- Joined
- Nov 15, 2000
- Messages
- 3,708
I decided to really put my 15" Chiruwa AK (by Murali) to some hard tests. I had chopped quite a bit of stuff with it but never pushed it very far. I guess I wanted to know if I could really depend on this khuk if I had to to survive as this is one of 2 that I take while on solo photo trips into the woods(when camping).
All of the below were FULL FORCE blows--or as much force while still keeping limbs attached
Started with dry blue spruce branches--the knottier and harder the better. No problems. Didn't even dull it.
Moved on to green oak. No problem--ate it right up. No noticable dulling.
Dry Oak. Much harder to chop. Found some really hard stuff out in the woods. Worried me a little after a few really hard hits just forward of the S.P.(sweet spot)and almost to the tip. No damage. Slight loss of sharpness, still almost shaves. Or to put it another way, if I shaved you with it at this point you would need to be tied down due to extreme abrasions
Dry Birch. This stuff seemed harder than the oak, but might have been older/drier. Same as above. Same degree of sharpness as above. Basically the khuk is now at "axe sharp" meaning that it is a chopping grade of sharpness IMO.
Honest impressions of handle shock. I noticed a little shock into my hand when holding towards buttcap and doing very hard swings. This was only noticable when I held the khuk as I normally DON'T do, just to experiment with hand position vs. strike force. Otherwise the vibration is not an issue. Like I've said before however, I would guess that with a larger heavier one used to fell trees and the like the Chiruwa handle might be an issue.
CONCLUSIONS: I would count on this khuk to do whatever I needed doing. However, I neglected to smack the blade sideways on hard stumps to test tang etc..and will do this later and let you now along with bend tests.
BTW,
I WILL be posting pics of this one and others very soon because I finally bought a Macro lens--- "for work" of course
All of the below were FULL FORCE blows--or as much force while still keeping limbs attached
Started with dry blue spruce branches--the knottier and harder the better. No problems. Didn't even dull it.
Moved on to green oak. No problem--ate it right up. No noticable dulling.
Dry Oak. Much harder to chop. Found some really hard stuff out in the woods. Worried me a little after a few really hard hits just forward of the S.P.(sweet spot)and almost to the tip. No damage. Slight loss of sharpness, still almost shaves. Or to put it another way, if I shaved you with it at this point you would need to be tied down due to extreme abrasions
Dry Birch. This stuff seemed harder than the oak, but might have been older/drier. Same as above. Same degree of sharpness as above. Basically the khuk is now at "axe sharp" meaning that it is a chopping grade of sharpness IMO.
Honest impressions of handle shock. I noticed a little shock into my hand when holding towards buttcap and doing very hard swings. This was only noticable when I held the khuk as I normally DON'T do, just to experiment with hand position vs. strike force. Otherwise the vibration is not an issue. Like I've said before however, I would guess that with a larger heavier one used to fell trees and the like the Chiruwa handle might be an issue.
CONCLUSIONS: I would count on this khuk to do whatever I needed doing. However, I neglected to smack the blade sideways on hard stumps to test tang etc..and will do this later and let you now along with bend tests.
BTW,
I WILL be posting pics of this one and others very soon because I finally bought a Macro lens--- "for work" of course
