Comparative work knives from Cold Steel , Himalayan Imports , Gurkha House , Mission , and a custom from Ed Schott in 3V

Background and basic description

The following knives are promoted for use in camping, survival and combat. They are similar in some respects and very differnet in others, They each have areas in which they excel. A solid understanding of the strong and weak points of the blades is essential in being able to pick the one that is most suitable for the tasks ahead. Here are the specifics of the knives:

The blade length is the the sharpened edge length measured in a straight line. The handle length is the usable grip length, the space inbetween any guards and butt-caps. The thickness and width of the handle on all knives except the khukuris is in the middle of the handle, on the khukuris it refers to the most narrow point. The khukuris stand out strongly over the other blades in being much more blade heavy. The eighteen inch Ang Khola is also significantly heavier and should readily outclass all the other blades in chopping. In regards to cutting ability, this is very dependent on blade geometry, some specifics :

The bevel measurements are in regards to the grind which actually reaches the edge, the khukuris have several grinds above that due to a complex convex to hollow to convex primary geometry, for them the blade is more obtuse at the very edge and more acute near the shoulder than the average angle given. The tip thickness was measured at the point at which the final taper begins. For the Village khukuri that is indeterminate as the point is formed from a gradual taper from the full thickness. It is clear that Ed Schott's knife should be a stand out for lighter precision work having a very acute edge and neutral balance.

Chopping

The blades were used to chop a variety of woods (pine, birch, alder) over a period of several weeks. The wood was mainly small, varying from 4 to 15 centimeters in diameter. The wood was cut using one hand to stabilize the sticks and the other to chop. The impact point was generally a bit in front of the center of mass and the effort used was very mild. For example the Trailmaster took about 15-20 chops to go through a four inch piece of pine. The results :

The variance in the performance was less than five percent, so the order was fairly consistent from one session to the next. The most interesting part was the performance of the middle three. The Trailmaster has the overall thinner grind and length, the villager has the mass advantage as well as the angled blade, Schott's knife has both a dropped blade and a very thin edge, but has the disadvantage of a more neutral balance. Three very different shapes and sizes, yet all balancing out to very similar abilities.

Time is also an important factor. While the villager, Trailmaster and Schott's blade will clear out a similar amount of wood with a set number of chops, the khukuri will not bind if used with more effort while the others can which reducing chopping speed significantly. Binding can be problematic with flat ground blades, how much so depends greatly on the type of material being chopped and the skill of the user. Generally the softer and more sappy the wood, the more wedging is a concern.

One final advantage to the longer blades is that they will produce much greater torque with a given amount of force because they act as longer levers. This can be of benefit if the chopping is assisted by twisting the blade to break out the chips. This generally isn't something to be done right through the chopping as it generates a really high rate of fatigue, but it can be beneficial at the start of chop on a thick piece of wood when you need to open it up. Using this technique the Trailmaster can jump up closer to the eighteen inch Ang Khola on thick woods.

UPDATE the results were comparing the blades with light force, if heavy force was used the results would be significantly different. In particular Schotts blades performance would drop dramatically because its lack of inertial moment preventing the buildup of power, and the Trailmaster would jump much closer to the khukuris. In addition, as thicker wood was used the blades ranks would tend to drop because the lower performing ones would start to fail to clear out the wood, [ref].

Utility work, cutting performance, edge holding and sharpening

With thick blades slicing cardboard and thick ropes is not an area in which they usually excel. The 3V blade by Ed Schott is an exception because of the very acute edge which allows it to easily out slice the others by a wide margin. The blade curvature also enhances cutting ability. After some chopping with the MPK, Schott knife, and Recon Scout, cuts were made across a three inch thick bundle of fabric. While the A2 MPK had blunted more than the Recon Scout, it easily went through 3/4 of the fabric whereas the Cold Steel blade skated across barely making 1/4 of the way through. Ed Schott's knife with the thin edge, strong recurve and better edge retention easily severed the fabric completely. On such work cutting softer materials the Bhojpure blunts the fastest followed by the MPK from Mission. The eighteen inch Ang Khola is next with the rest of the knives all taking a significantly longer time for the edge to blunt, and they are easily maintained with just regular use of a steel and a the occasional use of a ceramic rod for an extended period of time.

UPDATE, while the khukuris don't fare well on deep cutting, they do handle shallow light cutting well as the edge geometries are actually decently acute. In whittling wood for example the eighteen inch Ang Khola actually achieves better penetration that MPK. The khukuri does however have a rather large fatigue rate for such work being so heavy and forward balanced.

Edge durability

Ed Schott's 3V knife and the Mission MPK were not included on some of the heavier work as the MPK is on loan from Will Kwan, and the 3V blade is involved in a pass around.

Hardwoods

A lot of work was done cutting seasoned wood, mostly branches off of trees that had died due to lack of light. This is very demanding work for larger blades, the combination of small diameter and hardness can be problematic, [this readily shattered two machetes from ontario]. The Ang Khola, Villager, Cold Steel knives and Ed Schott blade all showed no indentation or chipping. The MPK from Mission impacted on average three to four times through a half an hours work, small indentations, hard to see at at arms length, but flattened enough so induce light to reflect from the edge. They could be steeled out to some extent. The Bhojpure indented more than the MPK, significant enough to see readily at arms length which significantly reduced its fine cutting ability.

Light metals

The knives were also used to hacked a bit at the roof, doors and fenders of an old car, this is just mild steel, sheet metal. Only the khukuris could chop through the roof, the Cold Steel blades needed assistance from a mallet. None of the blades were significantly effected by the chopping however using them as a chisel to cut out a section of the roof did do some damage to the edges as the blades twisted occasionally which stressed the edge heavily.

The Recon Scout suffered indentation about 0.3 mm deep with one chip about 1.5 cm long and 0.2 mm deep. The coating was scraped off but was still far more durable than what is used by Ontario. Some metal was abraded on the edge of the Recon Scout because of the twisting. The edge was restored with 250 strokes per side with a DMT diafold, 150 with an x-coarse DMT bench stone (8") , 50 with the DMT fine bench stone, 25 with a ceramic rod and finished with a stropping. Only one indent was visible and only two other rough spots remained with less than visible indentation. It took about 40 minutes to restore the blade.

The Trailmaster showed no chipping and had an indentation level similar to the Recon Scout. The edge was restored using a bastard file to remove the abraded metal, 25 strokes, followed by 350 passed on an x-coarse DMT bench stone, then 150 with the fine DMT bench stone, and 15 with the ceramic rod, finishing with the strop. Only one spot remained visible and that was the part that was used as a chisel. The indentation there was reduced considerably though, barely visible. The blade would cut cleanly though paper again, only tearing in a couple of the rougher places. Total time including cleanup was about 20 minutes. It was shorter than the time for the Recon Scout mainly because of an improved sharpening method.

The eighteen inch Ang Khola showed no chipping and was only effected in the area where it was used as a chisel at which point it had metal from the roof brazed onto the edge. A file was used to remove this waste metal and and then the blade was touched up with a fine DMT hone and a ceramic rod. Only that one slightly rough spot remained, not visible but could be felt with my finger nail. This edge work was very fast, about 5 minutes.

The Bhojpure took a few dents about 0.5 mm deep. Considering the problems with the harder woods, it held up rather well here. It took about five minutes starting with the x-coarse diafold and finishing with the fine to get the blade back in decent shape, the metal grinds very fast. The indentations were still visible, but reduced. As this is a blade primarily for heavier work, they were not completely removed on purpose to conserve metal.

Lastly, the Villager wasn't effected and required only a slight touch-up with a ceramic rod. The steel is very hard and resists deforming very well. It also has the necessary toughness to prevent fracture. These are a very strong combination of properties making the edge overall have a very high level of durability. Total time was less than 5 minutes and it was mainly cleanup.

Bone and thick metal

An old leg bone of a cow was hacked at with a few of the knives. The Trailmaster chipped readily suffering five chips about 0.2 mm deep and about 1-2 mm long. The Villager went though it with no problems as did the Ang Khola. There was no bone left at this point to try out with the other blades so a piece of iron was then cut up. This was softer than the bone and the Cold Steel knives could both chop straight into it without impacting and be twisted to the side with no damage. The Ang Khola was slightly blunted and the villager was not effected. The Bhojpure indented significantly taking 2-3 mm deep indentations. The 3V blade chopped into the iron without impacting, but suffered a slight sideways dent, so that the light reflected off of it differently. When the blade was twisted after a chop the edge did warp a little less than 0.5 of a mm, it was restored using a steel.

Tip strength

The knives were use to poke about a dozen holes in the same car as was hacked at earlier. The Trailmaster and 18" Ang Khola each suffered a 0.5 mm tip impaction. The Bhojpure's tip impacted slightly less and the Recon Scout and Villager suffered no tip impaction at all. The Villager was quite difficult to poke though the roof and the Trailmaster and Scout the opposite, easily sinking the full depth of the sharpened false edge. The other two khukuris were in between these efforts with the Ang Khola slightly in the lead.

All the knives, except one, could take digging / prying in wood (pine 2x4") including full strength stabs and hard pulls to the side. The force was limited to what could be resisted with the off hand. Interestingly enough, the only knife to suffer a tip bend was Schott's 3V blade which took a three mm deflection extending seven mm back from the point. This happened at a full force stab and a quick pull to the side. Once it was weakened however it would bend under much less force, but resisted breaking with further leverage work.

Blade strength and impact toughness

The 3V blade, Trailmaster, Recon Scout, Ang Khola and Bhojpure were pounded into the edge of a 4x4 (with a stick) and then body weight applied so the very edge takes a torsional load. Then about 5-10 minutes were spent with each blade pounding it into the wood and twisting it out. None of the blades were damaged by this work. The Trailmaster, Recon Scout, Villager, Bhojpure and Ang Khola, were then driven three centimeters into a tree stump at the half way point and did full strength prying to the side. The Bhojpure took a twist in the blade as a result which was mostly reversed this by prying the opposite way.

Using a tree stump about five feet off the ground, the Trailmaster, villager, Bhojpure, and Ang Knola were driven into the wood to the spine. The Bhojpure bent at about the halfway point with a two handed pull. The bend extended 13 cm back from the tip which was deflected 2.5 cm. The others all took the strain with out bending much more than 10 degrees. The blades where then stabbed into a large pine (12" in diameter) and pulled hard to the side (one arm). The Trailmaster took a slight bend, a degree or two and extending 3-4 inches. Heavy strength prying was then performed with only 7 cm of the blade lodged in the stump. The Trailmaster snapped easily under far less than full effort, the khukuris took the maximum strain. The Villager was driven 4 cm straight into the stump and pulled hard to the side so that the blade was flat across the wood. The wood creaked loudly but did not break. This resulted in a 2 mm deflection about 5 mm long in the tip, this was restored this by prying the opposite way.

The Recon Scout was then pounded halfway into the stump with an axe and again subjected to full strength prying. It held with no problems. The axe did knock some of the coating off the spine though. This was repeated with the two HI khukuris, they indented a little from the axe hits, with villager once again impacting less.

Handle issues

The knives vary significantly in grip design as much as they did in blade shape.

Ergonomics and security

The Cold Steel grips are very comfortable during slicing and light chopping though with heavier chopping they tend to slip as they are very uniform in cross section, some also find the checkering abrasive in prolonged use. The handles on the MPK and Schott's knife were similar in design and in performance. The MPK has a bit more of an abrasive surface and thus has better slip retention. Both are quite nice to use during all manner of light work. The khukuris all have similar handles which are designed for heavy chopping and perform exceptionally well in that area. The handle has to be long enough though and the village grip is the bare personal minimum to be workable. The extra length on the others gives more room to keep the butt-cap from being problematic with impacts. The khukuris are uncomfortable to use in reverse grip stabs as the center ring will bite quite nicely into your hand and becomes abrasive in just a few hard stabs.

Durability

The standard Himalayan Imports khukuri butt-caps are a bit fragile as they are hollow and can loosen over time. The Ang Khola's loosened up after about a week or so but never got much worse. The Villagers popped completely off. The Bhojpure's butt-cap was quite stable and even took direct impacts off of wood and cement. The khukuri handles are wood and of course don't wear from use. However the Cold Steel grips are easily abraded by normal use and smoothed significantly after a few months. The MPK's grip is a very durable composite which seemed to ignore all use. The grip on the 3V blade is G10 which also resists wear extremely well and is very resistant to impacts, chemicals and heat.

Feedback

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• Cold Steel / Himalayan Imports / Gurkha House / Mission / 3V