Cold Steel Kukri Machete Video Destruction Test Completed

[Noss]

I'm not going to do the write-ups on test knives at this time. Everything is on video and the write-ups are a play by play anyways. I'm not going to post the tests on Blade Forums either at this time. It is very time consuming to do so. This way I can publish more tests faster and give me some time away from the computer. :D

About this test. Man this thing was one tough mother. I'm calling it the poor mans Busse Battle mistress. I went way beyond what I thought a machete could do. :eek::cool:



The videos are in 6 parts.
Enjoy ! the videos were made for you. :)

Part 1
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Part 2
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Part 3
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Part 4
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Part 5
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Part 6
vP3I2gDXOnI

[Tac45]

Man. I got tired just watching the vids! Another outstanding production. That CS surprises the hell out of me. I would have thought the thickness of the blade and its length would have worked against it. But wow. Another good product from Cold Steel. Kudos to them. They do make some strong using knives. Sure they hype the ads. Lynn Thompson likes to wear shorts but man they deliver. I've been a long time customer and will continue to be.

Again, well done men. Whiskey all round.

[miro44one]

Wow, that was a very informative and pretty rough test!Very impressive for a Machete for 15$.

[eatingmuchface]

ahahahahahaahaha!
that was THE greatest test ever!
"die you bastard!"
:D


those things are great!
I know what I'm gonna recomend to people for a cheap workhorse.
I've used mine to chop some hard roots that were buried in the ground, and got some dents, but they are so easy to sharpen out!
i just use a big coarse stone.
you can get a good edge on them easy too.
:D

great test!
thanks for putting al the work into making it!

[Sharp]

I'm starting to really like the Effing commentary from the Effing Cameraman. :D :D :D

Awesome test, I've got get me on these and have it reground.

[eatingmuchface]

you really don't have to re grind it.
it can always use a good sharpening though, and you can re grind it, but it will perfrom good if you don't.
:D

[Sharp]

I just want it hair whittling sharp. :D

[eatingmuchface]

it's such a great workhorse and your gonna go and put a fine edge on it an ruin it!
:D
lol (jk)

I don't take mine to sharp, cause I'm always chopping stuff thats in the grounbd and stuff, but if it's how you like 'em!
:D

[kiah]

That was the most entertaining test so far.

I like the new forum.

[kurodrago]

Excellent test Noss. The machete design make it any type of iron working extraordinarily well. The result of the test doesn't surprise me. The value product is very good. Noss man I love that part when you're saying "LET'S CONTINUE":D

[itxploded]

lol 1...2....3..guaaah! best thing ever!

[itxploded]

fukken awesome!

[The Cameraman]

I thought I was gonna have to get my mail forwarded to the shop because I didn't think we were ever getting out of there. And, thanks to that damn thing, we now have to have oxygen, adrenaline loaded syringes, and a defibrilator on hand during destruction tests. :D

The Cameraman

[dingyu1980]

hi,noss i am the dingy in the old forum
i have a question to ask you, is it the same steel cube in previous videos?
if the buss bm made in the thickness like Cold Steel Kukri Machete ,can the busse bm get so high marks as six swords?
thanks
you are hero in my eyes

[dingyu1980]

oh,
in considering the low price of the cs km i think the knife is the best one for me to equipe in the open feilds.
is the cs kukri machete sharp?

[eatingmuchface]

it come with a VERY rough edge on it and it isn't too sharp.
so just grab some rough sand paper or a coarse stone and smooth it out some, and just hit it on a finer stone and you should be good.
:D

[Noss]

Your welcome men. That machete put up one hell of a fight. 1055 carbon steel is some
tough stuff and it is cheap. It does not have the edge holding of 1095 but it is very tough and durable. Cold steel gets a lot of hell in the knife world but they do make some tough users for the small price tag. They have a good market hold on very inexpensive tough users that everyone can afford.


kiahs: Welcome to the new forum.

dingyu1980: Hi dingy. Welcome to the new forum. Like EMF said they come with a very rough edge.
and are not the super sharp. On the two I have. My user and the test one. The factory edge will chip some at first this is do to the very rough edge. It looks discouraging at first
but once the edge is sharpened back and smoothed out the chipping stops. They just take a little prep work to put a nice edge on one. You don't need any special equipment for this just a stone like a DMT or a good mill file or sand paper like EMF said. You can put a good initial edge on one in a short time.

itxploded: Welcome to the new forum.

[gutsy]

ive had one of those for a while now , good machete . they need to be re-profiled when new though .

[dingyu1980]

oooh, not bad
my question is THAT is it the same steel cube in previous videos?
if the buss bm made in the thickness like Cold Steel Kukri Machete ,can the busse bm get so high marks as six swords

the cs machete , i like it

[Newazzkikr]

Hey everyone !

Thanks for GREAT test Noss & Cameraman !!! I use machetes a lot, its my No.1 , but i prefer latin machetes but that doaesn't matter. I expected this hell from it, but cutting throw steel tube was too much even for me. I am watching this video again and again, its awesome. I expected a lot in choping concrete and other stuff, but we saw many great knifes broken on this steel tube with hammer impacts, the edge was devastated after getting deeper a lil bit, but this machete ain't. Even the blade and edge is thin it won't screw up at all in cutting deeper that damn stell tube, and what is even more unbelievable is that it ain't broke even whit crack on spine and it took some serious hits already cracked. I consider it amazing. Like i use to say: ColdSteel rules again !!! WooHoo !

[Noss]

dingyu1980: Yes it is the same tubing used with the FFBM and the Scrapper 6. The Busse FFBM has 7 swords due to the fact it cuts very well, it chops very well, It is very strong and super tough and holds it edge. The Busse FFBM was the complete package.

Newazzkikr: Welcome to the new forum. Yeah it was tough. It went way beyond what I though it could do. I'm going to test a few more machetes and see how they compare. The nice thing is they are so cheap, Well most are anyways. :D

[kiah]

I'm going to test a few more machetes and see how they compare. The nice thing is they are so cheap, Well most are anyways. :D

I'd like to see a Tramontina tested. The only one I've used blew out chunks of the edge when chopping a 4x4. This was with a fairly thick convex edge.

[Noss]

I think they have Tramontina machetes at one of my local hardware stores. I go down this week and see what they have. If not I'll order one for a test.

[Newazzkikr]

Man ! what i did with this Tramontina machetes in woods, that wouldn't survive any other knife. It is even cheaper than coldsteel machetes (in my country). This test will be awesome if you choose to do it Noss and meaby we discover that the cheapest knife on market performs best. It will be dificult to brake it, only steel tube could, but coldsteel survived it very well. Well let us surprise, i expect a lot from this baby.

[miro44one]

Yeah, a Tramontina test would be very interesting...but first the Ranger:)

[eatingmuchface]

I don't think the tramonie would make it very far..
but it would be a good comparison to the cold steel kukri.
:D

noss will have the raner test up soon.
I Can't wait!

[kiah]

Man ! what i did with this Tramontina machetes in woods, that wouldn't survive any other knife. It is even cheaper than coldsteel machetes (in my country). This test will be awesome if you choose to do it Noss and meaby we discover that the cheapest knife on market performs best. It will be dificult to brake it, only steel tube could, but coldsteel survived it very well. Well let us surprise, i expect a lot from this baby.

It's possible I got a bad one. I ordered a 12 inch and a bolo at the same time. Both had flat edges.

I convexed the edge of the 12 inch on a belt grinder as I've done on a few other machetes and a butt-load of knives. I then took a couple of light swings into a fresh 4x4. It came out with chunks missing from the edge (big chunks). I took it back to the grinder and got it down past the damage. Then I took it out into the woods behind my house and cleared a few saplings and vines. When I got done, it looked like I had hacked a car apart with it.

After that, I never even tried the bolo. I went back to my Wal-Mart special 18 inch, that's never given me a problem, and my 24 inch Colombian that's hit hidden steel at full swing without taking the damage the Tram took on green wood.

[xxo]

Thanks for the test Noss!

I knew the 1055 steel blades on these suckers is tough, but I was supriszed at how much of a beating the plastic handles before they started to let go.


Can't wait to see the field test vid!


There was a clip on one of the proof dvd's that showed these machetes being made(looked for it on youtube, couldn't find it).

[Noss]

xxo: I think I'm going to re shoot the field test on it. I had a camera problem when we went out that day.I lost most of the heavy chopping footage along with the Browning Comp knife. So I may just take mine back out to the woods and do it again. Besides it will give me a great excuse to go camping again. :D

[xxo]

Thanks

sounds like fun, the Browning should make for an interesting comparision.

[Noss]

I gave one of my Brownings to the cam man. The other has met it's fate. I'll get it from him to use.

[eatingmuchface]

I remember you said that you lost alot of film in the other browning field test.

wow... I never knew you tested the browning.
cool cool.
:D
can't wait for the CS kukri field test.

[Noss]

I have had it done for while. I just never got to finishing it up. I just got busy with some other tests and it sat.

[eatingmuchface]

yeah. it's unerstandable.
cool to here.
hopefully when you get some free time (which is probably pretty limited) you can get it up.
:D

[Noss]

I'm going to post it. I need to get cam man off my back about it. every time I see him he says post the Browning. He likes that knife. I do also.

[Savagesicslayer]

I'll never look at that old beater the same way again.

[Gman1128]

WOW! Thanks for the incredible test! It did way better then I would have expected.

I couldn't watch it until now because my family moved across the country, but it was sure worth the wait!!!

Just imagine how tough the knife would be if it were 1/4 or 5/16 inches thick like some of the others. There would be no way you could hurt that thing.

[Not too bad, man]

This was an awesome test.:eek: I've got to pick up one of these. I have the CS Panga (http://www.coldsteel.com/pangamachete.html) model, it is very cool too, and now I know the bastard is extremely tough. Thanks Noss.

[jando]

This was an amazing test to watch. I was surprised the blade was able to be straightened after being bent out of shape. I got one of these machetes for my dad and now I know that it will last him for quite a while. The downside to that is I now suspect that I will be forced into doing additional manual labor now that we have a good tool. :D

[dingyu1980]

hi NOss ,
long time on see
i fond a mistake on the pageof the destrction tests of cs kukr that is the part 5 and part 6 are the same !
you can check it out!

[dingyu1980]

not part 5 and part 6
i say the part 4 and part 5 are the same one!

[sharpshooter996]

Cold Steel... Just the word pisses some people off, and has others saying what a piece of shit they are. Have you seen those videos, what a bunch of hype what knives cant do all that. The fact is a lot of other knives cant and would fail at some of these tests. And I own several ,that I would never dare stab into metal or poke into wood and bend over.

I just got done bending the blade on one of my knives poking it into a 2x4. CRKT Kasper companion. And I own a Spyderco military that I bent the tip on stabbing into the handle of a laundry det bottle. That knife cuts cardboard and meat great but I would never take it into the field. Its tip is needle thin, and its lock is far from secure, at least for any type of hard use. And the list does not stop there.

On the other hand I own a CS Recon 1 that I have pounded into car doors, hacked thru sheet metal and countless other things and I have never chipped the blade, or dented the tip. the only damage I have done to this knife is take off some of the teflon coating, and im not going to cry over that.

And we all have seen what the Kukri Machete and Gi tanto can do. And they do not cost $100 And the Bushman and so on and so on.

What im saying is you dont need to have a Busse or Swamp Rat to be cool or have a tuff knife. And if you have a Ranger or Chris Reeve you arn't the shit. You can have a $15 Kukri machete or a $10 Cheaper than dirt rough use knife and be able to pound on them till your hearts content :D

Well thats all i have to say about that

[Noss]

dingyu1980: I fixed it. Thanks for letting me know about it.

sharpshooter996 Cold Steel makes some good knives for the money an they offer
a lot of variety an wide price ranges. I have never used there expensive knives.

[Tac45]

I have a few Cold Steel knives. I can't really fault a single one. Sure they like to hype their ads. Who doesn't? I reckon they are 'the goods'. I don't know a single person who has one that hates it. I reckon a lot posters on the forums who hate them probably don't own one. More likely they want to be 'cool' and follow the 'sheeple' knockers. Like saying I hate ABBA and secretly having an ABBA collection.

[FOBOS]

I Love ABBA! " Dancing Queen" is my favorite song! Well not really, but I do have some Cold Steel knives. I don't get it, why should I or anyone else care if the knife is $100 or $10 if it cuts and takes abuse. I don't want to be a snob, just like collecting knives.

[1900]

Hey Noss,how'd the Browning do?Thanks for the tests!

[Thecarotidpulse]

Well said gentlemen.

Do you remember what your first knife was? Mine was a SAK esquire when i was maybe 5 years old... The damn thing had a lot of blade movement, but it was sharp (consider my size at the time).

Was carving into a cork when it was the first time I accidentally cut myself - first time and I didnt freak out, i put pressure and a bandaid on it and kept playing.

Point is, we all start somewhere and the knife fits the user right? Some people will never go out with fixed blades, only folders - and that's OK.

[sharpshooter996]

Everybody, points well said. Noss My biggest investment in Cold Steel is my $80 Gurkha Kurki. Proving to be a good price to :D factor. I once was thinking about their San Mai blades but they are just too much dough. When I am ready to go for the bacon ill be buying a Busse. Every time I watch the FFBM test ,I am in awe. That Infi Steel looks like pure Magic. And im sure Noss can attest to that.

[me2]

I hate to bring back a dead thread, but I just picked one of these up. Noss, you've done a field test, how does it compare to others in chopping? Its the first big knife I've had that I could get to cut an empty 2 liter bottle, after a proper sharpening. The edges on these from the shop are terrible. Thats what 1x30 sanders and microfinishing belts, or paper wheels, are for. The beauty of the INFI and the 1045-1060 steels is the low carbon content. Thats right, if toughness is primary and edge holding is a close second, or even a distant second, drop the carbon content. As I've said in other threads, the change in toughness vs. hardness is far from linear over the range of tempering temperatures. Know your steel, get good results, follow what everyone else is doing, get adequate results. Of course, the more people learn, the more everyone else does it better, so its a constantly changing measuring stick. Infi's is about the same carbon content as the GI Tanto or the Kukri Machete, it just has other stuff, which makes it even tougher. Check out the Metals Handbook. The highest carbon content for the steels given the "toughest" or "very tough" rating is 0.75% by weight. These are relative ratings, and apparently points are given for achieving the high toughness ratings at relatively high hardness. CPM 3V is not included, and I have never used it, so I cannot comment.

[Noss]

Before I bought my Busse FBM's This is what I always used in the field for many years. They are a very good machete. As you have seen the edges from the factory are pretty rough. The edge will tend to roll some if you start chopping with the factory edge. They need to be sharpened back some and cleaned up after this the edge should not roll or roll
very little. They will take a very good sharp edge. It won't hold it like many harder carbon steels but it does well enough for a hard day of chopping. I always carry a DMT folding stone in the field with me anyways if I need to quickly touch it up.

My Busse NMFBM will out chop it but it does well and I was always able to quickly chop up some nice size fire wood for the all night camp fire I like to keep going.

I have never had any problems with mine in the field and I did a lot of heavy chopping and batoning with it over the years. I also used it to dig my fire pits the broad blade
worked well for this.

I did a 1 minute chopping shootout video with it against some other fixed blades and a Gerber hatchet. There is a long version and a short version of the videos at the link below.

http://knifetests.com/ChoppingShootout.html

[will york]

Thanks for that link, Noss. Just out of curiosity while watching it, I counted the number of strokes you used on the 4x4 with both the Cold Steel Khukri Machete and the Gerber hatchet. Both were within 2-3 chops of 75 strokes at the 1-minute buzzer.

Then I went to the NMFBM chopping demo and counted the chops it took to get completely through a 4x4--right at 38, which is about half the number of either the hatchet or the machete. Plus the NMFBM got all the way through, while both the hatchet and the machete still had a little yet to go.

I hadn't realized the difference was quite that dramatic--no wonder you said you'd never seen anything like the NMFBM for a chopper! :cool: :cool: :cool:

PS--Just went back and timed the NMFBM 4x4 demo, and it's right at 30 seconds--so it got all the way through in half the time, as well as half the number of strokes.

[will york]

Another idle thought--if you still have a personal FFBM or CG FBM, how big a deal would it be to work out on a 4x4 in front of the camera with either or both of those for comparison?

Might could become a 1 minute test for all knives designed to be choppers: If they don't make it all the way through a 4x4, how far do they get? And if they do make it all the way through, how many seconds and how many strokes did it take? Just a general rule-of-thumb indicator you could apply to any knife for a ballpark comparison with all others tested.

If the difference between two knives is only a few strokes or seconds, the result would be insignificant between those knives but would help group them into a general efficiency range. And in cases such as with the khuk/hatchet/NMFBM, that's some very interesting and useful info across a fairly broad range of time and repetitions to complete the task.

You wouldn't even need to set up a timer or count your strokes--those numbers would be self-evident once you had it on video.

[J_Curd]

I usually dont buy Cold Steel products because I dont care for their marketing. I recently bought one of the Kopis Machetes because of the weight, balance, and the nice handle (plastic and wood handled machetes are rough on the hand).

Like Noss, the edge took a alot of work to get sharp, but for the $20 I paid for it, its fricken awesome. Its tough as nails, makes a good improvised short sword, and is one helluva nice piece of steel for the stupidly cheap price. Compared to the level of destruction that a common user will put it through, a blade that costs 5% of a $400+ Busse chopper is an AWESOME deal.

Hate Cold Steel, but this one is a winner.

[Noss]

Will: Yes I still have my FFBM, CGFBM. It's no trouble to do the test again with the 3 FBM's. Give me a little time to get this done. :)

[will york]

Will: Yes I still have my FFBM, CGFBM. It's no trouble to do the test again with the 3 FBM's. Give me a little time to get this done. :)

That's very cool. Thanks, Noss! :rockon: :D :cool:

[superc]

Sorry it took me so long to find this thread. I started a review of one of these on Blade forum a few years ago. Expected it to fail fairly quickly. Amazingly it hasn't yet. This CS Magnum Kuhkri on my side with a Camel Back on my back and a big 15HP DR Field and Brush Mower in my hands makes for an awesome summer time groundskeeping combo. I have (when it is too far to go back for the chain saw) chopped down 8" trees with mine, dug out Kudzu mother roots with it too. This is in addition to taking out 7 foot raspberry bushes.

As others have noted, the first thing to do with one when you get it is resharpen it and take the tool marks (hidden under the black paint) off the edge. I keep a rough 8" stone in my pocket for field touch ups. I have chipped the blade edge once or twice. Hitting rocks while hacking at Kudzu roots, or hitting barbed wire on forgotten fences when clearing paths through the vine coated woods. [The Northern Shenandoah Valley is very much like a tropical rain forest once you get deep into the woods.] All of the damage was superficial and fixable in the field. I expected the rubber like handle to pull loose years ago. Nope, not yet.

Can it be improved? Heck yes. Thicken the belly of the blade by an inch to increase the size of the sweet spot. A less acute angle on the point with a gut (vine) hook added about 3 inches back trom the tip for those almost just out of reach stuff. More than once swinging at a vine just at the edge of the tip, all that happens is the vine is pushed aside by the tip. Catch the same vine or twig with the belly though and it is history. I would make the blade a few inches longer, maybe a 20" or 22 inch blade. Make the grip an inch longer and drop the lanyard hole in the grip, or put on a cutlass type handguard to aid in retention when chopping hard wood at awkward angles.

Beyond those minor changes the thing is awesome.

[Noss]

superc: Welcome to the forum. Do you have a link to your review on blade forums ? I guess I can find it doing a search.

[G. Scott H.]

I'll second that link request. Any long term info on Cold Steel's lower end products is always appreciated. :rockon:

[superc]

Thanks Noss. Hmm, sadly I am not a paid contributor to that website, so I lack search privileges there. It wasn't much of a test statement anyway, just a preamble that I would, with some pics of my other (no longer made) much used, 40 year old machete (pic below if anyone finds it in the blade review section and yes I am the original buyer of it) and first impression comments. Based on the thinner steel and all the negative comments I had read about Cold Steel products, I expected it to be a short test. As stated, except for some stoneable nicks caused by occasional encounters with stone and rock, it hasn't failed yet. Really my biggest complaint is the sheath. It takes two hands to put the blade back in, or take it out. I much preferred the older sheath and will if the Kukri lasts through the summer (which it should) make a sheath like the bottom one for it.[

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/superc_2006/IMGP0010.jpg

[cvnhank]

Noss,
Very fun to watch! You did a great job. I was so impressed, I bought one (actually 3). BTW, do the Chinese made Cold Steel Machete (3mm thick bowie) hold up as well as this CS Kukri Machete? Thanks in advance, Hank

[Noss]

cvnhank: Welcome to the forum.:thumb:

Thanks. I don't know about the china made bowie. I have never owned one or tested one.