Catastrophic Kukuri failure

[Jens Schuetz]

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.

To be honest I like the Kukri Chos but also wonder if they don't do more harm than good.
However there can be a difference between a high force roll stamp and some pattern which was cut out with a file.
That it might still be bad is kind of indicated by your experience. Now I just need to google for broken Kukris to get a more complete picture. If lots of them fail right there...

 

[22-rimfire]

Your broken Kukuri makes me concerned about buying any of the Indian kukuris. You probably should not have been beating on it, but I don't think it should have failed batoning with wood. It appears to me that their was a fracture in the steel if you have not been using it hard prior to this. The rust is the key.

Yes to the roll marked Beckers.That's why they are laser etching them now. My BK-2 and BK-7 are roll marked.

 

[Dirtbiker]

Buy a Himalayan Imports chiruwa ang khola and they are guaranteed for life and warranted as a pry bar. Can a HI blade fail sure but HI will stand behind it.

 

[GrinderMcgee]

....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 etc. etc.....

And you're not supposed to, because it has great potential to damage or completely fracture the blade. But of course you must know that since you just fractured a piece of 3/8" or so thickness forged steel.

Seriously though there is a potential it had a crack before you beat it to death.

 

[Aleous]

Khukuri rarely fail but when they do it can be dangerous, glad your okay. The khukuri is mostly a chopping tool but I don't see why using it to baton would be considered abuse unless you were using a rock or another piece of steel. I agree though go with Himalayan imports next time, best khukuri bar none. The chiruwa ang Khola is a tank, theirs a reason why it's their only khukuri warrantied as a pry bar, near indestructible.

 

[Blackie Scantling]

Score another one for the ax, hatchet crowd.

 

[kamagong]

Looks like the blade was improperly hardened. The area above the cho is supposed to be dead soft.

 

[sirupatespecial]

"And you're not supposed to, because it has great potential to damage or completely fracture the blade. But of course you must know that since you just fractured a piece of 3/8" or so thickness forged steel."

Yea, but I had fun doing it!

 

[PURPLEDC]

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.

1. If the knife was cracked to begin with the transfer of energy into the handle from hitting the blade could have been the final blow needed to separate the two pieces. Even with perfect technique the shock from hitting the blade will travel into the handle. With a sufficient defect perfect technique wont really matter.

2. He stated all ready that even though he agrees it was abuse that this was the first time he has tried such a thing with this knife.

3. Honestly most knives arent "designed" to be baton with period. Most companies consider it abuse. Since the popularity of batoning some makers have built special models and claim it is suitable but for the most part a knife is made to cut things.

 

[sirupatespecial]

Score another one for the ax, hatchet crowd.

Funny that you say that. Just before it broke my ladyfriend commented that her grandmother had a hatchet that she split wood with. Also said that she had her thumb split in two, about 40 years ago. Really unless you beat on your hatchet, using it as a wedge I can't imagine splitting the wood I was splitting using the Kukuri.

If I'm splitting wood I'm using a maul. If I have one.

 

[mete]

http://www.estwing.com/ao_fireside_friend_splitting_tool.php

I've had one of these for years and it's served me well !
BTW they should be ashamed for making junk like those 'tomahawks'

 

[100eyes]

At least the blade broke while batonning and not while chopping.

 

[2 shot]

At least the blade broke while batonning and not while chopping.

That's what I was thinking and if it was flawed it would have broken eventually when you were chopping and who knows what the out come might have been.

 

[Thomas Linton]

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.

It's not a machete.

Any tool is subject to breakage if you "beat the crap out of it."

 

[Thomas Linton]

3. Honestly most knives arent "designed" to be baton with period. Most companies consider it abuse. Since the popularity of batoning some makers have built special models and claim it is suitable but for the most part a knife is made to cut things.

The results of a survey of makers? Checked MORA?

A khukuri is a chopping tool (in this case a cracked chopping tool), and chopping is more stressful than batoning.

 

[unky_gumbi]

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.

A true Khukuri is not a machete, what you are looking at is about a .35" cross section so it should be able to take some abuse.

I have a KH Khukuri, the Warrior #1 model and have beat the living crap out of it. The only complaint I have had with it was the foam handle was bulky and kept twisting so I remedied it.

 

[McVeyMac]

Personally speaking, if I would have had that chopper, some wood to split and a piece of Hickory, I would have expected the steel to have won the battle. Clearly the Hickory and the Oak (or whatever hardwood) won. The OP did not talk about the size of the stove length that he was trying to split further, but I suspect that the failure occurred while whacking the spine towards the tip end, transferring the energy across the blade towards the handle with the stove length/round in between. If a large chopper/survival blade is not able to win this hardwood vs. steel battle, then I have no use for this knife. As others have said, using this particular blade as a chopper would have transferred more shock and energy towards the handle if it were a hard swing, especially given this blade shape, weight and momentum involved with hard chopping. I am certain the OP was applying a lot of force on the handle while batoning, but if these large knives cannot handle this, then I am getting rid of all the ones that I have, and will only buy, carry and use hatchets and axes. I thusly have no use for a large chopping survival knife from any maker, including the ones that have commented here.

 

[sirupatespecial]

Personally speaking, if I would have had that chopper, some wood to split and a piece of Hickory, I would have expected the steel to have won the battle. Clearly the Hickory and the Oak (or whatever hardwood) won. The OP did not talk about the size of the stove length that he was trying to split further, but I suspect that the failure occurred while whacking the spine towards the tip end, transferring the energy across the blade towards the handle with the stove length/round in between. If a large chopper/survival blade is not able to win this hardwood vs. steel battle, then I have no use for this knife. As others have said, using this particular blade as a chopper would have transferred more shock and energy towards the handle if it were a hard swing, especially given this blade shape, weight and momentum involved with hard chopping. I am certain the OP was applying a lot of force on the handle while batoning, but if these large knives cannot handle this, then I am getting rid of all the ones that I have, and will only buy, carry and use hatchets and axes. I thusly have no use for a large chopping survival knife from any maker, including the ones that have commented here.

Exactly, except I wasn't applying a lot of pressure to the handle. The wood was oak the baton was hickory. Wood was already split and was about 18 inches long and a foot across. I was getting probably 6 smaller pieces off of each.

And yea, I would have thought that heavy chopping would put more stress at the cho than batoning.
\
Haven't got with Kukuri house yet. I'll let ya'll know what they say

 

[PURPLEDC]

The results of a survey of makers? Checked MORA?

A khukuri is a chopping tool (in this case a cracked chopping tool), and chopping is more stressful than batoning.

You sir are missing my point. I never said there were no knives designed for batoning. I used the term "Most". By using the word "most" it should have been apparent that I am aware that knives designed for batoning do exist negating the need for a survey of makers to provide proof of my remark while at the same time acknowledging that the majority arent designed with that purpose in mind. Not that they dont exist period. Still not the point I was making. The point was that many knives are not designed with a specific purpose yet people find they excel in those areas and are perfectly fine for the job. I was simply stating that while that most (there is that word again) knives are designed to cut things that they have other purposes that they get adopted for and that not all unintended uses automatically qualify as abuse, misuse or neglect Now even if a certain knife DOES excel at batoning it doesnt mean that the company designed it for the task or that they will honor any warranty claims if using it as such. Take for instance sebenzas. Many people flick them open. They arent desigened as such. CRK calls it abuse. People still do it because the design works well for such an opening technique. In most cases the sebenza can handle it. But it doesnt mean the company likes the idea of people doing it.

 

[Twindog]

I don't see abuse as the problem with a massive chopping blade that thick. As others have noticed, the blade looks as though it already had a serious crack. Kind of amazing it didn't break sooner.

But what I've never liked is the cho, which looks to me like a serious stress riser. Who knows what caused the crack, but it is suspicious to me that the crack was right above the cho.

Battoning would not be abuse with this blade, but battoning does put a shock load on the blade, and that kind of load will be picked up by any weakness in the blade.

Nonetheless, it's nice that this thread has an absence of people shouting, "get a fixed blade."