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Five 12" Behemoth Choppers, Delta 3V

Nathan the Machinist

Nathan the Machinist

KnifeMaker / Machinist / Evil Genius
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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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The 12" Behemoth Chopper is a large high performance cutting tool that incorporates what we've learned in our collaborations with Lorien Arnold and Dan Keffeler and learned from the handle, grind geometry and weight distribution optimization of several years of chopper development. This is the largest knife we've ever offered and the highly refined design and heat treat represents some of our best work. I feel this is one of the best, state of the art, large high performance knives made.

They're made of CPM 3V at HRC 60.5 with the Delta heat treat protocol that I believe is the finest heat treat for this material available anywhere. This is an exceptional knife with a combination of toughness and edge retention that will blow your mind.

The blade grind geometry is based upon the work we've done with Competition Cutters (legitimately won this years world cutting championship in Atlanta). The grind angles and shallow S grind are optimized for deep penetration with good chip removal and minimal binding. And although this is a stout strong blade it is not thick or overbuilt and clunky. If your experience cutting with large choppers has been with thick heavy knives this is going to be an eye opener for you. And although not remotely competition legal, the 12" Behemoth Chopper would be very competitive on the race course.

With a generous handle offering multiple hand positions and a 1/4" thick 12" blade this is a Big Damn Knife. But it is well balanced and does not feel clunky in the hand. At 24.5 ounces it is reasonably light for it's size and could be carried in the woods or on a hike or camping, though it doesn't exactly disappear on your belt. It is somewhere between a heavy duty machete and an extra large camp knife.

The hand grip works as a heavy camp knife when held towards the front with very good balance and dexterity for its size. When held towards the back it fully fills the hand and offers control and reduced hand fatigue for extended hard chopping. Like the HDFK before it, the handle on the new BC is the product of a long iterative process of testing and development. It will impress you.

It has a forward lanyard hole (as used in competition cuts) and a hidden rear lanyard hole.


Specs:
Delta 3V, 60.5 HRC, .250 thick at ricasso (1/4")
Total length 17.75"
Blade length 12.0"
Weight 24.5 oz
Edge angle 20 DPS
.035" BTE with additional meat towards the tip.
Grippy 3D machined scales in micarta or TeroTuf
Black oxide treated 18-8 stainless steel fasteners
Hidden lanyard


Tell me what scale option you choose and I'll build it. There are 5 knives available in this sale. The knives in the picture are not the knives you will receive. The knives need scales and sharpened. They will ship next week.

Due to limited quantities please limit one per post.


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The scales in the picture are all buffed. It looks nicer and it helps the geometry "read" better in the photographs, but consider ordering unbuffed for better grip.

These are all "field grade", "as machined" and stonewashed with tool and grind marks.

PRICE DOES NOT INCLUDE SHEATH

$580 in canvas micarta, natural or black
$590 in black linen micarta
$595 in OD green micarta
$605 in black unbuffed TeroTuf on a black micarta liner. (ugly material that works awesome)
$605 in black hard ebonite on a black micarta liner. (currently experimental, don't buy this unless you just really want to)

Some thoughts on hard Ebonite:

Nathan the Machinist said:
Once upon a time, a long time ago (as in the 1800's) you could make stuff out of wood, bone, stone, glass and other natural materials. There was no "plastic".

Someone recognized there was a need for a waterproof synthetic material to substitute for Ebony for certain applications such as reed musical instruments (think oboe) because ebony was getting spendy and it cracks when it gets wet a lot. And using a solid chunk of real ebony for something like a bowling ball was becoming spendy.

Someone thought to vulcanize the hell out of natural rubber to make a hard semi-plastic. Like phenolic (micarta) this is an old polymer that crosslinks into a hard thermosetting material, but unlike other hard man made materials it is natural rubber base and is still slightly flexible.

Real Ebonite like this is not used much anymore at all because it has some real disadvantages compared to modern alternatives such as nylon, Delrin and other modern thermoplastics, though it is still used in musical instruments, pipe stems, and things like some high end fountain pens etc. Applications where cost isn't a driving factor and properties such as tonal or tactile are important.

Disadvantages:
It's made of natural rubber, being a natural product there can be inconsistencies such as areas that can look a little splotchy.
Being real rubber, it does not tolerate ozone or (years of) extended sunlight. It can check and fade over time if it's stored next to an electric motor that generates ozone in use, or kept out in the sun for a long time.
It's not as strong as some modern alternatives. If you pound on stuff with your handle you're likely to damage it where micarta is tougher.
It smells a little funny at first because it is highly vulcanized which means a faint sulfur and burnt rubber smell. It's not obnoxious, but if you're accustomed to a highly sanitized scent free world you might not like it.
It's expensive because someone has to literally go cut and bleed a rubber tree to acquire the raw material. I'm offsetting this expense some for now because this is prototype development work, but you can expect that once I have Ebonite dialed in it won't be cheap.

Advantages:
With a much lower durometer than other synthetic materials it gives a pleasantly dead "thunk" in an impact compared to modern alternatives. This is nice in a chopper.
It has a pleasant smooth warm feel coupled with nice grippy tactile traction like only rubber can give. It is super pleasant in the hand. This is nice in about anything from a chopper to a small EDC and everything in between.


A long time ago the core of Ebonite brand bowling balls were actually made of real ebonite. They're not anymore, it's polyurethane. But some antique bowling balls were the source of the original Ebonite I used for prototypes. Moving into beta build production I imported Nikko Ebonite from Japan. That's what this is, current production Japanese Ebonite. It's a little harder than the antique ebonite we started with. I have mixed feelings about this.

Being rubber it benefits from a larger screw head to hold it down, so the Ebonite scales will come with a natural color titanium screw with an oversize head. Nothing fancy.

Jo uses Ebonite in her competition chopper instead of terotuf or rubber.
Click to expand...


If you want a kydex sheath with drop loop, we have the well made Mashed Cat sheath available for $85

Shipping the BC in the USA is $15.


I take paypal, cash, check or MO.

Jo will contact you via PM or email on Sunday or Monday. Emails though BF often get lost in spam filters. If you don't hear from her by end of day Monday please contact Jo on her PM, or send us an email at carothersknives at g mail dought com

If there appears to be interest in this new 12" Behemoth Chopper pattern today we'll do another batch here in one week.

Thanks for looking,
Nathan
 
Last edited:
holy cripes! Did the post take for ever to show up on the home page or what???!!?


edit - I actually left the main page and went to the sub forum to see if it was posted there. Then came back. And still in on the first page. Wonky stuff, I tell ya.
 
TRfromMT said:
holy cripes! Did the post take for ever to show up on the home page or what???!!?


edit - I actually left the main page and went to the sub forum to see if it was posted there. Then came back. And still in on the first page. Wonky stuff, I tell ya.
Click to expand...


I clicked "post" and the forum software said "nope" and I said "what do you mean nope!" and removed the pictures, it loaded and then stuck the pictures back in. I guess it's too much stuff...
 
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