thrillbilly
BANNED
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2011
- Messages
- 4,750
Had a few questions asked, and had a few thoughts I wanted to resolve in my own mind. So I pulled out all my knives/blades I consider ''Choppers'' and did a lil informal test. This isn't scientific...it aint very conclusive, and I hope if you don't agree with my findings that you maintain civility. This is what I found and what I think....you may have totally different findings/rankings and that's fine, I hope that all of you test for yourself and see what works for YOU
The contestants
Wolf Creek Forge Tomahawk
SOG FastHawk
Plumb Hatchet
Modified Tram machete
Crimson Falcon's MegaChax
Thai Enep Size 0
Fiddleback Forge 12'' machete
and for the Becker portion...
9
4
7
5
The VERY jerry-rigged chopping rig......it worked well though.
I went in random order. The knives I haven't chopped with yet got one practice run, then the ''real'' one. ~10 chops per blade (maybe 11 on some who knows). I rested and made sure I was at same strength for all the blades.
This is the hold I used for every blade...as far back on handle as I could, usually 1-2 fingers and a thumb grasping the handle. I used gloves and a lanyard when possible.
medium is a almost new pine 4x4. I took two pics of each knife's notch...one from each side/angle
The BK7
BK9
BK4
BK5
FBF 12''
Enep
MegaChax
Tram
Wolf Hawk
Plumb
SOG
The Tram won without question, I was expecting that. I was a lil surprised about some of the others and how they placed. The WCF hawk was VERY unwieldy to chop with, as a matter of fact both hawks are kinda difficult....not much area to hit and the straight handle dont help. The lil Plumb surprised me, chopped well and with accuracy. The 7 was pretty nice, not as deep as the 9 but held up well. The 5 sticks....very deep cuts but not much ''break-out'' or chips. I find it easier to do THIS kind of chopping with straight knives then the 3 curved ones.
This is a pic of how they performed...based on notch depth
This is how I ranked them by OVERALL use....ie notch depth, plus comfort, ease, and accuracy.
These would be my first choices to carry in the woods for just power chopping.
The Tram is just FUN to chop with....so I did another round
A lil vid...this isn't the 9's official entry, just a demo. I did this last so my power and speed may be a lil slower LOL
There is a lil wait at beginning of vid before the action starts. I had to start cam, then get 9 and gloves on...then move to the chopping position.
This review and it's results/judgements are ONLY based on vertical power chopping at a downed log/material. The curved blades would have fared better in my placement if I was doing repetitive light chopping or limb removal. There are many different chopping tasks...this is just one.
The scales on the 9 are the new Xtreme Chopper scales by Tommy The Who. I will be testing/reviewing them more in depth at a later time.
The contestants
Wolf Creek Forge Tomahawk
SOG FastHawk
Plumb Hatchet
Modified Tram machete
Crimson Falcon's MegaChax
Thai Enep Size 0
Fiddleback Forge 12'' machete
and for the Becker portion...
9
4
7
5
The VERY jerry-rigged chopping rig......it worked well though.
I went in random order. The knives I haven't chopped with yet got one practice run, then the ''real'' one. ~10 chops per blade (maybe 11 on some who knows). I rested and made sure I was at same strength for all the blades.
This is the hold I used for every blade...as far back on handle as I could, usually 1-2 fingers and a thumb grasping the handle. I used gloves and a lanyard when possible.
medium is a almost new pine 4x4. I took two pics of each knife's notch...one from each side/angle
The BK7
BK9
BK4
BK5
FBF 12''
Enep
MegaChax
Tram
Wolf Hawk
Plumb
SOG
The Tram won without question, I was expecting that. I was a lil surprised about some of the others and how they placed. The WCF hawk was VERY unwieldy to chop with, as a matter of fact both hawks are kinda difficult....not much area to hit and the straight handle dont help. The lil Plumb surprised me, chopped well and with accuracy. The 7 was pretty nice, not as deep as the 9 but held up well. The 5 sticks....very deep cuts but not much ''break-out'' or chips. I find it easier to do THIS kind of chopping with straight knives then the 3 curved ones.
This is a pic of how they performed...based on notch depth
This is how I ranked them by OVERALL use....ie notch depth, plus comfort, ease, and accuracy.
These would be my first choices to carry in the woods for just power chopping.
The Tram is just FUN to chop with....so I did another round
A lil vid...this isn't the 9's official entry, just a demo. I did this last so my power and speed may be a lil slower LOL
There is a lil wait at beginning of vid before the action starts. I had to start cam, then get 9 and gloves on...then move to the chopping position.
This review and it's results/judgements are ONLY based on vertical power chopping at a downed log/material. The curved blades would have fared better in my placement if I was doing repetitive light chopping or limb removal. There are many different chopping tasks...this is just one.
The scales on the 9 are the new Xtreme Chopper scales by Tommy The Who. I will be testing/reviewing them more in depth at a later time.
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