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- Feb 3, 2009
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Okay, I'm not claiming this is comprehensive or scientific in any way whatsoever. I simply had a few minutes to kill this afternoon and wanted to play with my new toys. Since I won't be able to try any of these out "for real" until my next camping trip in a few weeks, I decided to just have some fun with them in my back yard. Hope you enjoy the pics.
Here are the contestants. Other than hacking off a few tree branches with the Lite Machete the other day, I haven't used any of these yet. A word on their edges (all which are still out-of-the-box factory edges), as this has much to do with the results: the Junglas shaves roughly; the Lite Machete doesn't even really have an edge to speak of (I'm workin' on it); the Wetterlings shaves cleanly; and the Gransfors Bruks splits atoms.
Up first are the blades. In the first corner, wearing grey canvas micarta shorts, hailing from the good ol' U.S. of A., weighing in at a solid 22.5 ounces with a reach of 10" of .188" thick 1095 steel is the much anticipated new kid on the block... the ESEE Junglas! In the opposite corner, wearing natural canvas micarta shorts, from both the U.S.A. (handle) and El Salvador (blade), weighing in at a svelte 17 ounces with a reach of 17.5" of .065" thick 1075 steel... the ESEE Lite Machete!
I didn't bother counting how many strikes because each tool was going through only half of the 2x4 at the same point, and I just eyeballed where halfway was, so counting hits was pointless. I instead focused on what the damage looked like. In the Junglas' case the pic shows that it started off with some nice deep, clean bites on the outer portion, then, as the strike zone diminishes farther into the wood, the bites change to rougher, choppy nibbles. "Choppy nibbles"? Hey, I said this was unscientific.
The Lite Machete achieved a similar chop pattern, with deep, clean bites on the outer portion, then more shallow and rough chips near the middle. At this point I'd be remiss not to remind everyone of the poor edge this guy was working with. But despite it being almost blunt in areas, some even in the sweet spot, it still managed to laser through just as well as the Junglas. In fact, as I was chopping, the Lite Machete felt like it was doing better than the Junglas... there didn't seem to be as much resistance to my strikes. This is obviously due to its much thinner stock and the increased leverage from its longer blade.
In the next bout we have the more traditional choppers: a half-axe and a hatchet. Hailing from Sweden and wearing light coloured hickory shorts with a homemade polymerized tung oil/clove oil (~15:1) mix finish, the Gransfors Bruks Small Forest Axe tops the scales at 1.5 lb. (head) with a reach of 19.5" and a 3.25" face of hand forged high carbon Swedish steel (57 HRC). In the opposite corner, wearing dark coloured hickory shorts with a homemade polymerized linseed oil/turpentine (2:1) mix finish, the Wetterlings Wildlife Hatchet weighs in at 1.6 lb. (overall) with a 13" reach and a 2.75" face of hand forged high carbon steel (57-58 HRC).
Again, instead of counting hits, I focused on how the strikes felt and what the chop pattern looked like. The next couple pics show this in greater detail.
Wow! In just a few strikes the Gransfors glided through the wood as thought it was butter. This one was over before it began. It's all about the weight of the head and sharpness of the edge.
Based on what the pic shows it might not look like the Wettinglings did as well as the previous three, but looks are deceiving in this case. Somehow it looks like the Wildlife Hatchet needed many, many hits to roughly hack through the wood, but to my feel as I was chopping it felt like it was doing as well, if not better, than the Junglas and Lite Machete. Maybe this is a bit of bias on my part, given that I grew up using hatchets and axes instead of knives for getting through wood.
And just for the heck of it I thought I'd see how these two would fare on the same pieces of wood. Given their price and reputation, I expected nothing less than complete and total evisceration of the 2x4.
Yeah, right! I'm no Noss and this is not Knife Tests.com
. Maybe next time.
One more thing: it should be noted that none of these choppers suffered any edge damage whatsoever -- no rolls, no chips, no nothing.
Thanks for looking.
Here are the contestants. Other than hacking off a few tree branches with the Lite Machete the other day, I haven't used any of these yet. A word on their edges (all which are still out-of-the-box factory edges), as this has much to do with the results: the Junglas shaves roughly; the Lite Machete doesn't even really have an edge to speak of (I'm workin' on it); the Wetterlings shaves cleanly; and the Gransfors Bruks splits atoms.
Up first are the blades. In the first corner, wearing grey canvas micarta shorts, hailing from the good ol' U.S. of A., weighing in at a solid 22.5 ounces with a reach of 10" of .188" thick 1095 steel is the much anticipated new kid on the block... the ESEE Junglas! In the opposite corner, wearing natural canvas micarta shorts, from both the U.S.A. (handle) and El Salvador (blade), weighing in at a svelte 17 ounces with a reach of 17.5" of .065" thick 1075 steel... the ESEE Lite Machete!
I didn't bother counting how many strikes because each tool was going through only half of the 2x4 at the same point, and I just eyeballed where halfway was, so counting hits was pointless. I instead focused on what the damage looked like. In the Junglas' case the pic shows that it started off with some nice deep, clean bites on the outer portion, then, as the strike zone diminishes farther into the wood, the bites change to rougher, choppy nibbles. "Choppy nibbles"? Hey, I said this was unscientific.
The Lite Machete achieved a similar chop pattern, with deep, clean bites on the outer portion, then more shallow and rough chips near the middle. At this point I'd be remiss not to remind everyone of the poor edge this guy was working with. But despite it being almost blunt in areas, some even in the sweet spot, it still managed to laser through just as well as the Junglas. In fact, as I was chopping, the Lite Machete felt like it was doing better than the Junglas... there didn't seem to be as much resistance to my strikes. This is obviously due to its much thinner stock and the increased leverage from its longer blade.
In the next bout we have the more traditional choppers: a half-axe and a hatchet. Hailing from Sweden and wearing light coloured hickory shorts with a homemade polymerized tung oil/clove oil (~15:1) mix finish, the Gransfors Bruks Small Forest Axe tops the scales at 1.5 lb. (head) with a reach of 19.5" and a 3.25" face of hand forged high carbon Swedish steel (57 HRC). In the opposite corner, wearing dark coloured hickory shorts with a homemade polymerized linseed oil/turpentine (2:1) mix finish, the Wetterlings Wildlife Hatchet weighs in at 1.6 lb. (overall) with a 13" reach and a 2.75" face of hand forged high carbon steel (57-58 HRC).
Again, instead of counting hits, I focused on how the strikes felt and what the chop pattern looked like. The next couple pics show this in greater detail.
Wow! In just a few strikes the Gransfors glided through the wood as thought it was butter. This one was over before it began. It's all about the weight of the head and sharpness of the edge.
Based on what the pic shows it might not look like the Wettinglings did as well as the previous three, but looks are deceiving in this case. Somehow it looks like the Wildlife Hatchet needed many, many hits to roughly hack through the wood, but to my feel as I was chopping it felt like it was doing as well, if not better, than the Junglas and Lite Machete. Maybe this is a bit of bias on my part, given that I grew up using hatchets and axes instead of knives for getting through wood.
And just for the heck of it I thought I'd see how these two would fare on the same pieces of wood. Given their price and reputation, I expected nothing less than complete and total evisceration of the 2x4.
Yeah, right! I'm no Noss and this is not Knife Tests.com
. Maybe next time.One more thing: it should be noted that none of these choppers suffered any edge damage whatsoever -- no rolls, no chips, no nothing.
Thanks for looking.
.I need to lighten up a few lbs