Choppers: Why? Educate me!

Big knives are very good at debranching and are more precise and accurate than an axe or hatchet. They are often lighter and more safe to use.
 
I'm in the north east and during the warmer months I'm an avid large knife user. This could be an issue of specific techniques, but for me, using a large knife over an axe comes down to general safety. I find a large knife much safer to use than an axe for splitting. If I'm not going to be splitting all day long, I will opt for the less efficient but safer large knife.

Also, I almost always combine a large knife or axe with a saw. Large knives can chop but chopping with anything isn't very efficient, even with an axe (hence my use of the term "large knife" over "chopper"). Saws rule the sectioning wood task IMO. If I have a large knife and saw, I don't find myself wanting anything else besides maybe a SAK folder or something similar. Granted, this setup Requires you to make a baton to get your large knife to preform splitting on an axe level.
 
Just bought an ax. 16" estwing. Heavy! Put it to work cleaning up around the "yard". Small saplings and bushes. Kukuri chopped saplings of up to 4" across as good if not better than the axe. Seemed much safer too as you have more blade. Also trimmed so low hanging branches from trees. Overhead work was much easier with the Kuk. Also, I'd much rather baton small kindling or firewood with a chopper than with the Ax. Heck, I like machetes too but what are they other than a thin chopper? Now that I'm thinking about it I don't believe batoning with a machete would be a good idea....
 
When away from home, safety considerations can shift. One can do a lot with an axe or hatchet...but splitting wood isn't necessarily the tool's strength. Whether due to terrain, angle of cut, or whatever splitting wood out in the field tends to be unstable. Add to that the necessity to swing the axe/hatchet with force, and the risk can increase. Sure - we're all skilled and safety conscious...but how many of us have never had an axe go where we didn't want it to while making such a cut. A glancing blow, an easier than expected cut - whatever. It happens. Mostly, I'm sure, we've been lucky; but, when it happens, it isn't difficult to realize the What Ifs.
With a large knife, one has more control - especially when batoning rather than trying to straight up split the wood. Placing the blade where you want it, then giving it a whack eliminates much of the risk...not to mention that it generally requires less energy.
 
I have a couple machetes, a Valiant 15.5" golok and have owned many large choppers. I have owned a couple hatchets/axes and kukris but haven't kept them. Theoretically speaking a singke large knife can do the job of a small knife, machete and axe. Also a long knife can be used as a draw knife to plane wood flat if needed. But for me I find that machetes work best on thin vegetation, axes work best on thick wood, and choppers like my modified 1311 are best when dealing with limbs between 1 and 3" thick. Generally i use the golock on any woody stalks under 1" because the better design and manufacture gives superior performance to machetes. If I need to do some limbing of sturdier branches especially in thick vegetation I find a chopper is both more effective and much safer than a hatchet let alone an axe. Of course it depends what each person needs to get done - i have a yard with lots of diverse vegetation which I fight back regularly but I'm not trying to chop any of the bigger stuff down at the trunk I'm just thinning it.
 
pinnah said:
I'm a skeptic on the subject of choppers. I don't get them. At all.

Can all you chopper fans out there educate me on the sorts of cutting tasks that you like a chopper (knife) for better than an axe/hatchet or a machete?
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I doubt that I can educate you other than tell you what I think and do. For chopping tasks (trees and stiff material over 1" diameter) I would take an axe every time if it didn't mean me lugging an axe for miles. It is not always about carrying the most efficient tool for a job or a likely series of tasks in a given scenario such as camping.

If I am not going to be likely doing much "chopping", then I would lean toward a short machete (a stiff one which is essentially a large chopper knife) over an axe or hatchet.

Hatchets are not something I see much need for unless you need the utility of cutting something and being able to pound something (nails, stakes, and so forth). That is about the only time I would choose a hatchet over a large knife... usually short machete for me.

Would I carry a short machete every time I believe I will need to chop? Probably not. But I might take one along if I know I will likely be clearing a trail, even some flexible stuff of short duration. If I know I will be doing a lot of thin or flexible material cutting, I would take a regular machete.

I would take a large knife if I see little need to chop because it does introduce some flexibility and often is smaller and lighter than an axe. But if I know I have to cut larger trees down, I'll carry that axe and a smaller fixed blade for other tasks. The thing is I seldom see a need for a large knife especially if I have a little folding saw with me. The only selling point for a large knife to me is that it can be used for smaller cutting tasks. But I usually have a folder for that.....

So, it is all about perceived need and personal preference. My preferences are short machete (larger than most "large knives") for chopping over a large knife (an example is a BK-9) or hatchet. But it comes back to what would I really need that the flat top of a hatchet for to make me want to choose it over a short machete.

So I am certainly biased in my choices. I seldom cut big stuff in the woods that requires an axe if I am carrying it (lugging it) by foot. Most needs would push me toward a chain saw if I need to cut a lot of bigger stuff and especially if I can drive there and park nearby. I would walk back for the chain saw when the need develops. I have cut a lot of larger stuff camping with a saw of some sort. Chain saws weren't an option for the most part due to noise and bringing too much attention to your cutting activity.

I have to think about taking a large knife with me in the woods. I normally don't. I'll have a medium sized knife (4-6" blade), a handly folder, and a folding saw. So, I am pretty much in your camp from the way I interpret your question.
 
I do think a large knife is probably safer than using a hatchet for splitting modest sized dead wood (say under 3" diameter) for a fire. But you really don't need to split anything much at all in reality. Just place on fire and let it burn thorough and move the unburnt stuff into the fire as needed.

Most of us simply don't use a hatchet enough to use it efficiently and safely and you can essentially lay your big knife on top of something you want to split and use a wood baton to apply the force. But as I mentioned in my previous post, there may be a reason beyond splitting wood or de-limbing a tree when choosing to carry a hatchet. It is not always about cutting efficiency.
 
The chiruwa ang khola could be used as example of why some choppers are better than hatchets. Bites into wood like butter from what I hear.
 
I don't have much use for the chopper (or hatchet for that matter).

What people are describing is batonning/woodprep and for that I want a batonning knife. The difference being that a chopper needs to be heavy to chop well where as the batonning knife just needs to be long enough to leave an inch to hit on the other side of the round. There is always a heavy object lying around that you can hit a knife with so why carry an unnecessarily heavy knife?

That said I'll take a proper sleeping system over bushcrafting tools any day of the week. I can live without fire.
 
If I don't have one of my tomahawks then I have a chopper. When i'm going to the woods I only take a chopper, sak, and a folding saw. I very rarely bring a fixed blade outside of my edc to the woods. I was inspired by the late Ron Hood who also used a chopper the majority of the time. They can be very versatile if you practice with them. They are also easy to carry compared to some other tools like machete or axe. I look at it as a trade off, master of none type of tool kind of like a multitool is.

I also like custom choppers made by a master smith. It is very hard to find someone making a custom machete or hatchet in that level of quality.
 
22-rimfire said:
I doubt that I can educate you other than tell you what I think and do. For chopping tasks (trees and stiff material over 1" diameter) I would take an axe every time if it didn't mean me lugging an axe for miles.
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That reminded me of the "Axe is back" youtube videos. I remember a lot of them started out with a large axe strapped to a frameless maxpedition bag and I was thinking you're not going very far with that set up.
 
What you need is a Llama or pack animal to lug all this junk around. That or a 16 year old that is in good condition following up behind you. The old timers didn't just wander out in the woods with a day pack on if they were spending more than one or two nights away from the comforts of home. I'm thinking pre-1900 kind of world. Back then, you were lucky to have a gravel road.
 
To me it comes down to versatility. An axe or hatchet would be limiting for me. The machete would actually work pretty well for most things, but I consider a machete a big knife. It's certainly not anything like an axe.

The big knife, or khukuri here, chops and splits reasonable wood with ease.
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It also slices the thinnest green vegetation with ease, which an axe would be useless for and dangerous to even try.
CSGurkha002_zpsb41f9651.jpg


This is a good example of light brush, along with some palm tree fronds. The khuk handled both with ease and an axe would have been about as useful as a hammer for either. You could use an axe on the palm, but it would be mighty ineffecient IMHO.
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Ultimately, the axe or hatchet would be too limiting for my uses in my area. Yours may be different. The machete would be much more valuable than an axe/hatchet for me, but doesn't chop or split as well as the big knife. A big knife can also slice food, shave curls, and cut notches just like a good hatchet. Add in draw knife use, as an axe would make a poor draw knife:D My 22 ounce CS Gurkha or 19 ounce Tora Battalion Issue khukuri are both light weight, wood processing toolchests which would work fine as an only blade. Paired with a folder, I could reasonably and easily (and safely) handle anything I would want to do.
 
I am still on the learning curve\processing all of my tool options, seasonally. I went from starting to process wood recreationally with large ''choppers'', to hatchets\axes, then machetes. My next direction will likely be large saws. I remember bending an edge on a Becker Knife in the middle of winter with frozen trees. But a dead sapless tree should not be an issue. Yes, I am still on the learning curve..... This was a dead bug bored pine that I came across in late winter a few years ago. I found it easy to take it apart with a machete.
 
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