Big Choppers Side by Side

B

brownfam

Joined
Mar 10, 2009
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168
Well, I figured 4 days was enough to keep my new BWM pretty and clean. I took it and my current "big chopper" and tried them out side by side.

That is my BRKT KSF machete. They were made in collaboration between Bark River and KSF in 2008. It is an 18" Ontario machete cut down to a 14" with a slight drop point, plunge line extended, blade reprofiled to a beautiful convex, rehandled using micarta with epoxy and stainless Loveless bolts, and the grip length increased, etc. The steel is incredible and for Alaska it is an awesome bush knife, with some limitations.


The contenders with one weak swing into an 8" piece of birch that was cut down last year.


3/4 through for the BWM


After




Still sharp



The curled cuts on the left are the BWM. The more ragged cuts are from the machete. By the way, the machete has made hundreds (possibly thousands) of cuts on everything from weeds to trees and has NEVER been sharpened. It STILL has the edge from the BRKT factory. Pretty impressive and speaks well for the Ontario steel and heat treat and the edge the folks at BRKT put on it.

Next I tried some typical "machete" work on some limbs and brush and as expected, the machete was better on the light stuff.

Bottom line, the machete excels at snap cutting brush and standing weeds, grasses, bushes, etc. It goes through alders and willows up to 1" like a hot knife through butter. Its lighter weight and slightly longer blade equals higher blade speed with less effort.

The BWM excels at rough chopping and would obviously do things that would destroy the machete like chopping through cinder-blocks, steel siding, cars, etc that you might encounter in a SHTF situation.

If I had a choice and the energy I would have one of each strapped to each side of my BOB.

It I had to select one to get me through it would be the Busse hands down. I don't have to do a destruction test to know it would be the survivor in a TEOTWAWKI situation.

Michael
 
Nice comparison. For me the B11 is the Ultimate feeling pack blade. In fact, it will soon be back home to me after Vic got to mess with it. In my area, I just don't seeing me getting another mistress for usage in the field.
 
sumoj275 said:
Nice comparison. For me the B11 is the Ultimate feeling pack blade. In fact, it will soon be back home to me after Vic got to mess with it. In my area, I just don't seeing me getting another mistress for usage in the field.
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My son loves his B11 and beats the snot out of it regularly. No doubt it is also an incredibly good choice for a hard use "chopper". :thumbup:

Michael
 
Good review :thumbup:

I like your machete, Bark River does some nice work
 
M67 said:
Good review :thumbup:

I like your machete, Bark River does some nice work
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Thanks

Yeah they do make a nice knife. I have several but I have quit buying them. I feel they have priced themselves out of their market or place in the industry. I am sure others will disagree but with a lot of their most popular models topping $200.00 with basic handles, the value is not there.

Not when you can go on the Company Store and get a SAR 3 for the same $$$.

No brainer!

Michael
 
Sweet!

So if I was going to pick I would take the BWM handle with the B11 blade. That little bit extra length and weight out front since it is not a clip point makes a big difference. The handle on the BWM is the best. I went no gloves yesterday between calls at the berry picking spot and tore my hand to shreds with the B11. I did the same thing the night before with the BWM and no blisters at all.

Going from a SHTF stand point. I would choose the BWM. Very hard to work and do stuff if you are blistered.

Anyone can call me a sally and talk about how hard they work and how there hands are tough. I call BS. I love res-c as much as anyone but if I dont have gloves on and go to town chopping my hands are trashed.
 
I only bought two knives at Blade this year, a Busse Boss Jack and one of those BRKT machetes. How's that for will power? I've since caved and bought the B11 that I threw back as well as many others. I do love my BRKT machete for lite stuff. I've already cut the nice leather sheath on it though. I wish they'd cut down a 22" to 18". Back to Busse...

I had a chance to use my Battle Rat and my B11 to do some batoning a couple of weeks ago. The Res C didn't give me blisters, but it did ring my hand pretty good, more so than the Battle Rat, I think it was because the wood was harder/bigger and the B11 handle is a little smaller/shorter.

I used the BR on the "smaller/lighter" stuff. Came to a thick piece that called for the longer knife, my baton was about as big around as my wrist. I was hitting the front 1/3 of the blade confident that it could take it. Reminds me of my old B9. Need to get some pics of the coating wear. I actually have bare metal showing in a couple of places, that's how dense/hard the wood was.

It's interesting to hear that the micarta is softer on bare hands than Res C. Thinking of my experiences with my S&W 625-10 and my 17oz Taurus .357, it kind of makes sense. I ended up putting wood grips on the Taurus to allow it to rotate in my hand, like a single action would. All the various rubber grips that I tried just allowed it to chew up the web of my hand. As for the 625-10, a friend of mine who's @6' 7" and $300 said the recoil was "worse than the S&W 500":D I'm still trying to figure out ways to tame that gun, so I can replace it, but the laws of physics are a bear. Where's OP when I need him;)

GregB
 
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tundratrader said:
Sweet!

So if I was going to pick I would take the BWM handle with the B11 blade. That little bit extra length and weight out front since it is not a clip point makes a big difference. The handle on the BWM is the best. I went no gloves yesterday between calls at the berry picking spot and tore my hand to shreds with the B11. I did the same thing the night before with the BWM and no blisters at all.

Going from a SHTF stand point. I would choose the BWM. Very hard to work and do stuff if you are blistered.

Anyone can call me a sally and talk about how hard they work and how there hands are tough. I call BS. I love res-c as much as anyone but if I dont have gloves on and go to town chopping my hands are trashed.
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The resiprene handle is one of the reasons I chose the BWM over the B11. The comfort issue is part of it, but the possibility of the handle getting trashed and not being as field expedient reapairable is another. I know the resiprene is tough but if it got torn off or chemically melted or trashed for whatever reason you are left with less than a full tang that would be a chore to effectively re-handle. If you trashed the scales on the BWM you could carve new ones and scavenge some fasteners and be back in business. If push came to shove you could wrap the full tang in paracord or light rope or any number of things for field expedient grips.

Michael
 
GregB said:
I only bought two knives at Blade this year, a Busse Boss Jack and one of those BRKT machetes. GregB
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Where did you find the BRKT machete? :confused: I didn't see a single Barkie at blade!

Then again, I didn miss the Treeman knives booth :confused:
 
Hi, i've been cutting some cedar bushes, maybe 12-15 ' , 6 or 7 branches, on each tree, 3" to 7" diameter, with a B11. And not a blister, or any pain, i think one of the best handles i've used, also have the Bark River Machette. But belive it or not the BR Golok, is also one heck of a chopper, really surprised me!

I do love to use these choppers, could have gotten the chain saw, but thats no fun . i grew up on ST Thomas, and had a machette in my hand since i was 9-10 years old. Love the big knives, guess a Battle Mistress is in my future.

Well lets chop something, Al
 
GregB said:
It's interesting to hear that the micarta is softer on bare hands than Res C. Thinking of my experiences with my S&W 625-10 and my 17oz Taurus .357, it kind of makes sense. I ended up putting wood grips on the Taurus to allow it to rotate in my hand, like a single action would. All the various rubber grips that I tried just allowed it to chew up the web of my hand. As for the 625-10, a friend of mine who's @6' 7" and $300 said the recoil was "worse than the S&W 500":D I'm still trying to figure out ways to tame that gun, so I can replace it, but the laws of physics are a bear. Where's OP when I need him;)

GregB
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I hear ya on the hard kicking handguns. This is my "mule". It started life as a 5 1/2" .44 Magnum Redhawk. I sent it to Bowen Classic Arms and they chopped it, bored it out to .45 Colt and round butted it. Its called their Alpine package. It has Ashley sights with a tritium front and V rear. It puts a WLN 335 gr Hard Cast load out at 1250 fps. I have to wear Uncle Mike's padded gloves to shoot more than a half dozen loads out of it. I tried a multitude of grips on it including modified Pachmayr and Hogue rubber grips and I hated them. The impregnated walnut one that it wears now were made by a good friends father and they let the gun roll in my hand, just like you said. To me that is way more comfortable than something "grippy" that feels like a rope burn when you shoot it.

DSC00110.jpg

Michael
 
Thanks for the review of the two choppers and for comments on your preferences.

brownfam said:
... the possibility of the (B11) handle getting trashed and not being as field expedient reapairable is another. I know the resiprene is tough but if it got torn off or chemically melted or trashed for whatever reason you are left with less than a full tang that would be a chore to effectively re-handle. If you trashed the scales on the BWM you could carve new ones and scavenge some fasteners and be back in business. If push came to shove you could wrap the full tang in paracord or light rope or any number of things for field expedient grips.
Click to expand...
The tang on the Basics is nearly full-length (within 1/4" of handle butt IIRC), although not as full-height as the exposed tang of the BWM. That said, the handle types you propose could be field-fabricated on both the B11 and the BWM.

If you do destroy the B11 handle, get some video and post it up for us. I'm sure it would make interesting and entertaining viewing. Cliff "he-who-shall-not-be-mentioned" did some fairly vigorous testing and inflicted no damage to the Res-C with chemicals and fire.
 
RokJok said:
Thanks for the review of the two choppers and for comments on your preferences.

The tang on the Basics is nearly full-length (within 1/4" of handle butt IIRC), although not as full-height as the exposed tang of the BWM. That said, the handle types you propose could be field-fabricated on both the B11 and the BWM.

If you do destroy the B11 handle, get some video and post it up for us. I'm sure it would make interesting and entertaining viewing. Cliff "he-who-shall-not-be-mentioned" did some fairly vigorous testing and inflicted no damage to the Res-C with chemicals and fire.
Click to expand...

Those tang dimensions are good to know. I assumed (yeah I know) that it was a "Popsicle stick" tang similar to some of the scrappers.

I am sure res c is tough stuff and would have to be intentionally destroyed. I guess I am just a glass is half empty kind of guy. I have seen so much gear destroyed here in Alaska that I tend to look at possible weaknesses just as much as I look at strengths.

Thanks for your comments.

Michael
 
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