Choppers: some observations

[d762nato]

The bottom knife a custom made by Bill Siegle that was inspired by the 1909. He made it from 5160 and gave it a full flat grind.

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n2s[/QUOTE
Man! Those are a couple of sweet choppers congrats.

 

[schwep]

The chopping blades I like best are:

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.

I fully agree about the Skrama. I guess I'm the one who says it's better with a convex edge, and it certainly is, it becomes as effective in slicing off thin flexible vines as a well-sharpened and cleaned Tramontina bolo. The secondary bevel off factory is quite steep and once you have thinned that a bit, it bites a lot deeper and slices through vines instead of just bludgeoning them. BTW, the blade is only 4 mm thick, not 5 - which shows that one does not need an overly heavy ultrathick slab of steel for good chopping performance, on the contrary. I don't have any of the others except a Tramonina bolo, which is a fine blade once you have put a good edge on it and cleaned it up.

I see big blades like this mostly as tools for yard work in a farm-like rural setting. Having one in the trunk of your car may be a good idea, too. I'm not much into cutting up a forest for fun, used to be backpacker/long-distance hiker and if you do that you already carry your shelter and cooking gear with you, so you don't need to build things from natural materials. I keep a leuku and a compact belt knife in my hiking pack and that is more than enough, unless I foresee a lot of intense trail clearing, for which the Tramontina 14-inch bolo would be my tool of choice.

 

[SteelJunkee]

My most useful wood chopper is a 13.5 overall 8.5 long blade and 1/4 thick D2 slight clip point. Perfectly balanced right at the guard. At 18 ounces it gives about the same performance as my small camp axes, but it can do much more. It's a real battening beast with a flat to convex grind at almost 30 dps at the edge. it can take all the hard wood with no damage. and can fell a tree as fast as any small hatchet. Never brought one since. For the smaller stuff I use a plain Ontario 6144.

 

[MtnHawk1]

SteelJunkee, sounds nice! Those are the specs I like in a big chopping knife, except I'm not familiar with D2. I'd like to check that out. Manufacturer and model? Or is it a custom?

Thanks....

 

[HwangJino]

Theres different knives for different uses...

A heavy chopper will be great for splitting wood and taking down small trees, but would be a pain to clear brush for traveling.

A thin machete would be great for traveling through brush, but would be a pain to split wood or take down a small tree.

There are mediums but are suited for a specific task and everyone's opinion and tasks differ.

I like busse, but they are too robust and heavy for certain tasks like brush clearing, but are good for splitting logs for a fire.

I would like something similar to a busse but a little thinner and a thinner edge as well.

 

[SteelJunkee]

SteelJunkee, sounds nice! Those are the specs I like in a big chopping knife, except I'm not familiar with D2. I'd like to check that out. Manufacturer and model? Or is it a custom?

Thanks....

And it was 55$ when I bought it in 2015.

 

[CookieRawwr]

Well I have about 15 Busses of various sizes, Three of them are of Chopper length. A 1311, a BG Fusion battle mistress and a Bushwhacker mistress. I have cleared brush with the 1311, and split logs with the Fusion battle mistress. The Bushwhacker is currently unused. My other experiences with choppers are a 14 inch custom chopper in O1 from a knife maker named Garrison that I bought here in the Knife makers sale page . I have done a lot with that one and would recommend him or some of the other custom makers.

 

[MtnHawk1]

SteelJunkee, thanks, but the photo did not load.

CookieRawwr, 15 Busses! I'm jealous!

HwangJino, it sounds like you need two different chopping tools: a big knife, hatchet, or axe for the heavy stuff, like thick, dense, dead wood, and a machete, or similar thin-blade tool, for the lighter stuff, like clearing brush.

I would like something similar to a busse but a little thinner and a thinner edge as well.

A lot of factory knives come with edges that are too thick. You can always thin them out.​

You might want to check out the Esee Junglas and Junglas II. Fortunately there are many good quality big wood chopping knives available, both manufactured and custom.

 

[Currawong]

No commentary to add, so I'll just add a photo

 

[Bigfattyt]

Chopper knives are older then those “old timers.” They most likely turned their noses up at them because they did different things(we don’t have to cut several trees down just to strike camp for instance) or because of the social stigma around “Bowie knives” at the time. Large working knives go WAY back.

I would say if you NEED an axe and a bow saw then you’ve brought the wrong tools entirely unless playing lumberjack is your hobby. Which it is to a lot of people and that’s cool.

I just read a historical book about John Johnson (Liver Eating Johnson the Crow Killer).

It was an interesting read. Complete with citations, and foot notes and attributions. He was possibly one of the most famous early frontier Mountain Men. He is said to have carried a 14 inch Bowie knife as a constant companion.

This one in a museum and attributed to be his, with his Hawken rifle. Is said to be 3/8 at the handle with distal taper both directions.

The book paid special attention, and mentioned the various weapons and guns carried by all the famous mountain men in the book. Many carried large bowies, some large daggers and dirks, etc.

Several sources cited John Johnston as having regularly carried a bowie with a blade ranging from 14 to 16 inches in blade length!!!

Many, many accounts of hand to hand fighting. Many decades, and death counts in the hundreds from many different tribes (one estimate at 500-600 Indian dead at the hands of Johnston) thought he did fight and scout in several wars, and one mountain man vs indian battle had near 150 dead from a single encounter!!


These men lived and survived/thrived in some of the harshest mountains through the duration of winter every year for 40+ years, and chose to carry large choppers/fighters. Their cutting tools were often fighting and work knives...

 

[Revolverrodger]

Very nice piece if history!

I just read a historical book about John Johnson (Liver Eating Johnson the Crow Killer).

It was an interesting read. Complete with citations, and foot notes and attributions. He was possibly one of the most famous early frontier Mountain Men. He is said to have carried a 14 inch Bowie knife as a constant companion.

This one in a museum and attributed to be his, wi4h his Hawken rifle. Is said to be 3/8 at the handle with distal taper both directions.

ni

 

[Revolverrodger]

I have to disagree with proponents of thin choppers. If they worked so well, blade sport choppers would be much thinner...

In a 9-10 inch blade 0.25 to 0.30 works well

 

[Backyard]

Well you have to remember that most of the competition choppers are ground really thin behind the edge. Limited to a 10" blade and cut predictable material

Choppers that are required to preform outside in unknown conditions can and will often be made outside the dimensions of the blade sport. This allows one to make them thin for cutting and longer for the weight or speed

As mentioned earlier, no one size fits all. Sometimes you need thin and light for vines, grass and small branches. Other times you need heavy and thick for larger branches and splitting

I have to disagree with proponents of thin choppers. If they worked so well, blade sport choppers would be much thinner...

In a 9-10 inch blade 0.25 to 0.30 works well

 

[Revolverrodger]

You are right that there is no one size fits all
I prefer a 9-10 inch blade for portability and with that length of blade a thin blade doesn’t work in the norther woods

Well you have to remember that most of the competition choppers are ground really thin behind the edge. Limited to a 10" blade and cut predictable material

Choppers that are required to preform outside in unknown conditions can and will often be made outside the dimensions of the blade sport. This allows one to make them thin for cutting and longer for the weight or speed

As mentioned earlier, no one size fits all. Sometimes you need thin and light for vines, grass and small branches. Other times you need heavy and thick for larger branches and splitting

 

[Backyard]

Yeah, I don't like thin blades much for large choppers as they seem to get stuck too often. I don't do a whole lot of brush and weed clearing. Mostly delimbing, chopping and splitting. I tried making a few choppers that are thin but I still use my heaviest the most

You are right that there is no one size fits all
I prefer a 9-10 inch blade for portability and with that length of blade a thin blade doesn’t work in the norther woods

 

[MtnHawk1]

I don't know about other areas of the U.S. but the majority of trees in the western mountain forests are fir and pine, which have hard, dry, weathered wood, with knots, when dead (I don't cut living, green trees). When people talk about how well machetes and other thin-blade tools cut this type of wood, it makes me wonder if they've actually tried it.

As mentioned earlier, no one size fits all. Sometimes you need thin and light for vines, grass and small branches. Other times you need heavy and thick for larger branches and splitting

This about says it all!

It's really not that complicated.

 

[AntDog]

I’ve had a couple of thin bladed choppers. I broke the tip (last two inches or so) off of one that was a little over 1/8” thick. I’ve seen some flex like crazy beating them through logs, but never had one take a set.

For this type of knife I stick to 3/16” - 1/4” thick.

 

[Bigfattyt]

I've also found, when I need a thin machete for light weeds, brush, thin vegetation, even my Cold Steel Magnum Khukri is too thick for extended use. It has no distal taper, and is thicker than many machetes.

It can be tiring trying to generate the speed needed. But it sure beats trying to use my thick choppers like a Busse FBMLE, or KZII or even the Basic 11.

 

[Beastchopper]

I just read a historical book about John Johnson (Liver Eating Johnson the Crow Killer).

It was an interesting read. Complete with citations, and foot notes and attributions. He was possibly one of the most famous early frontier Mountain Men. He is said to have carried a 14 inch Bowie knife as a constant companion.

This one in a museum and attributed to be his, wi4h his Hawken rifle. Is said to be 3/8 at the handle with distal taper both directions.

The book paid special attention, and mentioned the various weapons and guns carried by all the famous mountain men in the book. Many Carrie's large bowies, some large daggers and dirks, etc.

Several sources cited John Johnston as having regularly carried a bowie wirhba blade ranging from 14 to 16 inches in blade length!!!

Many many accounts of hand to hand fighting. Many decades, and death counts in the hundreds from many different tribes (one estimate at 500-600 Indian dead at the hands of Johnston) thought he did fight and scout in several wars, and one mountain man vs indian battle had near 150 dead from a single encounter!!


These men lived and survived/thrived in some of the harshest mountains through the duration of winter every year for 40+ years, and chose to carry large choppers/fighters. Their cutting tools were often fighting and work knives...

No commentary to add, so I'll just add a photo

Great collection you've got there. That sort of barong/chopper blade on the right is interesting. What is that, and how does it perform compared to the best choppers in the world you have lined up next to it?

 

[Currawong]

Great collection you've got there. That sort of barong/chopper blade on the right is interesting. What is that, and how does it perform compared to the best choppers in the world you have lined up next to it?

It's a Liberator Bolo by Huntsman Knife Co. (here on the Forum). 13.5" blade, 3/16" stock, full tang, horse stall mat slabs. It is a noticeably better chopper than those other ones pictured and is my go-to for chopping large hardwood.