- Joined
- Mar 7, 2002
- Messages
- 759
I recently had one of my trees split in half in a storm and had quite a few limbs and shrubs to clean up so I decided this was my chance to compare and get some practical experience with all of the choppers that I have. This is going to have to be done in stages and might be picture intensive so I decided to go ahead and start a post and update as I go. I'm going to test chopping and basic bushcraft cutting. There is everything from small stuff, to limbing, to log sized pieces. Below are the contenders in this match up. I didn't really realize how many I had and there are more. I've had most of the HI's back from when Uncle Bill was still alive and active on the forum.
Left to Right:W49 Bowie, 18" HI Chitlange, 12" HI AK, 15" light Chirawa HI AK, 18" HI WWII, Condor Golok, 15" HI Sirupati, 10" blade Parang, 12" blade Parang, 12" Tramotina machete, Tora Tamang, Tora 2/10. Front: camp tomahawk I put together for my son with Craig Barr head, CS Frontier Hawk.
Now some pictures of the challenge.
This was one practical test that I tried after some chopping. This is my 12" HI AK that I've had for years. I worked on a convex edge and you can't really see but some of the slices that I tried are paper thin. It is amazing how this thing chops though. Better than most that are a lot bigger.
Some preliminary thoughts though. All the jobs can be done by all the blades used with practice, learning the technique with different types of blades seems to be key, modifying edges like putting a convex edge can make a good blade much better for overall use. At the start none of the edges have really been modified with the exception of the 12" AK. I'm going to try and provide updates on what my experiences are but this will just be my opinions or experiences not necessarily promoting or putting down any particular blade. I think if I was in a prolonged survival situation any of these would be appreciated and that I would get to be pretty good in doing all the tasks needed or required much like watching an Indian in the Amazon filleting a fish with an 18" Machete. I get a lot of good tips and advice from the forums. I hope that I can do the same for some others.
Left to Right:W49 Bowie, 18" HI Chitlange, 12" HI AK, 15" light Chirawa HI AK, 18" HI WWII, Condor Golok, 15" HI Sirupati, 10" blade Parang, 12" blade Parang, 12" Tramotina machete, Tora Tamang, Tora 2/10. Front: camp tomahawk I put together for my son with Craig Barr head, CS Frontier Hawk.
Now some pictures of the challenge.
This was one practical test that I tried after some chopping. This is my 12" HI AK that I've had for years. I worked on a convex edge and you can't really see but some of the slices that I tried are paper thin. It is amazing how this thing chops though. Better than most that are a lot bigger.
Some preliminary thoughts though. All the jobs can be done by all the blades used with practice, learning the technique with different types of blades seems to be key, modifying edges like putting a convex edge can make a good blade much better for overall use. At the start none of the edges have really been modified with the exception of the 12" AK. I'm going to try and provide updates on what my experiences are but this will just be my opinions or experiences not necessarily promoting or putting down any particular blade. I think if I was in a prolonged survival situation any of these would be appreciated and that I would get to be pretty good in doing all the tasks needed or required much like watching an Indian in the Amazon filleting a fish with an 18" Machete. I get a lot of good tips and advice from the forums. I hope that I can do the same for some others.
