Mistwalker
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2007
- Messages
- 18,959
I have been a major fan of the kukri knife blade style for over thiry years, ever since my neighbor gave me an old beat up one back in the 70s, that he had brought back from WWII, and then I bought another in better shape a a local surplus store about a year later. Though I never did like carrying them in their traditional sheaths, I always loved the blade geometry, and how it functioned in the woods. So, when I saw that TOPS was releasing their new Bushcrafter Kukuri-7 I was intrigued. I watched, wrote emails, and then I waited on it to come out for sale.
The specs are taken from the TOPS website
O/A Length: 14
Blade Length: 7 ¾
Thickness: 1/4"
Steel: 1095 High Carbon Steel
Handle: Black Linen Micarta
Blade Finish: Black Traction Coating
Sheath: MIL-SPEC Olive Drab Ballistic Nylon (Molle compatible)
Weight: 1lb 6.2 oz
Designed by: Nicholas Fury, L.V.I. Bushcraft & Survival
As you can see it's really not all that big as far as kukri style knives go, but don't let the size fool you. The large two-position handle makes the knife very versatile for it's size.
The sheath is something a little different for TOPS being OD in color. I hope to see more of this available later. It has a very generous utility pouch that will hold several accessory items that could come in handy in the field.
As I waited on the release date, I wrote both TOPS and the designer Nicholas Fury to ask questions...yeah, I'm not the most patient person in the world
I was curious about some of the design aspects. I was really curious about the lower grind than usually seen on standard kurkri blades, and I have to admit I was sort of wishing they would raise the grind height by about 3/8-inch. But as the designer explained to me, this knife was coming from a bushcraft/survival perspective and digging and prying were capabilities he wanted the knife to have without fear of weakening the blade right at the re-curve where the exertion of lateral force would put the most strain during those types of activities. Being a studier of extreme survival techniques myself, this was a line of thinking I could easily get my head around, so I just waited to see how the knife handled in the field.
When the knife finally arrived, I took it and hit the woods to see how it handled. It did well in snap and slashing cuts in green wood, and did fine cutting small dead branches out of my way.
Choking up on the handle allowed me to really take advantage of the sweet spot for whittling curls the re-curve creates. The very sharp edge and mass of the blade made whittling fine curls pretty simple to do, in both hard and soft woods
Dropping back to a rearward grip on the handle allowed me to fully exploit the mass of the 7-inch blade in chopping duty. A 3-inch diameter limb of a downed pine tree was hardly a challenge.
.
The specs are taken from the TOPS website
O/A Length: 14
Blade Length: 7 ¾
Thickness: 1/4"
Steel: 1095 High Carbon Steel
Handle: Black Linen Micarta
Blade Finish: Black Traction Coating
Sheath: MIL-SPEC Olive Drab Ballistic Nylon (Molle compatible)
Weight: 1lb 6.2 oz
Designed by: Nicholas Fury, L.V.I. Bushcraft & Survival
As you can see it's really not all that big as far as kukri style knives go, but don't let the size fool you. The large two-position handle makes the knife very versatile for it's size.
The sheath is something a little different for TOPS being OD in color. I hope to see more of this available later. It has a very generous utility pouch that will hold several accessory items that could come in handy in the field.
As I waited on the release date, I wrote both TOPS and the designer Nicholas Fury to ask questions...yeah, I'm not the most patient person in the world
I was curious about some of the design aspects. I was really curious about the lower grind than usually seen on standard kurkri blades, and I have to admit I was sort of wishing they would raise the grind height by about 3/8-inch. But as the designer explained to me, this knife was coming from a bushcraft/survival perspective and digging and prying were capabilities he wanted the knife to have without fear of weakening the blade right at the re-curve where the exertion of lateral force would put the most strain during those types of activities. Being a studier of extreme survival techniques myself, this was a line of thinking I could easily get my head around, so I just waited to see how the knife handled in the field.When the knife finally arrived, I took it and hit the woods to see how it handled. It did well in snap and slashing cuts in green wood, and did fine cutting small dead branches out of my way.
Choking up on the handle allowed me to really take advantage of the sweet spot for whittling curls the re-curve creates. The very sharp edge and mass of the blade made whittling fine curls pretty simple to do, in both hard and soft woods
Dropping back to a rearward grip on the handle allowed me to fully exploit the mass of the 7-inch blade in chopping duty. A 3-inch diameter limb of a downed pine tree was hardly a challenge.
.
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