BWM, NMFBM, and types of wood.

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Amoeboid

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Not having a lot of hardwood in the woods around here, I believe the BWM will do any field related job as well as, if not better than any other mistresses.
For those of you who live in hardwood(ed) areas, do you prefer or need a thicker geometry or heavier knife?
I've done some testing on 2x4s, and for the most part, light choppers perform great.
Does thicker geometry or heavier weight give an advantage for chopping harder wood?
 
I like the weight quite a bit when chopping hardwood. Living in NH adds to the necessity for a large chopper to take care of everything. My NMFBM took care of anything the woods had to offer up here. Now my zilla, the trees run scared when it's unsheathed.
 
When the NMFBM comes out of the sheath the trees run for cover. :D
 
A heavier knife helps in chopping regardless of the wood type .... up to a point ofcourse ... too heavy and you run out of steam to do the task ....

Geometry for me is more about edge angles and the taper of the grind ... not that thicker knives are simply better than thin ones ... if the blade has depth at the chopping point I find that a tapered convex grind ....almost more flat grind than curved around a sabre grind shape works well.... sort of an appleseed shape ... if a shallower blade then more curve is needed towards the spine .... almost like a curved sabre grind to enable chopping/weight to be maximised.

So for me I like the sabre grind on the BWM LE ...a flat grind on a FBM LE and a thinned convex grind on a NMFBM .... and the same on the KZ ....

The FFBM sabre grind never felt as well in the hand for me as the flat grind LE version although mine is not an LE but a satin combat grade LE blank without the number....although in a smaller knife I suspect the sabre grind on the HHFSH would do better than the FSH flat grind models....some knives like the DFCG and the DFLE ...whilst the CG being sabre ground should chop better ... I just personally liked the feel and balance of the flat grind DFLE ....

I think once you go beyond a certin size and weight the sabre grind just does'nt seem needed ... and towards lower sizes in the mid range level sabre or deep convex grinds work well ... these views though are just born out of personal use .... for others ....preferences might vary ....
 
A large factor people usually completely ignore in discussions of weight and thickness versus chopping ability is distribution of weight. A heavier blade can quite easily be out-chopped by a lighter blade that has a more blade-heavy balance. As an example, my Cold Steel LTC Kukri, which has a very wide blade in the region of the "sweet spot", easily outchops many knives that are thicker and weigh much more, on both seasoned hardwood and green soft woods. The reason for this is certainly somewhat the grind geometry and somewhat the edge geometry, but a large portion of the reason it excels at chopping is how extremely blade heavy the balance is, so even though it's not a terribly heavy knife, and swings easily because it's light, it puts all of that weight out near the sweet spot where it counts.


Think angular momentum and moments of inertia, if you're a physics-inclined sort of person.
 
I am one for extremes and would love to have a NMFBM as I think they are the ultimate Busse for heavy use... BUT the "best" takes into account how you use AND CARRY said knife in addition to pure performance measured while standing over a convenient piece of timber. I like to get into the bush on foot and have figured out that FOR ME and how rarely I find the NEED to chop large logs into pieces the lighter BWM is my sweet spot. I have both a CG and LE (favoring the LE) but haven't used either of them yet so I am still speaking theoretically based on my experience with other Busse's and how these feel to me. Previously owned and used HOGFSH, HHFSH, FFBM, FBMLE, CGFBM for comparison.
 
MustardMan said:
A large factor people usually completely ignore in discussions of weight and thickness versus chopping ability is distribution of weight. A heavier blade can quite easily be out-chopped by a lighter blade that has a more blade-heavy balance. As an example, my Cold Steel LTC Kukri, which has a very wide blade in the region of the "sweet spot", easily outchops many knives that are thicker and weigh much more, on both seasoned hardwood and green soft woods. The reason for this is certainly somewhat the grind geometry and somewhat the edge geometry, but a large portion of the reason it excels at chopping is how extremely blade heavy the balance is, so even though it's not a terribly heavy knife, and swings easily because it's light, it puts all of that weight out near the sweet spot where it counts.


Think angular momentum and moments of inertia, if you're a physics-inclined sort of person.
Click to expand...

this image might black out, flickr is finicky about linking... (from mikey moto's page)
3168114115_3c8795a50c_b.jpg
 
Amoeboid said:
Not having a lot of hardwood in the woods around here, I believe the BWM will do any field related job as well as, if not better than any other mistresses.
For those of you who live in hardwood(ed) areas, do you prefer or need a thicker geometry or heavier knife?
I've done some testing on 2x4s, and for the most part, light choppers perform great.
Does thicker geometry or heavier weight give an advantage for chopping harder wood?
Click to expand...


Welcome to the forums and Busse Combat.
My personal preference for a large chopper is the NMFBM.
The extra weight and length make it sing.
Get one or two of each just in case. :eek:
 
I will eventually own a NMFBM myself. I haven't held or even seen one but they look sweet and I have heard too many great things about them :thumbup:.
 
The NMFBM is well worth it .... and I am liking a NMSFNO which I recently stripped and fully convexed as well .... almost a shorter version really ....:thumbup:
 
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