A little survival knife testing !

pitdog

pitdog

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Apr 13, 2007
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Figured I'd give a few of my knives a little testing today to see how they compare.

These are the knives:

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This was the result of 60 chops from each knife.

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The Tracker felt very clumsy but appears to have done the best. The Chopweiler really chops with authority and was very close to the Tracker.
The Knatchet felt the best in use and I think in hindsight I could have swung the thing a lot harder.It definitely appeared the most precise to use.
The Booshway looks like it lagged quite a way behind here but in reality it was actually quite close which given the size suprised me.I think it would have caught up with the bst of them after maybe another 20 chops which is negligible in the scheme of things eh !

The V's also look a lot better on the other side of the wood which was the side I chopped. I had to turn it round to write on though as the chopped side had paint on it !

I then used the knives to make some fuzzies:

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My technique was pretty poor today but I guess it was consistant so it was poor with all the knives !!!

Suprisingly the Tracker came out top again ! The Knatchet did some really nice curls but they kept breaking off at the end.
The Booshway felt the best doing this and as with the Knatchet did some really nice curls but they came off.
The Chopweiler performs every task pretty well and is just a dependable workhorse !

Snicker picked out her favourite !

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You shouldn't post this. I've been craving one of those Knatchets from JK.
 
mistwalker said:
60 ? Damn bro, how wide is that board, and what kind of wood is it?
Click to expand...

Ok buddy ya got me, I guess I was using about 60% effort, but that was constant with them all !:o

I just went out after your post and tried again at full effort with the Chopweiler, 60 chops......

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Just tried the Knatchet at full effort and wood broke at 46 chops, not bad for a 3/16" knife eh !

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I was going to say, if that was 60 chops, it better be a hard wood and bigger then it looked! Nice review! Thanks for posting it up.
 
Good stuff Pit, looks like the Chopweiller won the fuzzy contest to me.
 
Hi pitdog -

Cool idea for the comparison.

I'll have my own Knatchet by the end of the year.

best regards -

mqqn
 
THANK YOU for posting another pic of that board with the chopweiler next to it for comparison. I too was like "60 chops? How weak is pitdog swinging that thing". But now I see how thick it is it makes MUCH more sense. The results are suprising I would have thought the Chopweiler would have came out on top.
 
In all honesty, I think they all performed enough alike that the proper choice is the one that feels best in hand.
 
canadiantrailman said:
Thanks for posting this review. Sorry but I think the size of these knives would pose a challenge as a chopper in a survival situation. Though not as fun, maybe a hatchet or saw would be more practical. I mean if you extrapolate the time and effort required to build a shelter, make a fire, form a spear for hunting/fishing, etc, man, it could take all day and lead to exhaustion.

Last night I was playing around packing and repacking my pack in preparation for a hike this weekend. Although my Oxhead axe weighs around four pounds and is a hefty size, I will feel much better having it with me in case I get lost or something like that despite its weight.

I just find my knives lack the heft and weight to serve as a chopper unless they are some massive kukri; even my Trailmaster feels light when under full swing mode. Just my $0.02 worth, but I still love me knives.
Click to expand...

I have an article in one of my old Backwoodsman magazines where a knife maker found that for a knife to match an axe for chopping they had to be huge, something like a 17" blade and weighed something crazy like 3 lbs.

What would you be chopping in a survival scenario where these knives would fail you ? Making a shelter etc the largest diameter wood I'd be chopping would be about 1", unless ya planning on making a log cabin you shouldn't need anything over that size surely !

I'm not gonna be chopping down trees for firewood, I live in Canada there is plenty of wood lying around I just might have to batton it to get to the dry inner...once again no big deal for any of these knives !

I also prefer a knife in this size range for more detailed tasks, to me a knife becomes a survival knife when it's the only edged tool ya have so this is gonna have to prep food be it animal or plant. Maybe carve other equipment....not gonna go into detail but ya get the idea.

So why would ya need a bigger blade ?:confused:
 
Thanks for showing us. Your tracker is modified isn't it? I wonder if it would have performed that well with the original bevels. I've used mine to shop limbs off downed logs to get through on the trail, but your mods look like they really improve that knife.
 
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