DavidZ
Gold Member
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2004
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UPDATE ! UPDATE ! See my post number 27 below.
I finally had some time to write up the results of the testing of my choppers from last summer. Here are the participants, in no special order, from top to bottom in the picture below:
1. Busse FBM LE
2. BRKT Golok
3. BRKT Bay De Nok
4. Kanetsune Seki KB-117
5. Koster Monster Nessie
Initial Impressions:
The Busse is a beast. It feels great in the hand, and looks like the biggest bad man on the block. It is the heaviest of the group, with a 10 inch blade and .320 thick full flat grind blade. I go into this comparison thinking it is the one to beat.
The BRKT Golok is one sweet chopper. Overall length of 16.775 inches long, by .224 inches thick 1095 steel, with the famous BRKT convex grind. Micarta grips. Light in the hand and very well made. We will see if speed beats weight and power.
The BRKT Bay De Noc is by far the light weight of the group. It has an overall length of 14.775, and a blade of 9.5 inches. Very tough A2 @ 58Rc with a thickness of .187 inches and a weight of only10.5 oz. It is very light, and I think that it is in the wrong class for this competition.
The Kanetsune is the longest of the group. It has a 10.63 inch blade of Super Blue Steel, and a 7.49 inch Oak handle. You can read even more about it here: http://www.kanetsune.com/index.php?id=109 The handle is surprisingly comfortable, and I am a big fan of stick tangs as opposed to slab grip panels. The blade is thicker at the edge than I expected, but has an awesome convex grind. It may look way too thick at the edge, but it came shaving sharp. I will give this baby a workout.
The Koster Monster Nessie is the shortest of the group. It is sort of .. well ugly is the word I am looking for. It looks like it belongs in a butcher shop, but I got it in trade from another forumite, so we will see what she can do. The specs are overall length of 13.75 inches, with a ¼ inch thick blade of 5160 Steel and a 5.5 inch slab handle of G-10. It feels great in the hand, and has the thinnest edge of all of them. It also has the broadest blade, at 2.75 inches.
Lets go to work.
Here is the work I live in the Northern Allegheny forest area of Pennsylvania. My property is seriously over run with trees and plants of all kind, and every year I have to push back the foliage. This year, a number of trees are coming down, and these choppers will cut all of the limbs up for the burn pile. Most of the chopping will be on green wood, with just a few dead limbs thrown in. This should be easy on the blades, and be a good indicator of which one I will keep. This test was done over about an 8 week period. Sometimes I came home after work and chopped for a short time, and on some Saturdays, I spent a lot of hours switched blades, and comparing. That is right, only one winner, and one keeper. The rest will walk the plank.
Here is how they performed:
Busse FBMLE
First a disclosure, in the interest of fairness I am a huge fan of anything Busse. Not to the point where I will drink the Kool-aid, but close. OK, maybe I do take a sip now and then. Anyway, as expected, this beast powered through limbs like a chainsaw. Very comfortable grip, but after about 20 to 30 minutes of regular hacking, this chopper would tire you out. Even when I was fresh, this blade would act like it had a mind of its own, mainly do to the weight of this piece. I found out fast, that this extra weight can work for you as well as against you. This baby demands respect, and all of your attention, all of the time. Things can get out of hand before you know it. Like a thorough bred horse, it is tough to control! Also, the first part of the chop would be a cut, and then it would just crack the wood the rest of the way through. And before you think that the operator needs his spinach and is a panty waist, I am 64 and 250 pounds. Not an ironman, but big enough to get a grip.
BRKT Golok
I like the convex grind on this knife, and when I got it new it was shaving sharp. It would laser through the thinner stuff with ease. This was fun! The micarta handle however was so polished, that it would get slippery rather quickly. When I would go after the 3+ diameter stuff, the golok would get real stuck in the limb. As I looked closely, the blade would actually bend slightly due to the pressure of the wood pinching the blade. I would not have guessed that during an angle cut, the blade must undergo some huge lateral force, and actually whip during the cut. Then when the inertia was over, the blade would try to spring back, causing it to jam in the wood. This also happened to the Bay De Nok, but not as bad for some reason. It did not occur on any of the others. I found this condition surprising.
BRKT Bay De Nok
This baby blade (compared to the others) was more knife than chopper. But, it out performed the Golok in my narrow and subjective test. It went through the light stuff easier than the Golok, and was even handier. Probably due to the thinner stock. It was also easier to get out of the thick stuff than the Golok. This one surprised me by how well it stacked up.
Kanetsune Seki KB-117
This one was a huge disappointment. I had high hopes for this blade. It had a great resume. A really beautiful convex edge, super steel, and great ergonomics, but none of it worked. The blade was so thick behind the cutting edge that it would barely chop. This was the one that actually failed in this test! The penetration was minimal. It was just miserable to use. With some serious re-profiling, maybe it would work, but as is, it came in dead last with an F- grade.
Koster Monster Nessie
This was the dark horse of the group. From my initial perspective, it was short, stubby, and ugly, compared to the rest of the group. But what a performer it was. When I first tried it on some 1 inch or so limbs, they cut so fast and effortlessly, that I thought I missed the swing. I had to do a double take! I could not believe my eyes. This chopper was also much more controllable under full power swings than any of the other blades. The grip was thin but broad and because of that, gave it a very controlled orientation of the edge. Overall, it was a joy to use, and the one that I reached for most often. On the thicker stuff, it went deeper than even the Busse! Even though it looks like a meat cleaver with a tip, it became my favorite of the group for this job.
Final verdict and ranking:
1.) Koster Monster Nessie Winner and Champion by far. Chucked more wood than a wood chuck.
2.) Busse FBMLE Has the right stuff, but maybe too much of it!! In this narrow test, it was beat! Do not fear however, I am still a believer.
3.) BRKT Bay De Nok Never thought it would have a chance, but it did well.
4.) BRKT Golok I really thought it would be ranked second. Blade was too long and springy for this test. Light stuff only for this chopper. It chokes on the heavy stuff.
5.) Kanetsune Seki KB-117 Really should have been disqualified. It must have skills and abilities for other jobs. I wish I knew what it is designed for, but it is not a chopper for northern hardwoods. I was very disappointed. :barf:
These are just my thoughts and experiences in a very narrow test, on northern hardwoods. Your mileage may vary. I hope you enjoyed this comparison. All have been sold, except for the Monster Nessie. I wonder how it will compare to the NMFBM? But that will be for another test.
Thanks for reading.
Dave.
More pictures -
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