CS Gurkha kukri & Kukri Machete

[sharpshooter996]

The new knives came in tonight. a day earlier than expected. put a nice edge on the machete in about 10 min with the sharpmaker. the steel sharpened very quickly. that big blade and constant curve mad it a little trickie though. the secondary edge needs some polishing, its covered in rust proof coating. that sure aint going to help it bite it and cut thru. over all nice build. Not flimsey at all like some machetes.
The Gurkha and its 5/16 thick blade is pretty substancial. hope it can take a lot of punishment !!! going out tomorrow to do an inital test on both of them and compair them. interisted to see if the Gurkha will chop a lot better with its stiffer and heavier blade. will let you know how they do. by the way the Gurkha is quite sharp. will shave with the slightist touch. sharper than my SRK or Recon Tanto came. The steel in this offering is SK-5 anxious to see how it preforms in terms of toughness, edge retention, and sharpening.
Will try to post some pictures of them in the field. going to bring the Riflemans Hawk to see how it stacks up.

[eatingmuchface]

nice!
we Love pics!!!
take alot!
:D

I think Gurkha kukri will outchop it.
don't they claim it will outchop any other knife or something???
(I actually know an FFBM will outchop it though)

it should be a great knife for the field! :D

[sharpshooter996]

Just got back from my outing with the kukri's and the Rifemans Hawk. it was a good day and a lot of work. my hands are a little blistered from all the chopping but thats all in good fun!
I am quite impressed with the performance of the two kukri's. the machete chopped better than i had imagened, and it was pretty sturdy. this is my first machete that was more than just a hardware store piece of crap. the handle was comfortable even with multiple full power blows, and there was very little shock transfer back to my hands.
The gurkha kukri feels noticibly heavier. 5oz more advertised. it is as imagined quite blade heavy but it is comfortable and very accurate to swing. i had polished the grind lines out with white compound before going out this morning. i used a power drill with a buffing chuck and was able to put a mirror like shine on it and remove about 90% of the grind lines.
I had warmed up in the yard on some 2x4's with both and knew the Gurkha was going to be impressive after sailing thru the first in only a handfull of blows. it was bitting very deep, much deeper than the machete. i had a grin on my face and packed up and was off to the woods.
I started out on some type of nut tree that had been down for about a year. the wind got this one and i was about to finish it off. I started out clearing some branches off of it less than 1" diamiter both machete and Gurkha cleared them with one swing. then i moved up to some 1 to 1 1/2 pieces and started with the machete it took 2 to 3 swings on most but was not even sweating. Then moving to the Gurkha i did the same and most fell with a single blow. This baby bites very deep and plows right thru them as good or better than my best hatchet. i was eager to get into some serious chopping.
I moved right up to a 5-6" piece of trunk and was ready to do a triple comparison. I started out with my trusty hatchet (Riflemans Hawk) and was doing well. this blade is sharp and it is heavy 32oz it was taking deep bites and working right in i stopped after 60 swings and did a damage report. not bad at all, i was able to get just about 1/3 of the way thru.
I switched to the Gurkha Kukri and started strong. 60 swings and stopped. Right away i noticed how deep the blade was bitting it was very very close to matching the depth of the hatchet but it did this the entire part of the blade that was hitting the tree. after 60 swings i was ahead of the hatched by a noticable margin. I never would have thought this. I continued with both hatchet and Gurkha counting till 180 chops. the Gurkha was sailing away. I could not get over how deep this thing was bitting and the pieces of wood that were breaking off. it was not just taking bites it was taking chunks. it was very hungry, like a shark that had smelled blood. and it was having a feast! the last 3rd is always the hardest with knife or hatchet. but all the way thru the Gurkha was sticking and bitting deep. it was sticking a bit at the very end but not for many bites because it was thru fast. the hatchet had the same problem of sticking at the end but the G Kukri made accurate bites all the way thru not deflecting like the wide hatchet did.
I was amazed at the performance of the G Kukri. it won the contest by a wide margin. something i would not of bet on the night before. nothing is perfect though and for all of its strengths it had one weakness. it was sending more vibrations back to my had than the hatchet and a surprising bit more than the machete. the machete was a real treat to swing it did great on the smaller stuff but just could not compete with the heavier chopping.
With the G Kukri i moved on to a smaller tree. and zeroed in on a portion about 4 - 4 1/2" I chopped 4 sections about 3 1/2 feet long and split them with a baton. The G Kukri worked great for this. its thick spine 5/16 thats .310 on my mic. did not slow it a bit. after completing this task i moved to whittling some fuzzies the blade again worked fine. it is quite sharp and did a good job for this. it was controllable and did not tire my hands.
Well time to call it a day. all in all i might have found my new heavy woods knife. it did far better than i had thought. and quite a bit better than the machete. I might have to post-pone my search for a large bowie. this one seems to fit the bill.
Or may be i still do need one!!! what's it going to hurt right..

[sharpshooter996]

ill have some pic's up of my outing in a day or so. and a side note on the SK-5 steel. seems to be at least as good as the carbon 5 in my inital observation. after chopping all day. i was able to put an edge back on with stromping that was shaving sharp. although it was not as sharp as the new edge. but not bad for all the use.

( hey Noss I think you need to try one of these Gurkha Kukri's, may be a destruction test!!! ) On can be had on e-bay for $80

[Noss]

Cool, glad you had fun with your new blades. I was looking Gurkha Kukri's a while back for a test. I just never got to it. SK-5 is a very good steel. Can't wait for the photos.

[sharpshooter996]

thanks Noss, had a lot of fun out there today. chopped till my arms were tired and hands were blistered. Need to invest in some new gloves. was going to stay out for the night but the weather turned so i had to call it. having a little trouble with the pic's took them in full size format now need to compress them or something, tried loading them earlier but would not work. damn technology, lol

[Noss]

if you upload them to this forum you don't need to compress them. It will do it for you. It can take a few minutes to upload a big file. Let me know if you are having problems ?

[sharpshooter996]

Thanks Noss, Im going to try again later today. heading out for another workout and some more pics.

[sharpshooter996]

78 Here is the Gurkha Kukri in its Secure Ex sheath. The sheath is quite nice sturdy with drain hole, plenty of attachment points. 2 locking points sheath and strap, and easy snap release so you do not have to take your belt off to put on or take off the knife.79 I warmed up on some saplings, on this 1 1/2 - 2" it took only 2 hits. the blade bites very deep and cuts clean. notice the spine, its 5/16 thick thats .310 its a beast.81 Here is a comparison of the spine to a Kukri Machete. Much more substancial!!!

[sharpshooter996]

78 Here is the Gurkha Kukri in its Secure Ex sheath. The sheath is quite nice sturdy with drain hole, plenty of attachment points. 2 locking points sheath and strap, and easy snap release so you do not have to take your belt off to put on or take off the knife.79 I warmed up on some saplings, on this 1 1/2 - 2" it took only 2 hits. the blade bites very deep and cuts clean. notice the spine, its 5/16 thick thats .310 its a beast.81 Here is a comparison of the spine to a Kukri Machete. Much more substancial!!!

[sharpshooter996]

The knife is very accurate to swing and cuts very deep and clean. It out preformed my Riflemans Hawk hatchet and she does very well herself. compared to the machete it outpaced it by a long margin. and that works almost as well as the hatchet.84 85

[sharpshooter996]

It cleared this small tree with little fan fair. the wood was stacking up fast.8687 My recon 1 wanted to come play too. I think they make a nice pair :D88 89

[sharpshooter996]

91 These Kukri's were worked hard. they are only 2 days old and they have already stacked up a load of wood. the coyotes will have company tonight, better make sure i have plenty of fire wood. :D92 Splitting these 3" 3 foot pieces were no trouble with the Gurkha. its thick spine did not bind or wedge. And it is very sturdy to baton on.93

[sharpshooter996]

Hey sorry about the tech prob guys, ill try to figure this out. Have a lot more pics I want to get up. :(

[Noss]

No problem. That CS Gurkha kukri looks awesome man.:cool: You gave it a great work out. Now I'm going to have to get one Damn it. :D Thanks for the photos. I look forward to some more.




All yo have to do to post the photos is upload them. Then after the upload, close the upload window. Write your post an post it. You don't have to do anything else. The attachments will appear at the bottom of the post. From the looks of it you wee selecting the images from the drop down under the attachments an placing them into your write ups. If so you don't have to do this.

If you need any more help let me know.

[sharpshooter996]

Thanks Noss, ya that baby got quite a good work out the last couple of days. I did a lot of batoning with it and a lot of chopping. It is also pretty effective at whittling and works great as cutting rope, lay the rope on the blade and just pull it thru, the curve of the blade really helps out here. The blade worked great on small brances, and smiled at the big stuff. I was real excited to get the machete too but for just a little more weight the Gurkha's performance is so much better, both had a good edge on them but the machete just would not bite no where near as deep, especially on the larger stuff 4" + and the harder wood. The sheath is really nice too. My only complaint is that i wish the handle was a little thicker, not too bad with gloves though. Im also really happy with the SK-5 steel. It held a great edge for the 2 days and I used a cut tree branch as a stromp in the woods and was able to get it shaving again, just barely though. But I guess thats pretty darn good. Better than my D-2 Rat 7, and my Carbon V SRK. I got quite a few more pictures I am going to try to get up, you were right on how i was trying to attach them, Ill see what i can do. Next week im going on a camping trip so I wish to have a lot more pic's. Noss If you like the Kukri Machete you will love this one :D

[sharpshooter996]

Here are some more pic of my outing. The Gurkha Kukri was very effective at splitting large pieces. Keeping fire's going all night should not be a problem when this blade is in the arsenal !!!

[Noss]

:cool: Thanks for the photos of it in action. That Gurkha Kukri looks like one serious work horse of a blade. My CS kurkri machete served me well for many years of field use but I'm dying to try one of these out now. I love big choppers so this looks just about right for me.

[sharpshooter996]

Hey Noss this past week I have been able to get out and really put some miles on this new blade. The more I use it the more I see its strenghts. It is proving to be an very effective field knife. I also like big knives that can handle some serious work. In the past my main tool for wood gathering has been a hatchet. Some work very well but they are limited to the jobs they can do. A large blade is much more useful and can accomplish and tackle a great number of jobs.

My CS Machete is a great tool especially for the price, but it lacks in areas where the Gurkha excels. It will handsomely outpace the machete as a chopper and its edge holding is excellent. Out in the field it has been able to keep its razor edge simply by stromping on some cut wood. With its 5/16 thick blade it provides a solid batoning platform and still splits very efficiently. I attribute this to its full flat grind and very good edge geometry.

The only complaints I can muster is that for extended chopping sessions good gloves are a must, and its curved blade requires some attention while doing heavy batoning. All in all I am very happy with my purchase :D

[eatingmuchface]

yeah, those handles tear up your hands when chopping.

(I'm sure noss knows that though, and he normally wears gloves)
but it sounds like it was a great performer out in the feild.
cool.
:D

Noss, did you say you bought an ffbm? (I might have dreamt it, but i thought you said you did)
if so, I was just wondering if you have used it at all, and if the edge geometry is the same as the one you tested. (cause I know Busse can send the edges thinner, I think and jerry might have done this to the one you tested.)

[Noss]

EMF: Yes I bought a new FFBM. I had two CGFBM's but sold one an got the FFBM. The edge is just like the one I tested. I haven't had much of a chance to use it yet. :( But I will :D
My CGFBM is well used an looking good.

http://knifetest.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=141&d=1214699715

http://knifetest.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=142&d=1214699788

http://knifetest.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=143&d=1214700395

[Thecarotidpulse]

How do you get knives from Busse? I thought they were only making the ASH combat knife now...

Do they make FBM"s every so many months?

[eatingmuchface]

he MIGHT have gotten his of of one of the many Busse exchange parts of the forum.

I reallly want an ffbm.
...
no, you know what, I NEED ONE!

I like how the cordage on the sheath matches the handles too.
now you need to take a break from destruction tests and go out and use that thing!
you almost look like a hog with that thing all perfect like that!
:D
lol

BTW: what are those pouches on the side? they look about perfect size for a sheath.

[Noss]

Thecarotidpulse: Check the Busse company store.http://bussecompanystore.com
on a regular basis. After I tested the FFBM. They had some on there. I bought my new FFBM. on the Busse exchange on blade forums an is a great place to look. My CGFBM's I bought off the net from a private collector.

EMF: The same guy made both the sheaths for me. He added the Blue cord to match the blue an black handles. The pouches are plenty big for 2 DMT folding stones or
a folder.

When I go camping I always wear my Nomex flight gloves when chopping an working around the campsite. I love those things. They are also great around the fire. Since they won't burn or melt.

I know,I know I need to get the FFBM dirty an give it some battle scars. :D:D I didn't buy it to safe queen it.

[eatingmuchface]

the gloves won't melt?!
nice!

yeah, the sheaths are def. pretty cool.

lol
plan on taking it out when you go camping next?
you might get a little tired, but... it would still be fun.
:D

[Noss]

EMF: The man did a great job on them. Yeah I plan to take it camping as soon as I can an chop an chop with it.

[Tac45]

I suppose this is a stupid comment being so obvious. But. Man those Busses look awsome! Nice job on the sheaths. Who made them?

[Noss]

This is his website. http://www.grindstonecutlery.com/ He is a great guy an does some awesome sheath work. He has a full service shop also. Ask for Mike.

[pisau2000]

i have a CS LTC Kukri and Trailmaster in sanmai