This discussion is quite relevant to me today, in two respects. First, i am currently struggling with a Martindale Golok, from which the Svord ia obviously derived. I paid $37 for the Martindale. The Svord lists for $172. I hope that price is in Australian dollars or something, and that the street price is quite a bit lower, because you cannot pack enough chopping wonderfulness into an 11 1/2” blade to make it worth $172.
OTOH, I am not going to get the Martindale to cut anything without a lot of reprofiling and thinning of the edge. At 72, I don’t have enough years left ahead of me to get that job done with hand tools. The Svord looks to have a higher shoulder and presumably a thinner grind. That gives me something to shoot for if that grind is high enough to let it cut.
Second, I am curious to learn how well the Svord golok cuts in relation to the Condor Golok and the various parangs. I hope that will give me some insight into how much I might expect from my Martindale.
