Basic 11, KZII and TTKZ .... marathon session!

Here are some of the KZII when stripped ....

P1010346.jpg


P1010347.jpg


P1010353.jpg


Some close ups of the finish beneath the coating ....

P1010348.jpg


P1010349.jpg


P1010350.jpg


P1010351.jpg


Also a shot of the spine after the re-grind .... it still needs some finishing work to blend in the satin to a constant grit finish .... it's not done yet by a long chalk .... and the blade has grind marks which still need sorting as you can see from the pic's above ...

P1010352.jpg
 
Here are a couple showing some progress with the grind marks on the blade .... that's about all I have had time for today ....

P1010354.jpg


P1010355.jpg


The KZII is quite well finished on the whole under the coating .... there is at least no Infi dimples because of the grinding .... but the level of finish on the grinding still needs to be smoothed off ....the comfort though on the grip is now much better for me and when the blade is finished and then convexed I will give it a run out against the TTKZ :thumbup:
 
Good lord, man. That is nice! The whole thing is turning out to be rather special, isn't it? The handle simply looks ideal. I'm saving the pics, if you don't mind, for my own mod when I have my own KZ2(s). Just stunning!
 
Another awesome review Peter! :thumbup: :cool:

And I really like the mods & work you've done to the KZII... looks great! You're making me rethink my decision one getting one of these. :D

But for now... I'm looking forward to getting out and beating on my Asym B11. :D

Thanks for the pics and taking the time to go so in depth in your review. :cool:


.
 
Thanks for the comments guys .... I think this one was as far as I have gone on modd'ing .... held my breath a bit on this one too so I was relieved at how things went .... :thumbup:
 
Great pics and review man! And that satin looks awesome! I love the B-11!

EDITED: I had more posted here but in the interest of not hijacking Peters awesome thread I decided to delete it and start my own thread.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Peter, I'll look forward to your field testing results. That KZ2 looks much more comfortable to use now. Almost looks like an SHKZ now! I have almost pulled the trigger on a TTKZ several times and still may wind up doing it as those handles look so tempting.

Those grind marks under the coating on the spine of the handle have been on every one I have stripped. They all go away pretty easily with the 80 grit sanding disc setup I use and gives just the slightest rounding like a nuclear treatment which actually helps the feel of the overall grip. ;)
 
Great review, Peter. How do you think the BWM would stack up against those? I would think that the Bushwacker would do fine at clearing that brush. Maybe not as well as a 22" machete, but not bad.
 
Awesome review. I've come to the conclusion that you can't go wrong with any of these bad boys. If you have the skill they will all do the job. I'll take one of each please. :D
 
Horn Dog said:
Great review, Peter. How do you think the BWM would stack up against those? I would think that the Bushwacker would do fine at clearing that brush. Maybe not as well as a 22" machete, but not bad.
Click to expand...

The b11 beats the Bushwacker at every single task i've put it too, including machete style brush clearing once the edge was refined. I didn't have the asymmetrical grind one though, so the edge on that was probably better than the standard grind. It chops better, feels better in the hand for machete style clearing and is VERY comfortable. Busse hit it out of the park with this one IMO. I would love to see a heavy chopper with a res c handle. Take an NMFBM and breed it with the B11 and add another inch. Perfection for a heavy chopper.
 
Horn Dog said:
Great review, Peter. How do you think the BWM would stack up against those? I would think that the Bushwacker would do fine at clearing that brush. Maybe not as well as a 22" machete, but not bad.
Click to expand...

Yes your BWM CG would have done a great job on the brush ... infairness the order on chopping the tree at a reasonable guess would be the BWM CG, the Basic 11 and then the khukri's .... but the way you put an edge on that BWM CG and I have tried to emulate what you did with mine .... they are all quite close .... forinstance I am not sure at all what the order would be on my BWM LE and the Basic 11 .... I would need a fairly strict test and testing materials to tell ....maybe use 2x4's rather than natural wood/limbs as they can vary .... the Basic 11 with Jerry's ASM edge is an amazing performer .... those type of edges never seem to roll and as a result .... over a long session ... they do suprise you at what they can do.... and the Res C also helps.... but the BWM's and the Basic's are some of my favourite Busse's:thumbup:

I have just been out sectioning and limbing the tree I dropped with the KZ II after I finished the ghetto satin look and gave it a good convex edge .... I will post some pic's once they are uploaded .... :thumbup:
 
230grains said:
The b11 beats the Bushwacker at every single task i've put it too, including machete style brush clearing once the edge was refined. I didn't have the asymmetrical grind one though, so the edge on that was probably better than the standard grind. It chops better, feels better in the hand for machete style clearing and is VERY comfortable. Busse hit it out of the park with this one IMO. I would love to see a heavy chopper with a res c handle. Take an NMFBM and breed it with the B11 and add another inch. Perfection for a heavy chopper.
Click to expand...

An 11" INFI blade, light weight, and a Res C handle. I can believe it, 230grians. I'm still favoring my DFLE, but a Basic 11 is on list.
 
peterphws said:
i have just been out sectioning and limbing the tree i dropped with the kz ii after i finished the ghetto satin look and gave it a good convex edge .... I will post some pic's once they are uploaded .... :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Can. Not. Wait. To. See. It!
 
Peter,

Thank you for the great review and photos! That's a cool mod on the handle too.

Gene
 
Well here are some pic's of the KZII after I finished doing a bit of a ghetto satin job and had zero convexed the edge ( as best I could ... it is a combo of dovetailing the existing edge into the grind by raising the height of the convex shoulder .... ) so now it is quite similar to the TTKZ in terms of profile.

P1010356.jpg


I also checked out the weight of the blade having done my modifications ....

P1010358.jpg


It comes in at 32 oz's or exactly 2lb ... the TTKZ is 37 oz's and by way of a comparison my NMFBM is 28 oz's ... so it slots in nicely imbetween and feels nice in the hand in terms of "weight" and also this saving of 5 oz's would be a real benefit if carrying it for any length of time on your belt. The modification has'nt radically changed the balance ... it is still blade heavy on a rear grip and fairly neutral on a front grip .... but the rear grip is a lot more comfortable to use.

I wanted to get a feel of how this knife did before doing a chop off with the TTKZ as I have'nt used it yet since doing the modification .... so I went out and did some sectioning on the limb I took down with the B11 and TTKZ.

First impressions were pretty spectacular ... the knife hits like a train and can cut VERY deep.

I took two limbs off in the pic below so fast I forgot to do a photo but even chopping the knife back into the limb for a photo pic it buried itself to the spine ....

P1010369.jpg


The above shot had the grain going with the strilke .... but even on shots at 45 degrees to the grain when chopping it can sink to the spine ....

P1010365.jpg


On follow up chops it can go deeper than the spine and you ned to get a feel of how quick a limb will go because you need to watch your footwork carefully ....

P1010367.jpg


It does bite deep ....

P1010368.jpg


follow up chops go past the spine and throw out big chunks of wood if the shot connects with the lower V cut ....

P1010366.jpg


so you need to watch for this sort of thing .... a deep strike ....

P1010361.jpg


which when the knife is removed is 80% through the limb ...

P1010362.jpg


and another crack with the same force will have it clear the cut and still be heading "somewhere" with enough momentum to still do a lot of damage ... so keeping your wits about you as to where the swing will end up is a useful state of mind to "practise" ...:D cos, this thing can seriously "chop" !
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top