Esee junglas or something better?

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finefolders

Joined
Feb 12, 2012
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Im looking for a big chopper that doesnt cost more than a decent rifle. Been thinking about getting a junglas. It comes with a great sheath and awesome warranty. My question is does someone make a better knife possibly in stainless that is still tough.
 
For chopping, you can buy machetes that are better for chopping, for less money. As far as stainless, that's out of my knowledge, hopefully 42 will pop in with a better answer.
 
I'd look at the condor knife and tool line, they do have some stuff in stainless, though carbon will be tougher, they don't quite have the ESEE warranty, but they'll still take care of you if you have a failure while doing something it was meant to do. That said, I have a Junglas and am very happy with it.
 
Skimo said:
For chopping, you can buy machetes that are better for chopping, for less money. As far as stainless, that's out of my knowledge, hopefully 42 will pop in with a better answer.
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What machetes would you say are better for chopping? Any specific brand or model?
 
I have a condor 15" bolo in stainless and it would beat the Junglas in chopping easily. And it feels quicker in the hand. The Viking would also beat it at chopping.
 
There are cheap machetes & then there are GOOD cheap machetes. Condor, Ontario are both good & have excellent heat treat. You NEED that in a machete. I got an Ontario 12" & modified it so it would work better for me in the woods/bushcraft roll. Bowied the tip, 2 finger choil, jimping 3.5" down the spine, fire steel spot.

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^ ^ ^ Look closely at the tip as i was batoning through a nasty twisted piece of black walnut !!!! Thats why you need good heat treat..........

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^ ^ ^ So that after, it will still look like this & be perfectly straight !!!

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Here you can see it, but it was worse than the pic shows.


The ESSE Junglas is an excellent knife. You would love it & it is super high quality w/excellent warranty. But it is 10x more expensive. Buy what you want.
 
TwinStick said:
There are cheap machetes & then there are GOOD cheap machetes. Condor, Ontario are both good & have excellent heat treat. You NEED that in a machete. I got an Ontario 12" & modified it so it would work better for me in the woods/bushcraft roll. Bowied the tip, 2 finger choil, jimping 3.5" down the spine, fire steel spot.

Here you can see it, but it was worse than the pic shows.


The ESSE Junglas is an excellent knife. You would love it & it is super high quality w/excellent warranty. But it is 10x more expensive. Buy what you want.
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Looks like you have quite a bit of choppers there. Which one do you think is the better chopper?
 
finefolders said:
Im looking for a big chopper that doesnt cost more than a decent rifle. Been thinking about getting a junglas. It comes with a great sheath and awesome warranty. My question is does someone make a better knife possibly in stainless that is still tough.
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I have a Junglas, and I am loathe to leave it at home when I know there is chopping to be done. It's actually pretty light weight-wise, can fit better into the chopper/camp knife range than a machete could, and has a lot of carry options. My usual carry goes like Junglas/Izula II/multitool. However, as far as machetes go, I love Tramontina. I found my first Tramontina machetes when I was younger, and by the time I got to them they were well on 20-30 years old. I restored them and more than a decade later they're still taking a beating. Best part is that they're less than ten bucks a pop. I've used the heavy machetes in more efficient manner than axes based on the trees in my area. It really depends on how much weight you want versus the bite of the edge. If you're going apesh*t on serious hardwoods, you might as well get an awesome small axe with a lifetime warranty like Gransfor Bruks. I'm a machete dude myself though, and to come full circle I feel the Junglas is worth every bit of the money. Ha I get giddy every time I pop it out of the sheath(which by the way is a work of art). Just my two cents.
 
finefolders said:
Im looking for a big chopper that doesnt cost more than a decent rifle. Been thinking about getting a junglas. It comes with a great sheath and awesome warranty. My question is does someone make a better knife possibly in stainless that is still tough.
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Also, another thing to help you out. I go in the order of blade style/steel/warranty. If you can find something that looks the way you want, check the steel. If you like that, try to find the best warranty. Chances are you'll find something in the lifetime warranty type companies that strikes your fancy. After that, if it's under $200, just bite the bullet and get it. The warranty will more than make up for it. ESEE and Bark River spring to mind. Google Shopping is your friend. :thumbup:
 
Check out Tramontina, Imacasa and Condor. Even Cold Steel makes a few machetes. They're all cheap, a bit lighter and they perform well for all camping tasks. Mind you, they need to be sharpened so that you get all the 5 edges, if you want the most out of your machete.
 
Hey TwinStick, thats a great job! Looks like it performs well too.


Hi FineFolders, like all material things in life, machete selection depends first on how much you want to spend. Don’t know what kind of rifles you like, but rifles are expensive, even at half the price, that would be a big budget for a machete. I agree that you should get something that you like the looks of, after all your machete is a expression of yourself.


_______________________________
Custom machetes at: http://www.akiblades.com
 
OK PEOPLE

As for "the best chopper", thats a tough question. So many variables. Weight: too heavy & you fatigue faster, too light & you bounce off. Grind of the edge: too thick & you don't get good penetration, too thin & it will roll or dent or chip. Thickness of the steel: adds to weight & increases fatigue, yet it aids in splitting, batoning & prying. So, as you can see, there is no definitive answer. It's what YOU like.

I happen to have good taste in blades. I have not broke one yet. I beat the friggin heck out of mine. I do NOT throw them. I don't care if they break. If they are gonna break, I want them to break under controlled circumstances, when my life does not depend on it.

Features that are important to me: Full tang, full width tang, extended tang, choil-if it is a big knife, so you can choke up for smaller tasks, sabre grind-i feel it makes the knife a little stronger, 1095 steel-good stuff & reasonably priced. Sheaths: some are better than others but please do NOT base you knife purchase on the factory sheath. Custom sheaths are the way to go for a good knife. That being said, with a few simple mods, you can make a crappy stock sheath perform MUCH better.

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I simply got a split D-ring from a hardware store. Used 2 pliers to bend it apart enough to slip the stock belt loop in, bent it back & added a 2 snap belt keeper.

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It now allows total freedom of movement for working, bending, squating, getting into/out of vehicles, etc... The stock sheath on the BK4 shown here has that feature already, but when you use the 2 snap retainers around the knife handle, it becomes stationary.


Choppers i like of the ones i have: BK9, BK7, BK4, BK5, BK10, Boomslang, SP8, SP10, SP Kukri, Ontario 18" machete, Ontario 12" machete-modded by me. This is in no particular order. My personal suggestion: Get a BK9. It is a friggin awesome knife that does everything well, is not so heavy as to fatigue, yet cuts better than you could possibly think it should. Add a choil & some jimping &call it done.

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Hope this helped you.
 
I don't know where to start. Most rifles around me cost better than $500. That opens up the possibility for a plethora of knife options.

There is nothing wrong with an 18-1 from Ontario. They will chop right up there with a large busse blade (actually a little better in some cases as the blade is thinner) Even when ground back to a more manageable but still big bitting 14" length the Ontario machete will rock.

If you want a hard core chopper get a pack axe or a tomahawk.
 
The Ka-Bar Cutlass is an awesome chopper that's not too long. The Condor Bolo also comes to mind. I own, use, and love the Ka-Bar. I've used a Condor and it worked well, but I didn't use it for very long.
 
mrn8 said:
The Ka-Bar Cutlass is an awesome chopper that's not too long. The Condor Bolo also comes to mind. I own, use, and love the Ka-Bar. I've used a Condor and it worked well, but I didn't use it for very long.
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Thank you for reminding me, I forgot I love chopping stuff up with my Condor Golok's. they need to have the grind thinned out, but for $30, they are a great bargain.
 
Thanks for all the replys. Im not looking for a machete. More for a large knife that can chop and do other camp chores. For the price i might buy a bk 9 for my truck. And a junglas for the camper. Cant see dropping a fortune on a busse and throwing it in my tool box and beating the hell
 
I had a Junglas, it's made well, but too light for my chopping needs. I wanted longer and thicker, with tip weight. Bolo, goloks, etc.. were what I was thinking, then I saw Bruce Culberson had made this, so that's what I got. It's 12.5" long, and 13/64" thick, forged 5160, and Bruce makes an awesome leather sheath. Again, it's heavier than the Junglas, but I think it chops better, the weight does the work. With the Junglas I was using too much power to get the job done. Here they are with the Fiddleback 14" machete, the Bark River/Ontario modded machete, my Ontario 12" Cutlass...

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I think the Junglas is right up their with the best of them,aside from maybe some customs and then factor in the price the Junglas really is a steel:)
Carbon is incredibly forgiving(think ww1&ww2 blades)most are in carbon steel and are still around, also consider all the rain forrest cultures that still use them , you just need to dry them off after each use.
 
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This is a Cold Steel Trail Master, it chops well.

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Ontario SP8, it is an excellent chopper. Saw needs to be modified to work well. I used a Dremel tool & a cut-off blade. It now works great.

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Ontario Kukri, it is an excellent chopper.

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Ontario SP10, it is an excellent chopper.

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BK2, excellent chopper given its size. BK7, excellent chopper for its size. BK9, excellent chopper, it's not called the King for nothing !

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Condor Boomslang, an excellent chopper, after it is reprofiled & sharpened.

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BK10, excellent chopper for its size & the reason i became a BeckerHead.

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BK5, excellent chopper & the only large Becker with a choil. This knife ROCKS in the outdoors & in the kitchen. Not as HD as the others though. It batons well though.


The list is really endless. There are just sooooo many good blades out there, i couldn't possibly list 25% of them. Hang around a while, ask questions, educate yourself. Hope i helped at least a little.
 
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