Big Fixed Blades

MW740

MW740

Joined
Aug 21, 2002
Messages
732
I am looking for info on fixed blade knives that have a blade of 9" or more. This knife needs to be able to take plenty of hard use. I am looking for a real user, not a pretty knife. I have really considered the BK9 untill I read about the blade breaking with little lateral stress. Lets talk big blades.
 
Originally posted by MW740
I have really considered the BK9 untill I read about the blade breaking with little lateral stress.
Click to expand...
:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Not saying it cannot happen but :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
I'll just leave it at that I have beaten the crap out of mine in Central America for over a year (Including prying, clubbing, splitting, and preparing dinner) with no[/] trouble.
 
Well, I'll be the one to say it. Cold Steel Trailmaster. Blade is THICK. You're not going to break that blade. It's 5/16" thick. The blade is 9 1/2" long. It comes razor sharp right out of the box. I got mine and it would shave hair the entire length of the blade. The sheath is leather and solid. Steel is Carbon V. Blades on the Carbon V Trailmaster are black powdercoated. On mine, it is an even, uniform powercoating and nicely done. The Trailmaster will whack right through anything you would need to whack through with a big knife. I'm more than happy with mine.
 
HI khukuries; nothing is more massive then these hand forged chopping machines.

n2s
 
Do you have a price range in mind?

If price isn't much of a concern then I will second the Busse Battle Mistress. Its a large knife with a 9.5" INFI blade. In my opinion you won't get a better steel than INFI. Another one to look at is the TOPS Armageddon. It has a 10" blade made from 1095 that is not too hard and should be pretty tough. You might also want to look at the Fehrman Final Judgement. This knife has a 9.5" blade of CPM3V, which may be the toughest steel that is used to make knives (the S series steels are exceptionally rarely used).

In less expensive knives I would check out the Ontario RTAK. 10" 1095 blade that should stand up to most things you could put it through. A little higher in price, but well though of is the Swamp Rat Battle Rat. This one sports a 9.5" SR101 (A modified 52100) blade and is a steal at the price it sells for.
 
I'll second for the Trail Master. It is not my knife for delicate work but if you want to hack and chop I'd chose it first.
 
Would help if you had a price and a use poted but...

Another for a Hi Khukuri, hard to hurt a truck spring! Plus they are cheap, you could buy 3 of em...also have a Swamp Rat that feels better in my hand.
 
We need to know more...

How much do you want to spend and what kind of material will you be cutting and / or chopping?

You mentioned it dosen't need to be pretty so I'm assuming you have a need for an efficient cutting/chopping tool.

I have not found one single knife that can do eveything as well as tools designed specifically for their task.

For light chopping, the best tool I have ever used is the Gransfors Bruks Small Forest Axe - $65.00

For clearing a path thru a web of thin vegetation or branches, the best tool is a simple 18" US issue machete - $25.00

Total $90.00...there is not one single knife that will out-perform this combination.

If your reason is simply because you want a big knife, which is a valid reason, buy only what you like.

Cheers,
Collecter
 
You'll be just fine with a BK9. You wont be breaking any knives.
If you're willing to shell out the big bucks (aprox. 7 - 8 times the cost) you could buy a Busse or have any number of makers make a blade to your specification - like the Hoodlum II Mr, Siegle is currently offering in the exchange forums.
Frankly, knives like the BK9 and Busse Battle Mistress's that I've handled are too thick (and heavy) at the edge to be useful for much other than chopping. If you want your knife to be able to perform a wide range of cutting chores outside of chopping, you should consider something with a thinner edge than these two.
 
If you want something a little thinner, you may want Extrema Ratio's T2000m, Tops knives also has a few very long options.
 
How about a SOG Tigershark?...Especially one of the older models made out of SK-5 steel.
 
If you want to chop stuff up with a big knife I don't think you could do better. I have a few dings on the edge but that was because I unwittingly cut through some big ol' nails and wood screws. At 7/16" thick at the spine I don't expect I could hurt the big WWII if I tried. And as a fighter the Ghurkas used them with horrifying results. And you wont do business with a better guy than Uncle Bill. Good luck finding the one.

Frank
 
Can't make many suggestions that wouldn't be parroting many of the others. Have you considered a Becker Brute? if you can break that thing, you've really outdone yerself!

Might also wanna take a look at some of the Swamp Rats. Never owned one, but I've never heard anything negative about 'em either.
 
My latest knife purchase was a Martindale Golok.
10" Carbon steel blade, plain vanilla wood handle and around $35 bucks.
I used the heck out of it camping.
It was great at chopping finger thick branches off of the 'logs' we dragged in (for firewood).
Consider a low buck user that you won't be hesitant to sharpen or even modify yourself.
Then again you could get the GB/SFA like collector (& I) did.
Right tool for the right job
:D
 
I read a review by Cliff Stamp where he broke a BK9 with 250 lbs of lateral force. I tried to break (test) mine by doing pullups on it after pounding it into a neighbors tree. I wouldn't do that to one of my own (trees). I couldn't break the knife in that fashion, I weigh only 185 nekkid. I can't think of a sensible way to break it without intending to. I'd by another in a heartbeat even if I do manage to break this one. But, if I was on my way to the knife store to buy a replacement for it and found two $100 bills on the ground, I'd probably use one of them to go with the $50 I was gonna spend on the BK9 anyway and get a Battle Rat. Or maybe not...
 
I will add a couple of thoughts which is probably parroting what others have already said. Although I don't own an HI khukri I do own two from uncle P who is a gold memeber. You won't find stouter knives and tools imho. I have one user with about a 10" blade that went through a small maple trunk in a very confined area in less than 45 seconds. 5" in circumferance so it wasn't all that skinny. I then split in one swipe several hickory and silver maple fireplace logs. These are about 16" long. When I say one swipe I mean this thing split them down the center one swing. The other I have is one with about 12.5" blade and is of such high quality that I am averse to using it. Highly polished every thing on it. Way sharper than the first one I rec. Which leads to this next point. The first one I rec. although I can get decently sharp it by no means is as sharp as one would want it. Point being these things are so efficient that you don't need them to be shaving sharp. The weight, and the way they are tapered up to the spine make them efficient choppers indeed no matter how you cut it!

The second thing I am going to say is to try and find the United Cutlery SEAL Machete. UC generally sucks but this thing is beyond nice. I have the large version. There were two offered. The spine is 3/16" all the way to just about the point . Kind of a flat saber grind but they are made of ATS34 and are heat treated perfectly for this size of knife. The blade if I am not mistaken is slightly longer than 9" with a very soft kraton handle which in turn is about the most comfortable handle I have ever experienced on a large knife. This is a heavy duty do it all camp knife. Won't break the bank if you find one used as I don't believe they make them anymore. I have limbed many a branch this past ice storm last March. Worked very well doing this. The coating seems really tough too. Birdsongs Black T. I run a stone up and down its edge to bring it back in no time. It will now shave hair cleanly and seems to hold the edge very well as I have only done this once and it didn't really need it to be done truth be known. Well good luck in your search. Keep'em sharp
 
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