Big, moderately priced blades

[whitedoor]

For overall durability and usefulness in hard use---splitting wood, limbing, brushing clearing---would you choose the 9" Kabar Heavy Bowie at $40 or the BK-9 at around $60...and why?

 

[misque]

The Heavy Bowie has a 1080 blade hardened in the mid 50's on the Rc scale. The BK-9 has 0170-60 and is hardened to the upper 50's on the Rc scale.

I like the edge holding of the Becker's. The KABAR is probably tougher due to the lower Rc hardness, but, you might be sharpening it more often if you use it a lot.

My Becker's have shown themselves to work very well for the tasks your asking about.

I haven't actually used one of the new KABAR's so I can't really comment on how well they would or would not fare in the area of wood working.

 

[Andrew Taylor]

I'll throw you a curve ball.............. buy a khukri. Much more suitable for the job you want to do.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=373712

Be wary though, collecting Kuks is addictive!