Cliff, seems we are returning to discussion "Which knife is the best for all purposes"
"Bomb solidity" and "withstanding repeated abuse" are very trick questions, what one man worked out another man always will be able to break
As to light bush chopping. I had numerous trips in very different climatic zones, from polar tundra through Siberian taiga, Mongolian deserts, Mid-Asian mountains up to Indo-China tropical jungle.
Yes, it is possible to go chopping bus on your way in tropical jungle with generally soft, juicy vegetation. In adventure films it looks nicely: tough guys are going forwards chopping all on their way. But it is fairly hard job, especially if you have a somewhat about 30-40 kg in your backpack. Much easier is to look around for way where you can go without chopping. In real life jungle chopping is a very, very last thing I would do. I would like to go 10 km around instead to go 100 meters chopping continuously.
Well, now lets move to Mid-Asian desert. If you would hit thicket of
saksaul - sorry, friends, I do not know how to name it in English and even in Polish. It is very hard thin tree or rather shrub, from 0,5 up to 2 m in height, tangled like hell and additionally prickly. I can't imagine the aim which could let me to go through this thicket chopping...
In Siberian wilderness the harder obstruction I met were dead trees lie on the ground under legs. I can't imagine chopping device in this case, maybe dynamite only...
In polar tundra the dwarf vegetation reaches kneels only but it catches your legs like trap (it is still light bush, right?). The trunks are no thicker than my little finger but they are fairly hard and springy, you could not chop them with A1 as well as with F1.
Do you have some "light bush" more for chopping, please?
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 06-11-2000).]
