- Joined
- Oct 7, 2009
- Messages
- 63
To be honest, I really wanted to review this blade over a year ago, but I felt that I had to use it a lot to give a complete review, so here we go.
The Kukri Machete is one of the most popular models of Cold Steel's machete line. It is very cheap and a lot of value for the money, at least in my opinion. The specs:
Bladelength: 13 inches/33 cm. I think it is 1055 steel, correct me if I'm wrong. 2.75 mm thickness.
Overall length: 18 inches/45 cm.
Handle material: Polypropylene
Sheath: Flimsy cordura sheath with belt loop.
Made in South Africa
You can also get a Magnum version which has a 17 inch blade. Sick.
A good machete in my opinion should have good steel, but most importantly tough and easy to sharpen. The handle must have good purchase because of the swingpower you can generate with these weapons. Having some resistance to the elements is also a plus. Do I need to mention a full tang and good relief edge? The CS Kukri Machete furfills these points, some excellent and some adequate.
The blade is 1055 steel(I think). I have mostly cut forest brush, tall gras and saplings with this. For test purposes I have also batoned, chopped and carved with it. For cutting forest brush etc., it's very good. As expected because of its thin blade.
For batoning, it's adequate, but nothing special. A good blade for batoning should be over 5 mm thick in my opinion. It will work, but if you try to baton dry wood with a lot of knots, it will perform poorly. The blade is very lightweight for its size, so you can carve with it, not with extreme ease, but it can substitute a knife in an emergency situation just fine.
Because of its forward weight kurkri design, it is a good chopper. The only thing that lacks is thickness, but it eats through wood quite effectively. Expect a tiring arm if you're a real couchsitter.
The edge retention is decent in my experience and it is extremely easy to resharpen and get a sharp edge. I would recommend using a cylindrical diamond sharpener because of its recurve. When you get the blade new, the edge is coated too, so I used a grinderwheel made of stone, dipped in cold water to remove the coating by the edge and resharpen it. Do not expect a ZDP-189 edge, but you can cut paper with it if sharpened correctly. The coating is very tough actually and surpasses a lot of coatings found on higher end knives, at least for toughness. The tefloncoating found on CS' normal blades sucks compared to this. Remember, this is carbon steel, so it will rust if not oiled.
The blade's biggest feature must be its overall toughness. It is actually insane. I have smashed rocks with this. Go to YouTube and watch "Noss4"'s destruction of this knife. I think it is the only blade he's not able to completely destroy. He bends it over 90 degrees without snapping and cuts through a steel pipe while slamming the spine with a steelmallet. I would refer this to a poor man's Busse, lol.
The handle is very good and fits my hand perfectly. It is also long and will accomodate large hands too. It is made of a plastic/rubblerlike material called Polypropylene. This stuff has a very high resistance to heat and humidity, so no need to worry about warping and cracking when in the hot jungle. It is also very tough and I like it better than Kraton, I think it is a lot tougher. You can see the full tang on the picture above. As far as I know, the tang is actually pretty wide and not a rat tail(watch the test on YouTube).
The handle provides a secure grip, but it can be a bit rough on the hands, but just wear gloves. It has a big lanyard hole and nice 3D checkering. The only cons I will give the handle is that it can be tough on the hands and slippery when wet.
The sheath is pretty bad, but you can't expect much more for the price. It is made of medium cordura with a plastic reinforcement at the bottom. It is revited at the bottom, not stitched. I wish that CS would offer a SecureEx sheath for their machetes too, at least as an optional accessory. But it works, when I say "bad", it is not that it is hopeless, but it doesn't really complement the machete itself.
This machete is an awesome survival tool that definately is good value for the money. It is incredibly tough, again watch the destruction tests on YouTube, easy to use and pretty cool looking. For its price, you won't find a much better machete I think. I've heard that CS is the only ones that make good machetes, maybe I'm wrong. I would recommend this to survivaldudes/dudedettes, gardenkeepers, military and zombiefans like me
If you're a big fan of the kukri shape in general, there is a lot of alternative options. Cold Steel makes a kukri knife which Nutnfancy has a review on. Personally, I would look at the Ontario Survival Combat Kukri, because it is a lot cheaper and it is proven 1095 steel.
For a machete, I don't know about a lot of alternative options unless you manage to steal Jason Voorhees' personal machete, kidding aside. I think maybe the ESEE machete, SOG SOGFari or Gerber's Gator series might be of interest, the Gerbers are also stainless steel, but when it comes to machetes, carbon steel is the way to go. Remember, there's a lot of force and momentum which really gives the steel hard impacts. You want ease of resharpening and extreme toughness.
I dare to say that the CS Kukri Machete might be one of the toughest pieces of cutlery you can get for a very cheap price. And no, I'm not a CS fanboy, I'm only keeping it real. I have never owned a Busse, but c'mon, they cost your car. Have a nice day!
The Kukri Machete is one of the most popular models of Cold Steel's machete line. It is very cheap and a lot of value for the money, at least in my opinion. The specs:
Bladelength: 13 inches/33 cm. I think it is 1055 steel, correct me if I'm wrong. 2.75 mm thickness.
Overall length: 18 inches/45 cm.
Handle material: Polypropylene
Sheath: Flimsy cordura sheath with belt loop.
Made in South Africa
You can also get a Magnum version which has a 17 inch blade. Sick.
A good machete in my opinion should have good steel, but most importantly tough and easy to sharpen. The handle must have good purchase because of the swingpower you can generate with these weapons. Having some resistance to the elements is also a plus. Do I need to mention a full tang and good relief edge? The CS Kukri Machete furfills these points, some excellent and some adequate.
The blade is 1055 steel(I think). I have mostly cut forest brush, tall gras and saplings with this. For test purposes I have also batoned, chopped and carved with it. For cutting forest brush etc., it's very good. As expected because of its thin blade.
For batoning, it's adequate, but nothing special. A good blade for batoning should be over 5 mm thick in my opinion. It will work, but if you try to baton dry wood with a lot of knots, it will perform poorly. The blade is very lightweight for its size, so you can carve with it, not with extreme ease, but it can substitute a knife in an emergency situation just fine.
Because of its forward weight kurkri design, it is a good chopper. The only thing that lacks is thickness, but it eats through wood quite effectively. Expect a tiring arm if you're a real couchsitter.
The edge retention is decent in my experience and it is extremely easy to resharpen and get a sharp edge. I would recommend using a cylindrical diamond sharpener because of its recurve. When you get the blade new, the edge is coated too, so I used a grinderwheel made of stone, dipped in cold water to remove the coating by the edge and resharpen it. Do not expect a ZDP-189 edge, but you can cut paper with it if sharpened correctly. The coating is very tough actually and surpasses a lot of coatings found on higher end knives, at least for toughness. The tefloncoating found on CS' normal blades sucks compared to this. Remember, this is carbon steel, so it will rust if not oiled.
The blade's biggest feature must be its overall toughness. It is actually insane. I have smashed rocks with this. Go to YouTube and watch "Noss4"'s destruction of this knife. I think it is the only blade he's not able to completely destroy. He bends it over 90 degrees without snapping and cuts through a steel pipe while slamming the spine with a steelmallet. I would refer this to a poor man's Busse, lol.
The handle is very good and fits my hand perfectly. It is also long and will accomodate large hands too. It is made of a plastic/rubblerlike material called Polypropylene. This stuff has a very high resistance to heat and humidity, so no need to worry about warping and cracking when in the hot jungle. It is also very tough and I like it better than Kraton, I think it is a lot tougher. You can see the full tang on the picture above. As far as I know, the tang is actually pretty wide and not a rat tail(watch the test on YouTube).
The handle provides a secure grip, but it can be a bit rough on the hands, but just wear gloves. It has a big lanyard hole and nice 3D checkering. The only cons I will give the handle is that it can be tough on the hands and slippery when wet.
The sheath is pretty bad, but you can't expect much more for the price. It is made of medium cordura with a plastic reinforcement at the bottom. It is revited at the bottom, not stitched. I wish that CS would offer a SecureEx sheath for their machetes too, at least as an optional accessory. But it works, when I say "bad", it is not that it is hopeless, but it doesn't really complement the machete itself.
This machete is an awesome survival tool that definately is good value for the money. It is incredibly tough, again watch the destruction tests on YouTube, easy to use and pretty cool looking. For its price, you won't find a much better machete I think. I've heard that CS is the only ones that make good machetes, maybe I'm wrong. I would recommend this to survivaldudes/dudedettes, gardenkeepers, military and zombiefans like me
If you're a big fan of the kukri shape in general, there is a lot of alternative options. Cold Steel makes a kukri knife which Nutnfancy has a review on. Personally, I would look at the Ontario Survival Combat Kukri, because it is a lot cheaper and it is proven 1095 steel.
For a machete, I don't know about a lot of alternative options unless you manage to steal Jason Voorhees' personal machete, kidding aside. I think maybe the ESEE machete, SOG SOGFari or Gerber's Gator series might be of interest, the Gerbers are also stainless steel, but when it comes to machetes, carbon steel is the way to go. Remember, there's a lot of force and momentum which really gives the steel hard impacts. You want ease of resharpening and extreme toughness.
I dare to say that the CS Kukri Machete might be one of the toughest pieces of cutlery you can get for a very cheap price. And no, I'm not a CS fanboy, I'm only keeping it real. I have never owned a Busse, but c'mon, they cost your car. Have a nice day!
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