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- Oct 13, 1999
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My plan to go camping yesterday fell through. However, I got to have a little backyard fun with the woodpile. For this, I brought my AKB and my Sher Attitude. I thought about bringing my 22" AK, but the SA has been waiting to do something for the past several months.
Without further ado, the contenders.
The Sher Attitude is just about the same weight as the AKB, with the AKB weighing 23 1/4oz vs 23 7/8 oz for the SA. The AKB feels more lively than the SA due to its center of balance being about an inch closer to the bolster.
I first took the bowie to a 3" log that has been seasoning for 6 months if not longer. The AKB made good bites into the wood but tended to stick with most of the blows. This is likely due to the edge being thin and not convexed yet (I had just steeled it some due to the already sharp edge). Except for the sticking, the bowie was a joy to use. Little to no vibration and I found the handle to be comfortable to use. Fast forward several minutes.
After going through the log I decided to split one of the halves. Splitting the section up took me longer than I thought it would. Having a more convex edge would probably had helped here as well, though wailing on the spine for a while with another log showed me how tough this bowie was. Neither the edge, the spine, or the handle scales were affected save for some scuffing on the spine. After doing the initial split, I split the new halves into quarters. This only took me a minute or less much to my relief.
The bowie got to take a breather while I put the Sher Attitude through the same routine. I picked out a log that was the same diameter and halved it. It took me about the same amount of time to go through the log with the SA as it did with the AKB. Though the SA hardly stuck if at all, the cuts didn't seem as deep and I noticed a fair amount of vibration from chopping with it. This is about what I'd expected, as the SA's blade is narrow and tapers more abruptly from spine to edge. Below is the Attitude with its kill.
Figuring that the blade profile would help it split well, I took one of the log halves and gave it the old college try. It might have just been the individual logs, but it hardly took anytime to finish splitting with the SA. As with the bowie, hammering on the spine didn't faze the Attitude.
After that I decided to trim back some of the lower branches along the fenceline to make mowing there easier. These were pencil to 3/4" thick. I used the Attitude for the first half dozen of them. The SA's blade profile did pretty well, taking most of them with a single blow. Then I tried it with the bowie. The AKB's edge allowed it to slice through the branches in style like the one below.
Ten minutes later the AKB had reached its bag limit.
Steeling brought the edges of the two knifes back in no time. I'm going to give the AKB the sandpaper and strop treatment to get a more convex edge on. I can see why it has its own fanbase. The Sher Attitude makes a pretty decent campknife as well. It reminds me of the sirupatis and how they can split smaller wood surprisingly well due to the blade profile.
Bob
Without further ado, the contenders.
The Sher Attitude is just about the same weight as the AKB, with the AKB weighing 23 1/4oz vs 23 7/8 oz for the SA. The AKB feels more lively than the SA due to its center of balance being about an inch closer to the bolster.
I first took the bowie to a 3" log that has been seasoning for 6 months if not longer. The AKB made good bites into the wood but tended to stick with most of the blows. This is likely due to the edge being thin and not convexed yet (I had just steeled it some due to the already sharp edge). Except for the sticking, the bowie was a joy to use. Little to no vibration and I found the handle to be comfortable to use. Fast forward several minutes.
After going through the log I decided to split one of the halves. Splitting the section up took me longer than I thought it would. Having a more convex edge would probably had helped here as well, though wailing on the spine for a while with another log showed me how tough this bowie was. Neither the edge, the spine, or the handle scales were affected save for some scuffing on the spine. After doing the initial split, I split the new halves into quarters. This only took me a minute or less much to my relief.
The bowie got to take a breather while I put the Sher Attitude through the same routine. I picked out a log that was the same diameter and halved it. It took me about the same amount of time to go through the log with the SA as it did with the AKB. Though the SA hardly stuck if at all, the cuts didn't seem as deep and I noticed a fair amount of vibration from chopping with it. This is about what I'd expected, as the SA's blade is narrow and tapers more abruptly from spine to edge. Below is the Attitude with its kill.
Figuring that the blade profile would help it split well, I took one of the log halves and gave it the old college try. It might have just been the individual logs, but it hardly took anytime to finish splitting with the SA. As with the bowie, hammering on the spine didn't faze the Attitude.
After that I decided to trim back some of the lower branches along the fenceline to make mowing there easier. These were pencil to 3/4" thick. I used the Attitude for the first half dozen of them. The SA's blade profile did pretty well, taking most of them with a single blow. Then I tried it with the bowie. The AKB's edge allowed it to slice through the branches in style like the one below.
Ten minutes later the AKB had reached its bag limit.
Steeling brought the edges of the two knifes back in no time. I'm going to give the AKB the sandpaper and strop treatment to get a more convex edge on. I can see why it has its own fanbase. The Sher Attitude makes a pretty decent campknife as well. It reminds me of the sirupatis and how they can split smaller wood surprisingly well due to the blade profile.
Bob
You give up a little of the pep of the AKB. HOWEVER, you want to talk about chopping in a handy 15" package