can Paul's Hatchet chop as well as the SH or NO?

U

utmts4me

Joined
Aug 3, 2001
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585
Can anyone tell me if Paul's hatchet can keep up with the NO or the SH when chopping? I think the hatchet by design should be a strong chopper but it's sounds so small. 9.25" and 14oz. The NO is 17oz and the SH 19oz. :rolleyes:
 
Balance is very key in chopping ability, more so than just raw weight, as even a small shift forward makes a huge difference in chopping ability. It is therefore possible for the hatchet to outchop a heavier knife, by means of a more head heavy balance. I have not used the hatchet though so can't comment directly on its chopping ability, edge geometry is also critical.

-Cliff
 
Hunter
I own one of each it seams like what they did was figure out what the "sweet spot" was of the knife & got rid of rest of the knife it was designed as an orchard hatchet,so the big knives work on big logs because the blade is longer, but the hatchet will work fine for heavier jobs also, & it makes a great ulu (an eskimo skinner)hope this helps.The thing looks real cool also:D
 
Originally posted by David Brown
Hunter
I own one of each it seams like what they did was figure out what the "sweet spot" was of the knife & got rid of rest of the knife it was designed as an orchard hatchet,so the big knives work on big logs because the blade is longer, but the hatchet will work fine for heavier jobs also, & it makes a great ulu (an eskimo skinner)hope this helps.The thing looks real cool also:D
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David, could you give some commentary on the chopping performance of the hatchet vs the NO and/or the SH? From my limited amount of time handling it, I would say that it would probably chop comparatively to the Steel Heart, but that is only an educated guess.
 
David,
thanks for the comment. I'm intrigued by this little guy and part of that is due to that way cool sheath you make for PH. It just looks to me like in that sheath the PH would be easier and more comfortable to carry on the belt around the yard or back country than a BM,SH or even a NO. But I just don't want to give up to much performance for that convenience. BTW David, I appreciate all your answers to my earlier email Q's and I will be ordering those sheaths I asked about. It's just that all those VARIANTS that recently escaped from Jerry's shop seem to be SO mean and nasty that they've been scaring some other Busses right out of their new owner's safes and into the secondary market and I've been lucky enough to round up a couple of those escapees. I think those new knives are more like NUCLEAR MUTANTS than variants!!!

Also, can anyone tell me if PH is wide enough to turn over and hammer effectively? or is it just 1/4" stock at the spine like the SH, NO?

Cliff,
I was hoping you'd weigh in on this. You mention blade geometry, do you mean like the asymetrical edge? and if PH, BM,SH,and NO all have 1/4" stock and the asymetrical edge and are flat ground to the spine, would that mean that when comparing these in chopping performance that the blade geometry would be a constant?

Thanks all and please share your experiences that might compare the trade off in chopping use VS. ease of carry in these models.
 
utmts4me,

I have never handled a PH, but from all the pictures, I would assume that it is not flat ground all the way to the spine. It looks like it is flat ground about halfway through the head of the hatchet.

Even though I have never handled a PH, I would really like to have one. In my own opinion from looking at the stats and pictures, I would guess that it would be a good compact chopper. With the choil it has, it looks like you could choke up on it and get even more use out of it.

If you get one, let me know what you think!
 
I've got one coming in the mail tomorrow!

I'm hoping over the next several weeks to do a serious chop-off between it, some ATC hawks, a few other Busses, a variety of HI khukris, and an assortment GB hatchets and axes.

The forest outside trembles...

<img src="http://be-ip37.rockisland.com/bae/pictures/01-27-02/25/120-2001_IMG.JPG">
 
Antdog,
That's a good Q about whether the flat grind goes all the way up or not. Mayby BAE can answer that for us TOMORROW.(lucky bastid!)

BAE,
chop-off, did you say CHOP-OFF, that sounds EXCELLENT!!! Please be sure to give us the results, pics are a must (but we'll make the charts and graphs of the contenders and their performance optional)Seriously though, PLEASE let us know how you find the PH to perform compared to it's larger Busse bretheren.

Hey BAE, you sure get to all the Busses posted in the FS forum awfully fast, what's the deal, are you a computer whiz who's hacked into BF and rigged up some instant email notification or your pager gets beeped??? Or are you just in total nuclear harmonic convergence with all things INFI and you just KNOW? Come on, you can tell me your secret, I promise not to tell any of the other Busseaholics, I swear, this will be totally confidential.:D :D ;)
 
Originally posted by utmts4me

Hey BAE, you sure get to all the Busses posted in the FS forum awfully fast, what's the deal, are you a computer whiz who's hacked into BF and rigged up some instant email notification or your pager gets beeped??? Or are you just in total nuclear harmonic convergence with all things INFI and you just KNOW? Come on, you can tell me your secret, I promise not to tell any of the other Busseaholics, I swear, this will be totally confidential.:D :D ;)
Click to expand...

A simple method - I'm snowed in, working on my income taxes, and can't sleep because of cold drugs. Not foolproof though - I missed one the other day while walking the dogs. I've learned my lesson - they can go outside by themselves from now on :)
 
BAE,
I'm not buying the cold medication excuse. You can't sleep because you've got an incoming Busse tomorrow and more on the way! It's called INFIsomnia :)
 
Paul's Hatchet is great for up close and personal chopping and trimming. It works fantastic as a big game axe. It is important to note that the Paul's Hatchet is almost 1 inch shorter than our Badger Attack E! :eek: In other words, there is very little leverage for heavy chopping. Now if your were to strap it to a Louisville Slugger, you could deliver some serious horsepower to the head, which would welcome the beating with open arms. :)

As for having a super compact hatchet for splitting the ribs and the pelvis on large game. .. it cannot be beat. For chopping and splitting around the campsite it is awesome as well. If you're going to compare it to a full sized hatchet or kukri. . . it's gonna be begging for some leverage, but will stand its own at less than half the size.

Jerry
 
Originally posted by Jerry Busse
Now if your were to strap it to a Louisville Slugger, you could deliver some serious horsepower to the head, which would welcome the beating with open arms. :)
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You read my mind. I was hoping to be able to lash it to a stout pole when I needed more axe-like performance in the woods, while only having to carry a nice handy belt-hatchet. Of course, secure lashing would be essential :)
 
utmts4me :

if PH, BM,SH,and NO all have 1/4" stock and the asymetrical edge and are flat ground to the spine, would that mean that when comparing these in chopping performance that the blade geometry would be a constant?
Click to expand...

If they all had the same width, then yes. In regards to geometry in order of decreasing influence you have; the edge angle, the edge width, the primary grind angle and the primary grind width. In short, the thinner and narrower the grinds the greater the cutting performance. In addition you have the main edge curvature which should be convex, if not then flat, but never concave.

In chopping blades you have to be careful not to go too thin because you will end up with a very high penetration but too great a binding, and this isn't productive. For a wood axe the optimal geometry would be a convex main profile with a hollow relief (not a hollow grind). You could also bring in chip breakers and such, but they are just refinements. A main flat grind with a convex swept edge would be sonud as well, the hollow relief is just an enhancement to reduce wedging.

-Cliff
 
Cliff,

Does this mean that for chopping, the Busse "zero edge geometry" which i believe is a dual convex edge, would be prefered over the CG asymetrical edge?

And while we're on the topic of the dual convex edge, I recently acquired a SJ-LE that has this edge, Cliff any suggestions on sharpening this type of edge??? How do you sharpen these without taking off the convex profile? :confused: thanks for any help you can give
 
The advantage of the flat/convex edge profile over a full convex one, is that it has a flat side for ease of sharpening. If you can maintain and sharpen a convex edge without any difficulties then that would be better for most uses. How to sharpen? Well there are three rather broad methods :

1) Belt sander + buffer

You use the belt sander to remove any major damage (visible) and you finish with the buffer to clean the edge up, and polish if desired. You hit the edge with the buffer periodically to keep it sharp and go back to the belt sander once the aggression goes down.

2) sandpaper + strop

This is just the hand held version of the sander + buffer. You can eaither hang the sandpaper or lay it on something soft so it will give. Use the same method as in the above.

3) hones

You either lay the hone fixed and draw the blade long it, rotating the blade to match the curvature, or hold the blade fixed and stroke the hone across the edeg matching the curvature. This method is far more difficult than the sandpaper + strop, but only requires at minimum two small hones, or one dual sided DMT diafold.

-Cliff
 
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