Catastrophic Kukuri failure

S

sirupatespecial

Joined
Oct 16, 2013
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Sorry about the crappy pics. The stuff on the blade is melting snow. Anyway, batoning wood using a piece of hickory splitting hardwood. Knotty and not straight grained. Yea, I was beating the crap out of it. But I never even hit the area where it broke. Probably split 2 dozen pieces when, clink, there ya go.



You can easily see in the area that it failed, the stress fracture or whatever. Even has some rust, apparently. I've only had this a couple of mo's and this is the first serious abuse, and yea I'd call batoning abuse, that I'd used it for. Done a little chopping with it but that's about all. I'm not at all happy with the look of the steel itself. Looks like it's caste, or pot metal? Supposed to be 5160.

This is a heavy 10 1/2 inch blade. Jungle Panewal. I also have a sirupate that I've done some chopping with. From the same source. Anyway, I ain't happy. And I don't think that the blade should have failed. And, this evening I'm getting in touch with the maker. And I'm gonna have to send it back to Nepal. I really think they should take care of shipping both ways. If not, I'm not so sure I'll bother with sending it back.

What do ya'll think?
 
Who made it? If it's Himalayan Imports contact them,they might be able to help. It doesn't look H.I. though.
 
I think a mechete is NOT for batonning, and when you beat the hell out of one with a chunk of wood you BREAK IT. Show me where it suggests it's for splitting wood, and I'll feel some sympathy for you.
Suck it up and admit you were abusing the snot out of it.
 
jimh0220 said:
I think a mechete is NOT for batonning, and when you beat the hell out of one with a chunk of wood you BREAK IT. Show me where it suggests it's for splitting wood, and I'll feel some sympathy for you.
Suck it up and admit you were abusing the snot out of it.
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So, you're a Beckerhead and you wouldn't baton with a Becker?

I told ya'll I was beating the crap out of it. With a piece of hickory. On the spine. Did you look at the pics? Looks to me like the crack was already there when I got it. But I could be wrong. That's why I posted this, for opinions and insight. And I do appreciate yours.
'
 
Was the rust present immediately after the breakage, or did it develop during the time between breakage and pictures? The reason I ask is if the rust was immediately present it would point to the existence of a microcrack well before the blade broke, a microcrack which allowed moisture to penetrate inside the blade and corrosion to start. Your blade may have had a hidden defect long before you ever took a baton to it.
 
Von Aether said:
Was the rust present immediately after the breakage, or did it develop during the time between breakage and pictures? The reason I ask is if the rust was immediately present it would point to the existence of a microcrack well before the blade broke, a microcrack which allowed moisture to penetrate inside the blade and corrosion to start. Your blade may have had a hidden defect long before you ever took a baton to it.
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These pics were taken 20 minutes after failure. That sure looks like rust to me. Also, the bright spot at the crack. Is that a defect or is it just from where it broke? Again, I don't like the look of the steel, period.

This is the first time I've ever batoned any wood. Split a lot with a maul. And, as some, well many, on this forum have said "batoning is abuse". But then again there are sure a lot doing it. And I can sure see it's place in a survival situation. Or heck, just camping.

This was not some thin, lighweight knife I was using. This was the thickest and heaviest and I thought toughest knife I've ever held. I was sure wrong about the toughest.
 
I think a mechete is NOT for batonning, and when you beat the hell out of one with a chunk of wood you BREAK IT. Show me where it suggests it's for splitting wood, and I'll feel some sympathy for you.
Suck it up and admit you were abusing the snot out of it.
Click to expand...

You are absolutely right, machetes arent for batoning but a kukri is not a machete, not at all really.

The rust is odd though
 
Batoning is a useful technique and is not abuse!
The trick is to hold the handle in a light grip and apply the force directly over the wood.

If the wood is hard to split, remove the knife and continue with a wedge.

In Your pic's it looks like something was wrong with the steel, before You started batoning.


Regards
Mikael
 
sirupatespecial said:
These pics were taken 20 minutes after failure. That sure looks like rust to me. Also, the bright spot at the crack. Is that a defect or is it just from where it broke? Again, I don't like the look of the steel, period.

This is the first time I've ever batoned any wood. Split a lot with a maul. And, as some, well many, on this forum have said "batoning is abuse". But then again there are sure a lot doing it. And I can sure see it's place in a survival situation. Or heck, just camping.

This was not some thin, lighweight knife I was using. This was the thickest and heaviest and I thought toughest knife I've ever held. I was sure wrong about the toughest.
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The thing was cracked long before you batoned with it...maybe cracked during forging. Google "Silver Bridge Disaster" for parallels.
 
The metal is torn, that's why it looks like "Pot Metal" to you. Anyway you can tell that it is a defect because of the rust. You had a hair line crack right there.
 
Chris Pierce said:
The metal is torn, that's why it looks like "Pot Metal" to you. Anyway you can tell that it is a defect because of the rust. You had a hair line crack right there.
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+1

That's the only way you're gonna get rust like that throughout the cross-section of the blade.
 
Ah man.
Glad that Himalayan Imports came out on top when I was debating where to get my first Kukri from.
However I admit that I never batonned with it like you did with your Kukri House blade.
Thanks for sharing and while its super interesting, I'm sorry for your loss!
:eek:
 
jimh0220 said:
I think a mechete is NOT for batonning, and when you beat the hell out of one with a chunk of wood you BREAK IT. Show me where it suggests it's for splitting wood, and I'll feel some sympathy for you.
Suck it up and admit you were abusing the snot out of it.
Click to expand...

Way to read the post before posting yourself. He clearly states he was using it hard. However, a 1/4" thick piece of 5160 done with a HT the way kuks are supposed to be done should not have broken like that. And what do you think kuks are used for back on the farms in Nepal? I agree, it's also a little weird for a Becker guy to say splitting wood or batoning is abuse as that's really the main reason for buying a Becker. :confused:
 
I agree with some of the other posters, there was a defect in your blade before you started batoning. Contact the maker of the blade and I'm sure they will just send you another one. I have a kukri house ang khola that I've batoned with and it's held up fine.
 
Shotgun said:
Way to read the post before posting yourself. He clearly states he was using it hard. However, a 1/4" thick piece of 5160 done with a HT the way kuks are supposed to be done should not have broken like that. And what do you think kuks are used for back on the farms in Nepal? I agree, it's also a little weird for a Becker guy to say splitting wood or batoning is abuse as that's really the main reason for buying a Becker. :confused:
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The main reason I buy Beckers is to use a knife I like. I am well familiar with batonning and have done with anything from a Mora Robust to a BK9, and many knives in between, but with wood that matches the knife I'm using.
If he was batonning by hitting the blade directly on top of the wood being split, why would it break on another part of the blade unless force was being applied to the breaking point as well? I still think the technique was part of the problem.
If he has batonned repeatedly with the knife, it could have fractured from misuse prior to the breakage, and moisture found it's way in the crack. We all know how easily HC steel rusts.
I fail to see how the Kukri, based on it's design, was ever designed to be batonned with.
 
I hope the fad of batoning goes away !
If you decide to photo the fracture please make sure it's in sharp focus !!! Then and only then can I make some rational conclusions . Those notches on the blade may have "reason " but from metallurgy they certainly don't .
 
Thanks for all the replies. I've sent an e-mail to the company and I hope they'll send me another. Kinda hard to trust their blades after this.

I was using the blade roughly. Was it abuse? Sure felt like it to me, I've never used a knife for anything like that before. But, I've never used a knife for prying, opening up heavy wooden boxes, opening alumium cans, as a screwdriver, cutting up car hoods:rolleyes: etc. etc.

But I was trying to build a fire. Like a lot of people. All I had was large pieces of spilt wood. I was making smaller pieces of spilt wood. I didn't have a maul. I made do with what I had. A damn big heavy knife. And it failed.

Heck, It's not like it is the end of the world. I think I learned a lot. I really like my Sirupate tho. Don't know that I will beat on it. Maybe they'll send me another "jungle panewal" and I can break it too. Although I'm pretty sure this one was cracked when I got it.
 
mete said:
I hope the fad of batoning goes away !
If you decide to photo the fracture please make sure it's in sharp focus !!! Then and only then can I make some rational conclusions . Those notches on the blade may have "reason " but from metallurgy they certainly don't .
Click to expand...

I thought the photo's were in good focus. That's about as good as I can do. And yea,it broke right at the cho. Talking about "abuse". Beating on a piece of metal with a punch to make a decoration doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Heck, there was a thread here about a Becker breaking at the roll mark. When they were made by Camillus, if I remember correctly. And Mr. Becker and, I forget, the guy who was overseeing production or something both said that just the roll mark unnessarily stressed the steel.
 
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