- Joined
- Feb 28, 2007
- Messages
- 9,786
Okay I've had Christof's traditional leuku for over a month now. So far I'm finding it to be a very versatile blade. It is big - 10" blade, but also light. It is lighter by a few ounces than my RC-6 largely owing to the thinner blade (1/8") vs 3/16 of the RC-6 and the wood handle being quite a bit lighter than mircata.
Chopping power on the leuku is considerably better than the RC-6. The length just helps tremendously despite being slightly lighter. It chops slightly less, but not overly noticably less efficient, that my scrapyard SOD. However, the SOD is quite a bit heavier than the Leuku.
Similar to a machete, the Leuku is very good at springy vegetation. It sails through saplings and cattails and demonstrates clear superiority over the regular big knife choppers like the SOD in this task. It is certainly not as good as an 18 or 23" tramontina at this task, but again a good compromise. You can develop lots of speed with this knife and not wear out from the process. Christoff managed to create in this blade an excellent mini-machete that is good looking and versatile at big knife/machete tasks. Stronger than a machete, lighter than a 10" 1/4" thick chopper knife.
After a month of using it the blade has undergone a number of sharpenings. I admittedly put some small chips in it in two places along the blade. This was abuse on my part. I was chopping through some pressure treated wood and came across a nail
Well the leuku did eat its way through the nail, while the nail ate a little bit of the leuku. Chipping was pretty mild at about 1mm and I have most of it out now through the sharpmaker + 120 grit sand paper to re-convex. There are a couple of tiny nicks, smoothened out, that will just have to work their way out over longer term sharpening. The L6 blade holds an edge reasonably well. Ease of sharpening seems pretty much similar to 1095, perhaps slightly harder wearing than 1095. At least that is my impression.
I took the leuku out to our Windsor gathering last weekend. It was handled by a couple of discriminating knifemakers, among them Rick (Magnussen) and Jiimi Wade. Rick isn't one to mince words and I have to say his impressions were very positive (For those of you who haven't seen Rick's work - they are pretty darn nice too). We did a few "Cold-steel" video style slicing tests with the traditional leuku and some of Rick's knives. This involved sticking sharpened sticks stuck in the ground and chopping through them at an angle. Mind you, much of it is technique, but we were easily able to cleave through 1/2" and then 3/4" sticks using diagonal swipes.
The sheath is great. I sort of roughed up the lip a bit from my carelessness a few times re-sheathing it, but it is standing up to my attention deficit syndrome. I prefer to carry the blade on the side of my pack just because I find strapping 14" of steel to my leg a bit excessive. However, as mentioned above, the knife is light on the belt. You can carry it all day and not really notice it there - unlike the SOD.
Overall - my 1 mo check-up on the leuku is a very positive one. This is an incredibly distinctive knife with its own style. Pretty much anybody who spots the knife (even non-knife folks) are drawn to it and they can't but help ask questions about it and who makes it. It is anti-tachnical in its aesthetics. Despite its large size, people seem to get drawn in by the wood and carbon blade without the side-long glances I sometimes get with my RC-6 or SOD.
The traditional leuku is not suited for prying. Just too long and thin of steel to accomplish that making the leverage way too high for the amount of metal that is there. However, at all other tasks it is great. An excellent compromise between weight and chopping power but fast enough to do the small springy stuff.
One month after having the knife it is still a fun and exciting blade for me to use. I actually can't wait to test out Christof's bushcrafter full tang leuku as I'm next on his list Tonym's list.
Great job Christof. I wouldn't hesitate in the least to recommend this knife to anybody. I will definitely be picking up more Koyote knives in my future!
Chopping power on the leuku is considerably better than the RC-6. The length just helps tremendously despite being slightly lighter. It chops slightly less, but not overly noticably less efficient, that my scrapyard SOD. However, the SOD is quite a bit heavier than the Leuku.
Similar to a machete, the Leuku is very good at springy vegetation. It sails through saplings and cattails and demonstrates clear superiority over the regular big knife choppers like the SOD in this task. It is certainly not as good as an 18 or 23" tramontina at this task, but again a good compromise. You can develop lots of speed with this knife and not wear out from the process. Christoff managed to create in this blade an excellent mini-machete that is good looking and versatile at big knife/machete tasks. Stronger than a machete, lighter than a 10" 1/4" thick chopper knife.
After a month of using it the blade has undergone a number of sharpenings. I admittedly put some small chips in it in two places along the blade. This was abuse on my part. I was chopping through some pressure treated wood and came across a nail
Well the leuku did eat its way through the nail, while the nail ate a little bit of the leuku. Chipping was pretty mild at about 1mm and I have most of it out now through the sharpmaker + 120 grit sand paper to re-convex. There are a couple of tiny nicks, smoothened out, that will just have to work their way out over longer term sharpening. The L6 blade holds an edge reasonably well. Ease of sharpening seems pretty much similar to 1095, perhaps slightly harder wearing than 1095. At least that is my impression.I took the leuku out to our Windsor gathering last weekend. It was handled by a couple of discriminating knifemakers, among them Rick (Magnussen) and Jiimi Wade. Rick isn't one to mince words and I have to say his impressions were very positive (For those of you who haven't seen Rick's work - they are pretty darn nice too). We did a few "Cold-steel" video style slicing tests with the traditional leuku and some of Rick's knives. This involved sticking sharpened sticks stuck in the ground and chopping through them at an angle. Mind you, much of it is technique, but we were easily able to cleave through 1/2" and then 3/4" sticks using diagonal swipes.
The sheath is great. I sort of roughed up the lip a bit from my carelessness a few times re-sheathing it, but it is standing up to my attention deficit syndrome. I prefer to carry the blade on the side of my pack just because I find strapping 14" of steel to my leg a bit excessive. However, as mentioned above, the knife is light on the belt. You can carry it all day and not really notice it there - unlike the SOD.
Overall - my 1 mo check-up on the leuku is a very positive one. This is an incredibly distinctive knife with its own style. Pretty much anybody who spots the knife (even non-knife folks) are drawn to it and they can't but help ask questions about it and who makes it. It is anti-tachnical in its aesthetics. Despite its large size, people seem to get drawn in by the wood and carbon blade without the side-long glances I sometimes get with my RC-6 or SOD.
The traditional leuku is not suited for prying. Just too long and thin of steel to accomplish that making the leverage way too high for the amount of metal that is there. However, at all other tasks it is great. An excellent compromise between weight and chopping power but fast enough to do the small springy stuff.
One month after having the knife it is still a fun and exciting blade for me to use. I actually can't wait to test out Christof's bushcrafter full tang leuku as I'm next on his list Tonym's list.
Great job Christof. I wouldn't hesitate in the least to recommend this knife to anybody. I will definitely be picking up more Koyote knives in my future!
