Thoughts on ZombieTools

[Dr Blazer]

I have no experience with those models, BUT there is a hellion on there exchange. Of course, it will cost as much as (or slightly more than) buying direct...the benefit being immediate availability vs a 6 month wait if ordered at ZT.

I didn't even know about Zombie Tools until a saw that for sale. I was interested in that Hellion and my mind exploded when I saw an the different models they make.
I realized that I like the Sharkalope a little more than the Hellion. The surprising thing to me is the D'Capitan sabre. I wouldn't have thought that it's what I wanted, but as soon as I saw it, I thought, "that is what I'm looking for!". If my left arm wasn't paralyzed I probably would've ordered the Diphos without hesitation. I also like the Legionnaire. My problem is that I'm too indecisive and I wish I could hold each one just to see which one feels the best best fit for me. Unfortunately, I'll probably take longer deciding which one to buy than the time it will take for it to be made

 

[Mecha]

I didn't even know about Zombie Tools until a saw that for sale. I was interested in that Hellion and my mind exploded when I saw an the different models they make.
I realized that I like the Sharkalope a little more than the Hellion. The surprising thing to me is the D'Capitan sabre. I wouldn't have thought that it's what I wanted, but as soon as I saw it, I thought, "that is what I'm looking for!". If my left arm wasn't paralyzed I probably would've ordered the Diphos without hesitation. I also like the Legionnaire. My problem is that I'm too indecisive and I wish I could hold each one just to see which one feels the best best fit for me. Unfortunately, I'll probably take longer deciding which one to buy than the time it will take for it to be made

I don't know where you're located, but Zombie Tools will probably be at Blade Show in Atlanta, where you can handle them in person.

 

[Dr Blazer]

I don't know where you're located, but Zombie Tools will probably be at Blade Show in Atlanta, where you can handle them in person.

I planned on going (I still plan on going) but no guarantee. I spent the last 2 years planning out and converting a Dodge Promaster van into an RV and planned on living in it for the next few years while traveling around North America. Unfortunately, less than 24 hours after beginning my journey, I was rear-ended by a large truck. This happened on December 7. Because of crazy backorders in the entire automobile industry, repairs have been taking a longtime. Those are just reissues to the body of my van. 2 weeks ago the auto body repair shop decided that they have to replace the entire passenger side panel of the van. This more than doubled the price of the auto body repairs and threw another few months of waiting. Because they needed to replace the entire side panel of the van, we pretty had to remove must of the interior, they electric, wiring, etc. That added a huge amount more time that it will take for me to repair everything. Oh yeah, I also rented out my house. So, I'm going to go, but right now everything is so chaotic for me that I can't make any guarantees about anything. I was planning on going to all of the big knife shows this year, but sometimes things don't go as planned. All of that being said, I've had to live with my parents since the accident and they live a little north of Orlando. So, I'm still confident that I'll be going... but not guarantees. Although, thank you for letting me know because that gives me even more motivation to go.

 

[rschuch]

The Diphos is definitely on my TO GET list. I hear there's a long wait list, like 8 months or so, so I'll be waiting for maybe a second hand one to show up in the meantime.

 

[dirc]

for something costing near 1k, it better be nice... I do like the lines of the diphos

honestly, my goto 'zombie' blade is a 22" ontario ct5 machete in 1075, it's just a low cost beast of a machete

 

[John Dough]

Sorry I'm late to this thread, but i live the look of the Zombie Tools and I'm looking for a pretty intimidating self defense knife that, occasionally, I can chop up some things with. The overwhelming majority of the time I'll be using other knives & axes to chop wood, but every now and then I'll want to use the Zombie Tool knife (more like sword) I choose to do more than decapitate the living dead. I'll be living in my van hit the next few years... after it's finished being repaired (yes, less than 24 hours after beginning the vanlife I was rear-ended bea big truck and it did significant damage to the back and passenger side after a year of converting it from a van to an RV).

Anyway, I'm choosing between the sharkalope, the d'capitan sabre, and the deuce III. Does anyone have any experience with any of them?

The Sharkalope is the most nimble of their mid-sized blades. While with the right technique you kinda can chop small branches and stuff with it, but definitely not a dedicated chopper. More of a slasher. Good point control.
My Deuce 2 (and the 3 alike afaik) more or less is strictly two handed and if you compare it to a "real" sword (think Albion), quite cumbersome. Feels very powerful in hand(s), like you can hack through anything coming at you. That is because you actually can hack through anything. Like the hood of a Chevy K30... no problem.
The DCap Sabre feels like a heavy saber, quite suprisingly. Lacks both in chopping ability (compared to the other ZT long blades) and point control (compared to the Sharkalope), but can do both quite okayish. Great reach, though... for a self defense scenario outdoors that would be very nice to have.

So if you want to an intimidating, indestructable blade, that lives in your truck with you, you might want to go with something shorter than the Deuce or the Dcap. In person any ZT is really intimidating, even the "smaller" knives like the Scyllis are whoasome in hand. There's a guy on YT who build an outdoor shelter from scratch just using the Scyllis. Very capable. The Parabellum even more so. So the Scyllis or the Parabellum would be my personal choice for your scenario, out of the three you mentioned I'd take the Sharkalope.

My personal favourite right now is the Spit. Love mine dearly. Unfortunatelly it can't be ordered at the moment due to "steel supply issues".

 

[Dr Blazer]

The Sharkalope is the most nimble of their mid-sized blades. While with the right technique you kinda can chop small branches and stuff with it, but definitely not a dedicated chopper. More of a slasher. Good point control.
My Deuce 2 (and the 3 alike afaik) more or less is strictly two handed and if you compare it to a "real" sword (think Albion), quite cumbersome. Feels very powerful in hand(s), like you can hack through anything coming at you. That is because you actually can hack through anything. Like the hood of a Chevy K30... no problem.
The DCap Sabre feels like a heavy saber, quite suprisingly. Lacks both in chopping ability (compared to the other ZT long blades) and point control (compared to the Sharkalope), but can do both quite okayish. Great reach, though... for a self defense scenario outdoors that would be very nice to have.

So if you want to an intimidating, indestructable blade, that lives in your truck with you, you might want to go with something shorter than the Deuce or the Dcap. In person any ZT is really intimidating, even the "smaller" knives like the Scyllis are whoasome in hand. There's a guy on YT who build an outdoor shelter from scratch just using the Scyllis. Very capable. The Parabellum even more so. So the Scyllis or the Parabellum would be my personal choice for your scenario, out of the three you mentioned I'd take the Sharkalope.

My personal favourite right now is the Spit. Love mine dearly. Unfortunatelly it can't be ordered at the moment due to "steel supply issues".

Wow! Thank you so much for your reply. That pretty much explained everything that I needed to hear. I decided to get a Hellion instead. Someone on here was selling a Hellion, and I just bought it from him. I like the look of the Sabre and the Sharkalope a lot, but, you're right, it's not really meant for anything like chopping wood. I think the Hellion will serve me well. I greatly appreciate everything you said. I really like the Legionnaire a lot also, and I think I'm going to save up some more money and buy one of those, but not for awhile. I'd like to see how much I like the Hellion and that will determine whether I buy a Legionnaire. I really love all the sci-fi, zombie-esque knives and swords they make. I really wish I would've known about Zombie Tool years ago because I have a strong feeling that the Hellion and the Legionnaire aren't going to be the only Zombie Tool knives/swords I'll have. I just wish I would've started collecting fixed blades a longtime ago, instead of just folders for the last 10+ years. It's interesting because I've always preferred and collected tiny (2.5" or smaller blades) folders, but I started getting into fixed blades last year and I prefer them to be as big as possible.

 

[John Dough]

Personally I think the Hellion might be a bit too hefty for a truck blade (it's an elongated khukri on steroids and thus quite front heavy), but of course you cannot argue with its overall awesomeness.

Of all ZT blades my 1st gen Hellion still is the most sexy imho. Twenty-six inches of brute badassery... I call it The Demon's Tongue:

 

[LeroyGBartholomew]

I have the Sharkalope now and have had a couple others (that I sadly sold when things got tight). I have to say they are built very well. As far as swords, actual usable swords, they are not overpriced. I actually just ordered the Vakra AND Apocalax because I've liked them so much...and I'm kind of a dork. Aside from the look, these are well built usable tools, not just fancy wall hangers for collectors.

 

[rpn]

I got a parabellum last year and like it a lot. The quality is solid and I like the leather handle wrap more than I thought I would. I will say it’s much bigger than I expected given the stats and YouTube videos I’ve seen…strikes me as more of a short sword.

 

[Dr Blazer]

I just bought a Sharkalope admit 2 weeks ago. It was a great deal with a really good guy on the Zombie Tools facebook group. So, now I have both a Hellion & a Sharkalope and I'm very happy. The Hellion will be more of my user and the Sharkalope will be more of my defense weapon... but I'm still going to use it for fun sword stuff like slicing through plastic water bottles, fruit, zombies' skulls, and whatnot.
I love the 2 ZT's I have, so very soon I'm going to order a Legionnaire. I'm going to keep my eyes open for other ZT's but the Legionnaire I want to go custom. I'm thinking about getting a custom D'Capitan Sabre but I'd like the blade to be around 23" instead of 27". I love all of these Zombie Tools and I look forward to getting more of them.

 

[John Dough]

I just bought a Sharkalope admit 2 weeks ago. It was a great deal with a really good guy on the Zombie Tools facebook group. So, now I have both a Hellion & a Sharkalope and I'm very happy. The Hellion will be more of my user and the Sharkalope will be more of my defense weapon... but I'm still going to use it for fun sword stuff like slicing through plastic water bottles, fruit, zombies' skulls, and whatnot.
I love the 2 ZT's I have, so very soon I'm going to order a Legionnaire. I'm going to keep my eyes open for other ZT's but the Legionnaire I want to go custom. I'm thinking about getting a custom D'Capitan Sabre but I'd like the blade to be around 23" instead of 27". I love all of these Zombie Tools and I look forward to getting more of them.

Yeah, the ZT infection tends to grow once one of their blades invaded a knife guy's system... ask me about it

 

[mickb]

Im not a knife guy but was in the army then worked the 3rd world for many years, saw a range of bladed implements for field work, and occasional mischeif.

My take goes
1. anything is better than nothing.

2.It should be able to stab or thrust to some degree. its like the left jab in boxing- the shortest distance between two points and the easiest shot to land, and in a swords case the first jab can end the fight. Its also deals the most harm to critters larger than human size.

3. Have some reach to be able to get into range against other regular implements, like a fella swinging a bat. It doesnt need to be longer but it shouldnt be 12" blade either.

4. shouldnt be overly long as its cramped in close quarters. A guideline is still be able to stab something you are holding with the other hand. Might sound unlikely but grapples occur in altercations. people dont fall over just because they have been hit with a blade, just like they dont fall over right away after a shot from a handgun. Also if someones wild dog is chewing on you , you can get the blade into it.

5. Ideally should have a decent hilt for use against other blades( might sound unlikely but machetes get used for nefarious purposes). Unguarded or non hilted weapons like gladius, greek xiphos look great on paper and were famous weapons, but they were formation weapons meant to be used with sheilds. Your hands get messed up real quick duelling using unhilted weapons without gloves or gauntlets. Observe what happens whenever kendo guys spar western sword guys, all the blades running down onto their hands during blocks etc.

Again this is taking everything into account. My own blade is a 14" blade barong which doesnt satsify several of the above either but it is a great 'stabby chopper' that fit on my field pack in the woods.

 

[DARCISIO]

Recently stumbled on Zombie Tools and wow their blades look very nice.

Only thing i don't like about them are the laser cut outs for the Z & T in the blades, but apart from that they look awesome.

 

[emptym]

My FMA school did a group buy of the Sharkalope and Baby Shark a couple years ago. They're great blades. Really durable. But they're also pretty heavy despite being ZT's lightest blades (at least when we ordered them). Great for chopping things, but for actual self-defense, I'd prefer if they were a bit lighter and thinner.

 

[CA504]

My FMA school did a group buy of the Sharkalope and Baby Shark a couple years ago. They're great blades. Really durable. But they're also pretty heavy despite being ZT's lightest blades (at least when we ordered them). Great for chopping things, but for actual self-defense, I'd prefer if they were a bit lighter and thinner.

Not enough distal taper. I have a feeling that if ZT swords did have the proper distal taper, they would be priced like Albions.

 

[Mark4444]

I have a diphos, works great! But I did have to re edge it with an angle grinder, I use it for clearing and cutting trail