Chopper/large camp blade

[JV3]

my reply to another similar thread:

i've tried extensively/had the choppers (becker bk-9, esee junglas, busse basic 11), the in-between (becker patrol machete, condor parang), all the way to pure machetes (condor eco-light 12", 12" tramontina, esee lite-machete 18" long) and the svord kiwi is the perfect balance between the two extremes...tip heavy and really fast in the hand (it feels a lot like a pure machete) but thick enough that it can split wood with the choppers.

it's the only one out of all those i tried though where the handle ergos are nice enough to do fine carvings so it can replace a 4" belt knife too...made from L6 steel too - better edge holding than 1095/1095-crovan in my experience...and it goes for a whopping ~$50 with a decent sheath too from 42blades' site.

My $20 Ontario 12" Cutlass machete can outchop a Junglas.

i'll back up that statement as well - got rid of my junglas in favor of the ontario...the svord kiwi machete is like a baby brother to the 12" ontario.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

I meant in terms of rope, tatami, bottles, etc rather than just wood. The length-to-performance ratio on a good khukuri is comparable to a sword more than twice its size in many cases.

Yes--I knew what you meant. I'm saying that there's a reason for that. A sword, being designed for defense and cutting soft targets (flesh) are usually designed to be as light, long, and fast as possible. This is manipulated through mass distribution, which affects rotational inertia and raw power/cutting ability. A kukri is much more mass-forward in design which makes it a heavier chopper, but also less nimble in the hand. If you were to pair off two equally skilled opponents, one with a kukri and the other with something like a British M1803 officer's saber...while I'm not going to outright choose a winner the fellow with the saber is going to at least have an easier time of it. If you drop those two fellows in the woods with the same tools expecting them to camp or survive instead of fight the kukri is going to be much more practical. It's a matter of the function for which they were intended.

my reply to another similar thread:

i've tried extensively/had the choppers (becker bk-9, esee junglas, busse basic 11), the in-between (becker patrol machete, condor parang), all the way to pure machetes (condor eco-light 12", 12" tramontina, esee lite-machete 18" long) and the svord kiwi is the perfect balance between the two extremes...tip heavy and really fast in the hand (it feels a lot like a pure machete) but thick enough that it can split wood with the choppers.

it's the only one out of all those i tried though where the handle ergos are nice enough to do fine carvings so it can replace a 4" belt knife too...made from L6 steel too - better edge holding than 1095/1095-crovan in my experience...and it goes for a whopping ~$50 with a decent sheath too from 42blades' site.

i'll back up that statement as well - got rid of my junglas in favor of the ontario...the svord kiwi machete is like a baby brother to the 12" ontario.

Haha--thanks for the plug. I'm also a huge fan of the Svord. Not a lot of good choppers on the market that fill that niche for some reason, and I'm not sure why!

 

[akthor]

+1 for Bruce Culberson here's mine

 

[MNofUSN]

try looking into the Glock 78 its only around $40 and is more of a tactical style blade but i prefer that over a hoodlum any day of the week because of the size, weight and versatility that comes with the style of blade