- Joined
- Feb 22, 2002
- Messages
- 131
Some good news and fun through these confusing, confused, and sad times.
I received last week this Chiruwa from Uncle Bill ( I think it was a PGA -- there are some filled holes on the handle) Price was indeed attractive. It is made by Bura, as Uncle Bill told me.
The finish is excellent ( some forge bumps, but it is character) The Handle is thick and short. It feels better and more secure in my hand than the 18" GS I have. Very Very good first impression. The file on the edge seems to point at "very hard, harder or close to my spydie moran, that must be 60 hrc in the middle section. Tip and back are softer.
It must be 16 or 16.5 inches but I do not really know as i did not measure (and if I did, it would be in centimeters
)
Any way, went to the garden, and did some tree cleaning. This is south of France, and I got some interesting species:
Banana trees are no match, way too soft, but always pleasant for the ego to chop 5 inches of a 3 meters tree in a single whack.
Must remember not to stay under, sofh but heavy, full of water.
Must remember to leave some growing !
Yucca is more of a match, although it is a soft palm-tree like wood, a single whack for 4 inches is fair. What is not fair is the spines in my calves when it felt (he he, always wear metal boots when I do that, specially since I carved some shoes and a big toe with a @$#% cold-steel LTC--very painful).
Cleaning the Yucca trunk from spines after dragging it in sand left no damage to the edge, amazing.
Going for stronger wood, it is nice that I had some orange trees to shorten, This can be done with no damage to the tree up to the 15 th of april, sunday was the 15th. This is a much harder and dense wood, and it takes 4 to 5 blows to go through 3 inches, depending on position.
Still the chiruwa did the job nicely, leaving clean enough cuts.
It is hardwork, and a saw is probably more efficient, but less satisfying. Did 2 trees, finished the other 8 with saw, as I do not fancy climbing trees too high with a big blade and children arround.
As a test I tried Olive tree for some dying branches, and well, it is a petty hard wood and required lots of work. The "chunk" tells you that your best blow will only penetrate 1/2 inch, and the vibration in the hand is awful. I stop there, got caught once with a bouncing Khuk on hard wood, not twice! Anyway, only caterpillars are a match for olive trees.
Finished the afternoon on some bushes, The blade is too heavy for that, there is no feeling of encountering anything, and energy is wasted to stop the swing. Still, it gets the job done and is more fun than scisors.
After work inspection:
Minor scratches, little darkening of the polish (orange juice!), edge fine, except where I used it to pry a nail out of some planks. 2 minutes sharpening with a ceramic , and it was back to normal. The burnisher will not work very well on this edge, too hard !
Grease all that (it is actually 1/2 grease and 1/2 wax, designed for greasy cottons coats) and back to hide (children oblige).
Hand:
No (can't remember the english term..skin holes ?.) pain, perfect fit of the handle. Never slipped (but then I am a windsurfer, so when I grab, I grab). I rounded the back a little with a file before use.
Summary:
Happy, had much fun, children had fun (2.5 years old said "look at papa's blade!" -- must watch him, may be an early case of HIKV ).
The Chiruwa is a perfect tool for me. The GS I will keep for self defense.
PS: also got some Kagas Katne in the same order, and I must say these are nice little things.
I received last week this Chiruwa from Uncle Bill ( I think it was a PGA -- there are some filled holes on the handle) Price was indeed attractive. It is made by Bura, as Uncle Bill told me.
The finish is excellent ( some forge bumps, but it is character) The Handle is thick and short. It feels better and more secure in my hand than the 18" GS I have. Very Very good first impression. The file on the edge seems to point at "very hard, harder or close to my spydie moran, that must be 60 hrc in the middle section. Tip and back are softer.
It must be 16 or 16.5 inches but I do not really know as i did not measure (and if I did, it would be in centimeters
)Any way, went to the garden, and did some tree cleaning. This is south of France, and I got some interesting species:
Banana trees are no match, way too soft, but always pleasant for the ego to chop 5 inches of a 3 meters tree in a single whack
. Must remember not to stay under, sofh but heavy, full of water.
Must remember to leave some growing !
Yucca is more of a match, although it is a soft palm-tree like wood, a single whack for 4 inches is fair. What is not fair is the spines in my calves when it felt (he he, always wear metal boots when I do that, specially since I carved some shoes and a big toe with a @$#% cold-steel LTC--very painful).
Cleaning the Yucca trunk from spines after dragging it in sand left no damage to the edge, amazing.
Going for stronger wood, it is nice that I had some orange trees to shorten, This can be done with no damage to the tree up to the 15 th of april, sunday was the 15th
. This is a much harder and dense wood, and it takes 4 to 5 blows to go through 3 inches, depending on position.Still the chiruwa did the job nicely, leaving clean enough cuts.
It is hardwork, and a saw is probably more efficient, but less satisfying. Did 2 trees, finished the other 8 with saw, as I do not fancy climbing trees too high with a big blade and children arround.
As a test I tried Olive tree for some dying branches, and well, it is a petty hard wood and required lots of work. The "chunk" tells you that your best blow will only penetrate 1/2 inch, and the vibration in the hand is awful. I stop there, got caught once with a bouncing Khuk on hard wood, not twice! Anyway, only caterpillars are a match for olive trees.
Finished the afternoon on some bushes, The blade is too heavy for that, there is no feeling of encountering anything, and energy is wasted to stop the swing. Still, it gets the job done and is more fun than scisors.
After work inspection:
Minor scratches, little darkening of the polish (orange juice!), edge fine, except where I used it to pry a nail out of some planks. 2 minutes sharpening with a ceramic , and it was back to normal. The burnisher will not work very well on this edge, too hard !
Grease all that (it is actually 1/2 grease and 1/2 wax, designed for greasy cottons coats) and back to hide (children oblige).
Hand:
No (can't remember the english term..skin holes ?.) pain, perfect fit of the handle. Never slipped (but then I am a windsurfer, so when I grab, I grab). I rounded the back a little with a file before use.
Summary:
Happy, had much fun, children had fun (2.5 years old said "look at papa's blade!" -- must watch him, may be an early case of HIKV ).The Chiruwa is a perfect tool for me. The GS I will keep for self defense.
PS: also got some Kagas Katne in the same order, and I must say these are nice little things.
