I have read a lot of opinions but repeatedly i have seen the khukuri and Golok as fovorites for bushcraft, camping, making a shelter, and etc.
I favor the khukuri because i can pry and dig with it and chop. here is my problem.
over the weekend I used a cheap india made khukuri. I had it sharpened by a custom knife maker in utah. I used a long side a recon scout, (if I owned an m6 or s6 i would use that). obviously the khuk chopped small limbs up to a 6 inch diamater 3 to 1 compared to the recon scout. but with large logs like a 9 inch diamater i had no success. I also tried splitting the log but no success. the recon split the log with no problems. the log was thicker then the blade length so I bationed the scout down one side and then down the other. the khukuri would not baton well. partialy because of the curved handle but also the penetration was poor. I assume it may be the geometry of the blade.

from your experience do khukuris not baton well compared to a bowie?
thanks in advance.

I’ve never tried to baton with a khukuri myself. If you like them, Jerry was talking about maybe making some INFI khukuris. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif" alt="" /> That sure would be cool. I agree though, it’s probably because of the blade shape that made it not baton very well.

I don't know about that it could have been blade geometry or poor technique.
There is probably some trick to batoning with a kukuri because of the blade shape.

I've used the Brit Martindale (not the new junk version by Webtex or whoever..) 'Golok' army machete and occasionally borrowed kuks of dubious quality.. The golok spanked the kuks at splitting due to the straighter cutting edge- I think the curve of the kuk keeps the edge off or out of the wood so they bind rather than elbow their way through. If you are thinking of ordering or have ordered the DF your splitting problems will be over- that'll be awesome at it, but I figure the black coating won't last that long!!

Nope, I'm usually down to bare metal on the first chopping excursion I take. And batoning really wears it away.

it could be technique. this is something i learn by experience. but batoning with a bowie takes little technique.

good point about splitting with a golok. i did buy a df so my worries are over. it is sad but perhaps i will have to retire my khuk since i prefer to baton rather than chopping

One thing I read about batoning technique is to keep the handle higher than the blade and the handle won't break.

I think your right on the blade geometry. The Indian Kukris tend to be thicker at the edge. I've used the batoning technique with both the Ontario and Cold Steel Kukris with no problems. However I sold an Indian one I had for pretty much that very reason. It just didn't perform that well and I really didn't think it was worth the time it would take to re-profile it.

Man than would be awesome if Busse made a Kukri!!!

I always keep the handle lower than the blade. I noticed that it was much easier batoning to keep the handle lower. I’ve done this a BUNCH of times in the winter with my RM and BR with no problems batoning frozen logs so thick there was only 1-2” of the tip to whack on. At first, I wasn’t sure if I’d break the tip or not. Especially pounding it through frozen knots and stuff. Sometimes, it was so thick it’d get stuck, and I had to back it out because no matter how hard I pounded on the tip it wouldn’t budge. After I did this several times I was confidant in its strength. You might not wanna try it though with lesser quality blades.

Isn't it nice to have knives (yard) that are very difficult to break in vaguely sane usage?

To be honest, I do not know what the proper technique is. Blade level, handle high, handle low, etc. Even if there is a proper technique, sometimes things do not always go as planned, so it is nice to know that you have equipment that can handle being used even with improper technique. I honestly do not think that it matters how you baton your SY/SR. I don't think it will break.

On a side note, it sounds like Andy really knows what his bigger blades are capable of. I think it is very important to have that kind of experience before a situation arises that requires that type of use. Wouldn't it suck if you had to baton in that manner in a remote location, and broke the tip off?