Cold steel vs Genuine Kukris

[inund8]

Can anyone give me advice on whether I should get a genuine kukri, cheap coldsteel kukri or a modern design by OKC or CS? Intended use would be survival/camp knife and axe. Thanks all!

 

[Bigfattyt]

The Cold Steel ghurka khukuri is a real performance piece. It will chop like the dickens.

The new 01 model with the guard is sweet. They are thick as far as Western knife standards, but not by traditional standards. 5/16 thick is a good spine thickness for a chopper. It will come with a handy sheath. The handle material I would like to see changed to reseprine-c. A tougher more stable material, but as far as I know only Bussey family knives use it.

The cheap ones, ie machete are so so for machete work. They are a bit heavy, and have no taper, so they are less adapt for light vegetation. I've had one for years, since they were first released.

 

[inund8]

The Cold Steel ghurka khukuri is a real performance piece. It will chop like the dickens.

The new 01 model with the guard is sweet. They are thick as far as Western knife standards, but not by traditional standards. 5/16 thick is a good spine thickness for a chopper. It will come with a handy sheath. The handle material I would like to see changed to reseprine-c. A tougher more stable material, but as far as I know only Bussey family knives use it.

The cheap ones, ie machete are so so for machete work. They are a bit heavy, and have no taper, so they are less adapt for light vegetation. I've had one for years, since they were first released.

How would the CS Ghurka Khukuri stack up to one of the traditional ones? Better? Worse?

 

[pachiderm]

What do you mean by traditional? Do you mean the ones made in India from leaf springs? I would assume the Cold Steel kukri is better simply because the steel is knife steel not truck suspension steel.

 

[RevDevil]

What do you mean by traditional? Do you mean the ones made in India from leaf springs? I would assume the Cold Steel kukri is better simply because the steel is knife steel not truck suspension steel.

Welcome to the forums, have you ever heard what they say about assuming? It's all true.

 

[Freman Bloodglaive]

If you're want a Kukri go buy a genuine one.

Cold Steel's Gurkha Kukri, although excellent, is not cheap, their cheap machete versions are not as good as a genuine Kukri.

 

[pachiderm]

Welcome to the forums, have you ever heard what they say about assuming? It's all true.

Yes I've heard what they say about assuming. My point was that there are a lot of kukri designs out there, and that pinning words like "genuine" or "traditional" onto a specific design is hard to do. Many of these knives have historically been made in sub-standard conditions from sub-standard materials, and a modernized version of such a knife would almost undoubtedly be of better quality. I probably could have said this in a less condescending way but I'm feeling irritable.

 

[philllll]

Many would consider the 5160 spring steel used in traditional Nepalese khukuri to be superior to O-1 (which is a tool steel) for this kind of application. It is certainly not a substandard material and is widely used in knife making. There are indeed high quality khukuris that are still made using traditional methods. Not everything is junk just because it was handmade in a different country than your own. Even a pachyderm should be wise enough to know that .

inund8, I say buy what interests you most. I suggest getting an affordable pattern of either kind first, to make sure you like the khukuri pattern in general.

 

[RevDevil]

Well to be fair, some traditional Kukri are worlds better than others. Take HI for example, they make really good products and their kamis know what they are doing. Sorry you are feeling irritable, look on the bright side, it is Friday and luckily I'm feeling forgiving.

 

[pachiderm]

Alright, my bad. You guys know significantly more about this than I do. Everybody disregard what I said.

 

[Charlie_K]

Cold Steel's Gurkha Kukri, although excellent, is not cheap, their cheap machete versions are not as good as a genuine Kukri.

Well no kidding. A machete, regardless of style, can never stack up against a genuine kukri. They're two entirely different animals.

 

[Steely_Gunz]

As long as you steer clear of the soft tourist junk like they sell at flea markets, you'll probably find something serviceable to some degree.
I've owned both CS and more traditional khuks (obviously). The CS offerings are what we in the khukuri world like to call KLOs (Khuk Like Objects). They are missing a few features that classify them as true khuks. That said, they are fearsome slashers and slicers and will hold up to some punishment. I had one years ago that was a formidable knife made out of their old Carbon V. Excellent heavy duty machete.

However, I think everyone should at least try a traditional high quality khuk from a reputable maker. They really are magical and ooze soul.

 

[Dirtbiker]

When you say cheap cold steel kukri you must mean the $20 kukri machete not the $200 Gurkha Kukri in O1 tool steel.

If you want a kukri under the 100 mark hang out in the HI forum and pick up a dotd (deal of the day) kukri. You can't buy a better "real" kukri for less.

 

[inund8]

When I say cheap kukri I mean something like thishttp://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B00519UT42

And I was thinking of getting one of the Himalayan imports of I get a genuine knife.

Also my main reason for asking is that some guy at a knife shop told me that the traditional knives are essentially useless in the field because they get stuck in wood and the handle apparently rubs on your hand so you can't chop for very long (I didn't buy most of it but it was enough doubt to come here) Anyway if the genuine knives are the best for the money as dirtbiker says I'll probably get one of those.

 

[Revolverrodger]

I had a bunch of HI Kuks.
They performed ok but they are too heavy compared to a wetterling small forest axe that performs better.
I sold them.

 

[Steely_Gunz]

When I say cheap kukri I mean something like thishttp://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B00519UT42

And I was thinking of getting one of the Himalayan imports of I get a genuine knife.

Also my main reason for asking is that some guy at a knife shop told me that the traditional knives are essentially useless in the field because they get stuck in wood and the handle apparently rubs on your hand so you can't chop for very long (I didn't buy most of it but it was enough doubt to come here) Anyway if the genuine knives are the best for the money as dirtbiker says I'll probably get one of those.

He's grossly misinformed

Khuks get stuck no more than an axe does. I've literally taken apart a 25' fallen sweet gum tree with nothing more than a 22" khuk and a lot of time. Was it optimal? Nope. Did my hands get some sore spots? Well, yeah 6 hours of wailing on a tree with a 3lb knife will do that to ya. Did I have a lot of fun? Oh yeah It was a blast.

I'm an axe fan. I have several and still prefer a basic hawk as a general camp tool. However, a quality traditional khuk is a fantastic knife that will be capable of chopping, smashing, and slicing. They have been my go-to knife for the last dozen years. I've tried a lot of different blades over the last 25 years of collecting. YMMV, but I'm a khukuri guy through and through.

 

[aguijonmagico]

I've read that kukris are utility and weapon knives, and that cs makes kukris as mere utility in the design, because they are not sabre grind, but ffg. Of course they would chop a limb, but supposedly the sabre grind makes for thinner edges and superior knives as weapons.
So if you want a survival wood processor chopper, then cs it's a good choice. If you want the genuine article, it's HI.

 

[OrdnanceBubbaUSMC]

I've read that kukris are utility and weapon knives, and that cs makes kukris as mere utility in the design, because they are not sabre grind, but ffg. Of course they would chop a limb, but supposedly the sabre grind makes for thinner edges and superior knives as weapons.
So if you want a survival wood processor chopper, then cs it's a good choice. If you want the genuine article, it's HI.

Not at all.... the blade is thinner than most traditional kukris from spine to edge. They are all for utility and fighting - with narrower, thinner preferred for fighting by martial arts guys who work with them.

 

[Goosey]

The cheap modern kuks are just machetes shaped like kukhuris. The cheap "traditional" ones are often junk.


Here's pictures by jsherian comparing the spine of an Kabar Kukri Machete (far right) with a Himalayan Imports 18" Ang Khola (far left). Condor Golok in the middle.

 

[JayGoliath]

Cold steel vs Genuine Kukris ?

Modern versus traditional.
Westernized version versus Nepalese version.

Both are genuine in their class.

It's Khukuri by the way.