Choppers: some observations

Revolverrodger

Revolverrodger

Joined
Jul 23, 2007
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I have been using choppers for quite a few years now. Mostly to clear trails and during hikes/camping
In many situations I find them easier to transport than an axe.

I have used both heavy pry bars (Busse) and thinner machete like choppers.

I find that machetes that are thinner behind the edge slice branches and bite very deep while chopping but they often bind and get stuck.

I have found that fir me (eastern hardwood and boreal forest) a chopper between 9-10 inch in blade length, around 1/4 inch thick and around 3-5 thousands behind a convex edge works best...

I am currently reworking a knife I designed a while back to try to make the best chopper for my applications

What about you guys, what do you prefer in a chopper?
 
Revolverrodger, I have similar views regarding large wood-chopping knives. Since you mentioned Busse you might be familiar with the Swamp Rat Battle Rat, which were made many years ago but unfortunately are no longer in production. The blades are 9.5" long with a .25" spine and finger choil. Scrap Yard made a similar knife with a micarta handle. The Battle Rats, and several other Swamp Rat knives, had handles made with Resiprene C which, among other fine qualities, absorbed some of the shock from chopping.

The convex edges were too thick for me so I thinned them to a V-edge and added a microbevel. I chop dead fir and pine, which are very hard and have knots, yet I wasn't getting any chipped or rolled edges even without a microbevel. I consider myself fortunate to have discovered and bought some of these excellent knives when they were still available.

I agree with you about thin chopping blades, and don't use them.

I wonder how many people would recommend a hatchet or axe, instead of a big chopping knife, if they had to actually carry that additional weight and bulk in the wilderness themselves. I wouldn't want to build a log cabin with only a wood-chopping knife but it can do what I need done on my wilderness hiking trips, including everything a small knife can do (especially with a finger choil), and much more, plus things a larger, thicker, and more specialized hatchet or axe blade can't do. This can be very important in a survival or emergency situation if I have just one edged tool. Of course, I also have a high regard for smaller knives, multi-tools, and SAKS, and carry them when needed.

Good luck with your knife!
 
I don't have experience using anything nearly as thick as 1/4" - to me it seems just too much.

I do agree that any light machetes can bind up in thicker trees/limbs which will get annoying. For me the solution was a slightly heavier machete weight, which bolo type shapes provide perfectly, have you tried such designs?

personally I like the 1075 steel used by imacasa... it annoys me that okapi's are only 1055
this 16" bolo from them is quite a nice sweetspot when you clean it up
Imacasa-16-bolo.jpg
 
I like Busse. .... I am down to one. A WTF Battle Grade. No calipers to measure the grind BTE, but it seems pretty thin.

I've had a FBMLE, Basic 11, and KZII from them for chopping. I had to thin the KZII edge out.

I have machetes, but usually take choppers over the machete. I don't do a lot of trail clearing. Usually where I camp, I leave the trees alone....... except for Russian Olive...... hate that stuff. Very invasive and ruining the waterways where I canoe/camp.

This weekend's camping was car camping.... nothing to chop but the board kindling I brought.

I took two Himilian Imports Khukri. A light 14 ounce fast slasher, and another 28 ounce chopper. Had a machete and a hawk....neither got used this trip.....but are nearly 2 decades old.


IxvidUD.jpg


I always have multiple folders camping..a few GEC, and Opinel too.
 
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The chopping blades I like best are:

1. Condor Golok. The blade is 6mm thick with a distal taper, and a 14” convex-ground blade. It throws chips like an ax, and I have taken down 5” and 6” Chinese elms with it. Its forte is delimbing. It goes through green branches up to 5/8” often with one swipe with the right technique. It is bigger and heavier than I would care to carry any farther than around my yard, and it is t bigger than I would want on a motorcycle, although I would bring it car camping just in case.

2. Condor Mini Duku Parang. This one was a pleasant surprise. The blade is ten inches, 5mm thick with a distal taper and a convex grind. I have not yet used this one extensively, but I really liked the way it chopped the few times I have used it. I have seen it applied to knife-type tasks in videos, but I have not tried to use it that way and am a little skeptical.

3. Skrama. The videos tout this thing as the most awesome chopper of its size. It is not that, but it is an awesome tool. In my experience, it does not chop as well as the Condors, but earns its keep by functioning quite well as a camp knife. 17” overall with a 9” blade. The length afforded by the long handle allow it to chop like a longer blade. It is 5mm thick; if there is any distal taper it is very slight, not at all obvious. It has a scandi or sabre grind with a micro-bevel. The videos like to pair it off against big knives like the Esee Junglas, and the Skrama always seems to come out on top in the chopping department. There must be videos out there that show different results, but I have not seen them, nor have I tried any of the other big knives, so I can’t say anything from first-hand experience. Some users say the Skrama chops even better with a convexed edge, but I haven’t tried that either. For $70, it works well enough that I am not at all tempted to spend the $100-200 for another big knife.

Two other blades I like a lot are the Baryonyx machete, and the 16” Imacasa bolo that dirc shows above. The Baryonyx blade is thin, but heavy, and cuts quite deep as a consequence. It is quite versatile, effective on a wide range of vegetation, and will chop well if you need it to. The Imacasa is a pleasure to use, very light and nimble, while the weight bias makes it chop quite well.
 
I'll have (lots) more input later, but I'm just chiming in quickly to note that with any chopping tool, if your blade is biting so deep that it sticks or binds...don't chop that hard. Just let the tool do the work and adapt how much force you give the blow to the nature of the material. "Lazy" swings will use less energy and will eliminate the binding issue. :)
 
If the conversation removes axes, hatchets, tomahawks, and saws from contention I would have to go with a kukri as the best chopper. Although I would have to state that chosing the right kukri for the task is important, as is getting one that is made correctly.

For me it would go like this:
Heavy chopping: HI or GK Bonecutter, HI ASTK, HI Ganga Ram, HI CAK or regular AK, and CS Gurkha Kukri
Med - Med-Heavy chopping: CS Gurkha Kukri, HI M43, HI ASTK, HI AK, Tora MkII
Light chopping: CS Gurkha Kukri, Tora Original Pattern BSI, HI BAS, well made Service No. 1, any of the over the counter Kukri from your favorite maker.

In my opinion, no straight bladed knife could compete with a well made kukri for sustained chopping.
 
For a knife, and specifically for chopping and machete work, I really like goloks, and thus the SYKCO 1311, which is basically a golok. I do like some kuhkris, but with less bend. I picked on up of the knifemaker's market that I'm a big fan of.

For all-around camp duty, I prefer something a little smaller like a ratweiler, maybe a BK9 though they're pretty comparable for size, weight, and convenience of carry. Very different feel in the handles though, and I will say I prefer the ratweiler as an overall package but the BK9 is pretty darn nice as well.

Ratweiler in over it's head
0yD6LBRl.jpg


1311 enjoying winter
6jLOPQhl.jpg


Brokeback chopper after going back and clearing up vines in pick #1 with a tram latin machete and folding the edge over several times (harder than it looked).
OYK6Adkl.jpg


Also picked up a baryonyx machete that works better than the tram. I haven't decided how I feel on the portability yet, but a great trail maintenance beast too. This is a nice set though.
y6oMHcJl.jpg
 
For a pure chopper I agree that kukri design are excellent

Of course a longer and heavier blade will also win (physics)

In my case I am looking for balance between portability (OAL and weight) as well as chopping power
I also want the knife to be able to baton as well as other camp tasks

I already have several large kukri and machetes that are excellent choppers but I rarely take them on trips because of OAL
 
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