better fighter. its about the size and dimnentions of the kabar, and with a good sheath set up, your draw rate can be in the 1/4 seconds area. i feel safer throwing my weight behind 5" of knife then behind 7, less likely hood of it skewing off course/your wrist taking the torque form it doing so. 7" worth of prying power is something that i would only want in infi... not that i wouldnt use s30v for prying if i needed to do it, i just wouldnt buy a knife with that purpose in mind with anything but infi...

mainly, im not sure if i would wear the full 7" green beret around town, wich is the only reason i would want to own it... but, it would not be replacing my ad variant, so it would basicaly be for the above stated reason..


the reason i want the extra weight is because the only thing im ever going to use these two blades for is splitting logs. i could theoretically use them for delimbing uculyptus, and other large tree branches, but honestly, id go with the 18" ang/chainsaw for that. if i could get it, the superthick 20" would be my choice for heavy duty non vertical chopping. its short enough to be managable, but large enough to chop anything i would ever need it to. 26" is just to much to be trying to control for anything other then splitting. so id rather have 6+lbs behind it if i can...

its one of those, if im going to get it to do something specific, im going to go all out with it. like my langlitz (wich id buy another of if i had the money, medium weight cowhide next time...), im never going to need that much of a tank of a jacket, mainly because i dont have a bike. but i'll be darned if i dont love the principle behind it :D. i could wear something 1/2 the weight (jacket = 10lbs) and be perfectly fine, but its a sort of safety bug out measure that i like to have, just because i can have it. if im going to get a blade that im only going to be splitting with, i want it to be the biggest craziest/best splitting maul of a knife i can get...


*edited to add, i dont trust digital scales :rolleyes: i woudlnt want to have to reset it every time i used it, wich i would inevitably do to make sure it was acurate...
 
I received my massive AK yesterday and put it to work right away. I used it for well over 30 chops, and seeing as how I'm not used to a khuk I really strained the old shoulders. I love my baby, though. Any tips for keeping the shine up after use?
 
I recieved mine two days ago. Spent the first 10 minutes grinning uncontrolably. Then, I decided to swing it around a few times to see the fatigue factor. This sucker can tire youout quick (and I have to use two hands for better control). Finally, I took a 3/4" redwood board and took a swing at its edge. It left a nice 1" cut (my swing consisted of letting the blade simply fall with its own weight onto the board. If I had put what little muscle I have behind it, it would have gone much deeper). And absolutely no damage was found on the blade.

The scariest thing about the Chiruwa AK I got was that it came sharper than any Khukri I have recieved yet. And despite its largeness and it being a functional blade, its handle and blade are a thing of beauty.

A beast. The 26" Chiruwa AK is truly something that can take down full grown trees (provided you have the endurance to keep swinging).
 
i have to agree with you that this is the sharpest out of priority box khukuri ive gotten from hi yet... wich is a little scary considering how large it is... but, the benefit of that is that i dont have to sharpen it and make trully frightening to use...

having it chopping sharp to begin with is excelent, because once i put an edge of any kind on it, this big of a knife is now killing sharp... (even a well done 50 degree edge would probably be to much for me on a knife this big...)

heres a comparison shot of the 26" chiruwa ak next to a bilton in hand :D
(from butt to bolster - bilton=3" 26" ak=5 1/4")
 
SethMurdoc said:
better fighter. its about the size and dimnentions of the kabar, and with a good sheath set up, your draw rate can be in the 1/4 seconds area. i feel safer throwing my weight behind 5" of knife then behind 7, less likely hood of it skewing off course/your wrist taking the torque form it doing so. 7" worth of prying power is something that i would only want in infi... not that i wouldnt use s30v for prying if i needed to do it, i just wouldnt buy a knife with that purpose in mind with anything but infi...

mainly, im not sure if i would wear the full 7" green beret around town, wich is the only reason i would want to own it... but, it would not be replacing my ad variant, so it would basicaly be for the above stated reason..
...
Click to expand...

Seth, makes sense to me, and even an inch can make a big difference to some folks, but keep in mind that the difference between the two blade lengths is only 38 mm, or 1.496" (ok,ok, and inch and a half.) I have gotten into the habit of calling the two models the 7" and the 5", but it's really 5.5.

The difference in the overall length of the two models is even less, at 36 mm, or 1.4". I agree that the 5.5" would probably be more controllable in a confrontation, but for only 1.4" OAL difference I decided to go with the longer blade.

Oh, and that extra 1.49" of blade only adds 1 oz. to the total weight, so handling should be very similar.

Regards,

Norm
 
if i ever make my own pants (12-16oz firm hand cotton canvas), im going to put in a pocket that looks like a cargo pocket, but is custom built to sheath a knife, my current thinking being that of iether the busse satin jack tactical, or the green beret 5.5". not sure wich is lighter, but if the satin jack is, then id go with that. i wish reaaaly bad that the busse had a choil more like the green beret though... i have never choked up on a blade where the choil came in handy, and dont think i wever will. when i choke up on a blade, i choke up on the blade, with my fingers on the sides... nothing more frustrating then having cloth slip into the choil over and over again when drawing the knife back and forth...

i really like the idea of a pant leg sheath, right at the level of the hand when it hangs at the sides, under a single velcro cover, you can leave the second latch around the handle on or off, whichever youd like. if you think your going to get into a confrontation, or walking through an alley, you can have the flap behind the handle so its right next to your hand ready to go...
 
Sorry to jump in here, but I thought that the big AKs were wood handled. I take it they aren't?

I assumed they were from the original picture posted on the forums...
 
nope :) mine is horn handled. not to sure what my 30" will be...

it may be that the regular large ak's are all wood, do to the shear size of the full handle, but with the chiruwa ak's, the handle slabs arent to big (half size of normal handles) so horn is an option...

but, i dont know :confused:. ill tell you guys when i get my 30" :D
 
Mine was wood handled and I had requested wood specifically. I guess there were a few horn and a few wood.
 
just got back from the solvang custom show, and chris reeves had a booth there, so i got to hold the 7" green beret for a couple of seconds. While it does feel very similar in all respects, the location of the tip is more of a variable for me with the 7" model then the 5". i know its not much, but its enough that id rather have the 5" with less blade to manuever...
 
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