Swamp Rat and SYKCO Chat

There's a heck of a well price thick stock ratweiler in the exchange. We know I don't need it... but that will only keep me away for so long. So get on it.

Even comes with a nice sheath which puts that RW under $200.
 
Hey all, just checking in. Haven't been around much due to the work/family life, but the thing that really has me bummed out is that I developed some kind of tendonitis in my dominant shoulder out of nowhere.

Can't even throw a ball right now, so swinging big blades around has been totally out of the question. I could probably get away with doing some work with my opposite hand, but it hasn't seemed worth it. I've been working with a Physical Therapist for a few weeks and they're optimistic that the shoulder will recover without surgery, but so far I haven't noticed much change from all the stretching and exercises. Hope things start to look up soon. :(
 
Hey all, just checking in. Haven't been around much due to the work/family life, but the thing that really has me bummed out is that I developed some kind of tendonitis in my dominant shoulder out of nowhere.

Can't even throw a ball right now, so swinging big blades around has been totally out of the question. I could probably get away with doing some work with my opposite hand, but it hasn't seemed worth it. I've been working with a Physical Therapist for a few weeks and they're optimistic that the shoulder will recover without surgery, but so far I haven't noticed much change from all the stretching and exercises. Hope things start to look up soon. :(

I was going to say, silver lining: time to get that off hand practiced up. Supposedly, it's useful in a survival situation. To be honest, I'm more concerned with, uh, bathroom duties if I lose my primary arm. My lack of aim with my off hand isn't so great and I see it being rough in both situations.

I've tried off-hand chopping and it's a bit weird, as I try to use some of the antics in the woods as fun exercise. I think after the initial learning curve and build of motor skills, it wouldn't be too bad. It's kind of entertaining, if also frustrating, because seeing where the edge hits looks like I'm just throwing a temper tantrum and wacking away at the wood. No precision at all. I'm a little better with an axe... if I use it two-handed.

Hope you heal up. Shoulders suck, but so do most other injuries. I'm destined for shoulder issues later on after wrecking my shoulder in a motorcycle crash, though literally, all of my brothers (5) have torn shoulders from sports as well. I think one may have escaped unscathed, because he didn't play/do any. Luckily, we have good knees.
 
Thanks mate, I'm trying to stay optimistic and hopefully will be on the mend soon. Thankfully most of the time the shoulder doesn't hurt or really limit me, no bathroom troubles lol. It's just all the fun, active stuff I struggle with. :rolleyes:

I have always done some off-hand work when I'm out chopping as a best practice, so it's not completely foreign and I should be ahead of the curve there. Will probably give it a go next time I have a good opportunity to do some trail-clearing. The doc cautioned me about the risk of overuse on the right side while the left is healing up though, so I'm trying to be smart and proactively doing all my PT exercises on both sides.
 
Dang Nate, hate to hear it. I know I sure don't heal up as fast as I used to! Hopefully there's nothing permanent about it.
 
Dang Nate, hate to hear it. I know I sure don't heal up as fast as I used to! Hopefully there's nothing permanent about it.

Thanks man, here's hoping.

I've noticed the longer healing times a bit too, but have always assured myself that it's just my imagination. The reality is that I hit forty last year and am probably about to fall apart lol. :confused:

No regerts!!
 
Mate that sucks!

I had my dominant shoulder just pop during routine daily goings, and it really sucked because at the time I was doing a renovation of an apartment and it really was unpleasant to paint the ceilings when I had a surge of pain every time I lifted my arm up... and I was doing a lot of that changing lights and painting ceilings...

I've gotten over the falling apart age point :D couple of years ago and I'll say it seems to pay to do some strength exercises (push ups, sit ups... against your body weight kinda thing) to make sure the muscles will provide some support for the creaky joints...
 
Guys, 63 is just behind me and I had both knees completely replaced in 2013. Last year after my left arm bothering me for what seemed forever, (BTW, I'm right handed) I finally went to see the ortho doctor. After testings he said, you have a rotator cuff tear and due to your "babying" your shoulder, it's become frozen. :eek:
So I prep for surgery and he knocks me out and "manipulated" my shoulder while I was in lala land. Then physical therapy for 6 wks.
Well that didn't work. So back into surgery to repair my torn rotator cuff and when the doctor got in there he later said it was a complete 100% tear. Well that was the end of last year and I'm still healing. I guess that age thing has something to do with the slower recovery. Knees are nothing compared to a shoulder.
 
Rough stuff Uncle T. My step mom had very similar issues. I think she's better now but she gave up on PT and her shoulder froze back up on her. I think they had to do another scope surgery or something like that and she stuck with the PT after that one and it stuck. I also think 1/2 my brothers have had AC joint tears in the shoulder, 3 from sports and I tore mine up good in a motorcycle crash, on my way home from blessing of the bikes no less.

Stick in there. Hopefully things start healing up better. I know one thing, sitting on your butt doesn't help joint and muscles much. Maybe you need to sling around that Kephart for a while before swinging the ratweiler at some bushes. Craft some bushes before you chop some up, or something like that.
 
Ouch, ouch, ouch! Do you still have your motorcycle?
That's great advice on my knives. Maybe I'll whittle some toothpicks with my Kephart before pulling out the Mammoth INFIWeiler.
You all were talking earlier about using your non-dominent hand to do some chopping and such, in case of an accident or something and it reminded me of Game of Thrones where Jamie the King Slayer list his dominant right hand. Was he really that good with his left?
 
Ouch, ouch, ouch! Do you still have your motorcycle?
That's great advice on my knives. Maybe I'll whittle some toothpicks with my Kephart before pulling out the Mammoth INFIWeiler.
You all were talking earlier about using your non-dominent hand to do some chopping and such, in case of an accident or something and it reminded me of Game of Thrones where Jamie the King Slayer list his dominant right hand. Was he really that good with his left?

I do, but do to a series of unfortunate events it ended up being stored for a while and mice ate much of the key wire harnesses. It's hanging out in the garage until I can find a family member that wants it, I get time to actually take on the project, or I suck it up and decide to pay a shop to do it for me.

This is after the crash. Replaced the handlebars and mirrors, covered up a few scratches in the gas tank with black paint and all set. I ended up far worse than the bike as I caught some gravel in a corner I was hotrodding in and went off the side of the road, which was really soft. The bike sunk in, handlebars actually dug into the dirt and completely stopped the bike, but I didn't. I found out my shoulder was wrecked when I kept trying to pick the bike up afterwards and didn't have the strength... gotta make sure the bike's okay. Rode it home after some friends who were with me helped drag us up to the road.
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I think this was shortly before I started getting into bicycles and bike racing... which lead to so many more crashes. I've bled a lot more on a bicycle than many years in contact sports.
 
Some more fun today, just for you Uncle Timbo Uncle Timbo since I didn't get the ratweiler pics from tearing up some trees on the trail Thursday.

I was fortunate to acquire a Busse BB13 recently and I've been dying to try it out and compare against my 1311, but the bloody rain has really slowed down my expeditions through the swamps behind my house. Nothing too special, but I had a few decent sized pine limbs that I pruned off Thursday also that really needed to get cleared out of the yard. Brought the safety mutt just in case I needed something smaller. I feel like I cheated on the ratweiler only a little, since he got the ride along with the saw on Thursday for 1.5 hours of fencing with mosquitos and knocking down trees.

Trees from Thursday, stolen from the facebook mtb trail conditions page (not my bike either, this is the guy's that reported it).
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And today's fun
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And saved some of the bigger sticks incase I need to fashion something up. I'm intent on making a barbecue tripod to practice some bushcraft style cooing. Green pine is fun to chop, very rewarding on how much bite you get. Sap is less fun to clean.
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Honestly, there wasn't nearly as much difference as I would've expected based on the blade shape of the BB13 vs 1311. I almost think I like the 1311 more simply because the straight blade makes it easier to carry, similar reason I like some of the big chopping knives over small axes.
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Mate that sucks!

I had my dominant shoulder just pop during routine daily goings, and it really sucked because at the time I was doing a renovation of an apartment and it really was unpleasant to paint the ceilings when I had a surge of pain every time I lifted my arm up... and I was doing a lot of that changing lights and painting ceilings...

I've gotten over the falling apart age point :D couple of years ago and I'll say it seems to pay to do some strength exercises (push ups, sit ups... against your body weight kinda thing) to make sure the muscles will provide some support for the creaky joints...

Bummer, that sounds sorta like what I have going on. Don't remember a specific injury, just started hurting and woke me up one night and hasn't gone away.

Definitely agree on the need to maintain one's fitness over time. I am fairly fit, eat well, exercise, etc... so this caught me off guard. Hopefully the PT will work and I'll turn the corner soon. Really want to avoid a visit to the surgeon and potentially going under the knife. :confused:
 
...Honestly, there wasn't nearly as much difference as I would've expected based on the blade shape of the BB13 vs 1311. I almost think I like the 1311 more simply because the straight blade makes it easier to carry, similar reason I like some of the big chopping knives over small axes.

Thanks for the cool post. Interesting to hear your thoughts on the BGBB13 vs the 1311. I sprang for the CG version partly because I don't have much INFI and the price was pretty good, but also because I thought the BG might be too similar to the 1311.

Even though the CG was surface ground down below the original .25" spec before they left the shop, it's still a beast and hits a lot harded than my 1311 (or any of my other choppers really). It's a blast to use, but is pretty heavy to pack around and wears me out quicker for sure.
 
Thanks for the cool post. Interesting to hear your thoughts on the BGBB13 vs the 1311. I sprang for the CG version partly because I don't have much INFI and the price was pretty good, but also because I thought the BG might be too similar to the 1311.

Even though the CG was surface ground down below the original .25" spec before they left the shop, it's still a beast and hits a lot harded than my 1311 (or any of my other choppers really). It's a blast to use, but is pretty heavy to pack around and wears me out quicker for sure.

Maybe mine is a thin cut, the stock thickness of my BGBB13 is identical to the 1311, as good as my calipers can tell (right at 5mm/.2"), and the weight is within a few ounces if I remember right. So it basically came down to blade shape as the biggest difference.

Both are chopping work horses. With a good edge, they both bit really deep. Maybe I need to go to some harder wood to see if a bigger difference arises them. Even the thickest pieces in the picture only took 2-3 swings, and that's more because I was too lazy to put much between them and the ground so I didn't want to bury the edge if I went straight through. I'm sure had I had a chopping block, 1 swing pretty easy on the 3" or so pine limbs.
 
Any of you guys have a vex or other Busse kin in d2? I'm looking at a vex and unsure how they did on the HT. I assume it was good, but even on a Busse, how much abuse can one subject to D2. Certainly, perfectly adequate for normal uses.
 
Maybe mine is a thin cut, the stock thickness of my BGBB13 is identical to the 1311, as good as my calipers can tell (right at 5mm/.2")...

The BG's were advertised as 3/16", same as the 1311. The CG's in INFI were originally spec'd at 1/4", but prior to release Jerry annouced the CG's would be surface ground a bit thinner for better handling, which was the right move imo.

Here's the old announcment thread if you're interested:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/busse-combat-proudly-introduces-the-bb13.1392705/
 
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