Choppers: Why? Educate me!

Smithhammer said:
......
I can't believe that your "skills" videos, such as stomping on a piece of wood to break it up for kindling, didn't recieve more responses. I'm sure that it had to with the fact that you weren't using a certain brand of knife. Again, thanks for taking the time to share your expertise with those of us that are still learning, and for your constructive, non-condescending comments.

smileycoffeed.gif
Click to expand...

Glad I could help out. :thumbup:

I would think its because of newbies who mistakenly think that battoning is the only "safe" way to reduce bigger wood into kindling. Understandable really, especially when you consider what's availabe in the way of advice on the 'net.
 
G'day stabman

Sorry for my late reply, but I guess I must have just naturally ignored your comments at first look.

stabman said:
Ah, but how can we be sure when there is no video evidence that they had any skill at all? ;)
Click to expand...

LMFAO...

....Are you really that stupid to not realise the difference between today (when most who post on the 'net live a life of luxury and use their digital cameras to snap pics of their shinny new knives), compared to their forebearers who didn't have the same luxury's and knew how to survive? All this in a time with no 'net and digital cameras to capture what they did, yet they"walked the walk?

Compare this with the modern age where people can record that they "walk the walk" but instead prefer to not show it but rather "talk the talk".

IMO, do yourself a huge favour and don't try @ confuse what our forebearers did without modern technolgy with what internet posters today don't show they do.
 
G'day stabman

stabman said:
One of the top "survival skills" would involve sitting in one spot using almost no energy, so your fat reserves last longer and rescuers can find you......
Click to expand...

Brilliant!

Goes a long way to explain why for close to a decade, pics posted on the 'net that show "real deal US survival experts" that get together once or twice a year (lke PWYP and BSUSA), show obese individuals who could probably go without food for at least a month and not worry about starving. A brilliant survival strategy, if calories are the only consideration. :D

But unfortunately, their "wilderness adventures" also seem to be limited to how close they can park their cars. LMFAO
 
pinnah said:
I don't care to get into the morality of cutting stuff in the woods, especially on public lands. It's a real issue and have my thoughts. But, that's another thread and not what I'm asking about.

I don't care about alternative camping techniques and the pros and cons of camping with choppers or not. Again, I have opinions on that. I more want to hear about the cutting tasks themselves where a chopper is better than a 4"-5" woods knife, machete or hatchet.
Click to expand...

Just another thought. In my opinion, choppers are only as useful as the terrain they're in allows them to be. Obvious places like jungle environments and densely wooded areas make a lot of sense especially if someone is traveling in the wilderness. Brush clearing, trail maintenance, and odd jobs one wouldn't want to harm their smaller blade's edge for. In some cases, much more efficient for bark removal, using larger surface area for abrading tasks, de-limbing, or large game protein processing (with issued permits of course). Places like the desert or tundras really don't offer a lot in the way of materials that would require a blade as stout. Non-wilderness, fire control, agriculture, and commercial cooking are spaces where the chopping action, is the most efficient way to do something, but nothing I feel that generally sticks out as something we're all missing out on.

That said, I've always felt most with solid knife skills would be fine with a 3" blade or a 12" one, despite chopping. I feel the only times I chop anything, is large veg for stocks or large livestock for protein butchery, but that's just what my environment presents me on a daily basis.

Although there were times in South and Central America and Southeast Asia that my small blade habit certainly had me yearning for something bigger to take the brunt of the rugged terrain. Since then, I was able to find a large, robust blade with all of the features I thought woulds save future me some hassle given the environments I frequent. So far, bets paid off, but I wouldn't say it's a must have piece of kit for everyone. Nice to have, sure, but I don't feel for a lot of us, literally essential for survival.
 
sodak said:
Try the ignore function - it really helps to hide what the trolls post, not that we give them much thought anyway.
Click to expand...
This forum is probably the only place on the net where I've seen "troll" used simply to label those with whom one disagrees.
 
leghog said:
This forum is probably the only place on the net where I've seen "troll" used simply to label those with whom one disagrees.
Click to expand...
It's not, it's the manner of disagreement, which seems to be pretty obvious to most everyone here, including the mods. Civil disagreement is fine, insulting disagreement is not.
 
There was a long post here, but as stated above, it's not worth it and I'm enjoying most of the views expressed here. No reason for me to contribute to a derailing:)
 
Last edited:
I like chopper knives better then hatchets. Faster, bites deeper when sharp, and better handling. I think it's just preference. Obviously I wouldn't try to fell a large tree with a knife, but I wouldn't do it with a hatchet either.

Hatchets feel clumsy to me.
 
To be honest, I like chopping with knives better than an axe because I'd rather carry a sword than an axe. It's a lifestyle choice :) Never did understand why people get so riled up over someone else's choices. Guess bigotry extends to tools too.
 
Bill
Is a long full tang knife that is strong enough for chopping and batoning a new manufacturing phenomena?
would it have been on the market 50 years ago?
I see full tang trade butchers knives but none of them seem strong enough for the above tasks

thanks
 
A simple Google search could answer that question. Full tang chopping knives have existed since the first metallic cutting tool were first created. Maybe they didn't make the popular press like the butcher style "trade" blades of the Frontier days, but they were definitely out there. For whatever reason there has always been a negative attitude towards big choppers from the larger populace of knife users. I agree that they are not perfect for everything but in my opinion, their pluses outweigh the negatives. Of course a large knife should be just another tool in the choice of cutting tools. If its not right for one person, fine. No need to slam others for liking the big blades.
 
At least the last for the last 5,000 years not much has changed neeman. Although, can't help but agree with what Bill says. If it helps you smooth it, use it!

Although from the thousands of cataloged pieces, the only wood splitting tools I saw were hand/stone axes, and wedging splitters. To be fair, there are copper examples from isreal 7,000 years ago, awls, and whatnot, although their specific use cases have been lost to history.

AixjAqzl.jpg
 
neeman said:
Bill
Is a long full tang knife that is strong enough for chopping and batoning a new manufacturing phenomena?
would it have been on the market 50 years ago?
I see full tang trade butchers knives but none of them seem strong enough for the above tasks

thanks
Click to expand...

On the contrary, most military organizations use to issue facine knives or pioneer sidearms, to help the troops build field fortifications or clear gun emplacements. During the 20th century the U.S military issued the 1904 hospital bolo, the 1909 bolo, 1005 Collins Engineering bolo, 1917 bolo and the marine corps WWII hospital bolo, along with many other machetes and knives, and just about every country did likewise. These were further suplimented by bayonets, many of which had also been designed to help with field work. Camp knives are nothing new, large heavy knives can be found just about everywhere in any culture with the technology to produce them. If anything they may have gotten smaller over the years.

n2s
 
Good point, and you haven't even mentioned the khukuri in Nepal, which has been used there for a very long time.
 
not2sharp said:
On the contrary, most military organizations use to issue facine knives or pioneer sidearms, to help the troops build field fortifications or clear gun emplacements. During the 20th century the U.S military issued the 1904 hospital bolo, the 1909 bolo, 1005 Collins Engineering bolo, 1917 bolo and the marine corps WWII hospital bolo, along with many other machetes and knives, and just about every country did likewise. These were further suplimented by bayonets, many of which had also been designed to help with field work. Camp knives are nothing new, large heavy knives can be found just about everywhere in any culture with the technology to produce them. If anything they may have gotten smaller over the years.

n2s
Click to expand...

Not to mention hidden tang versions of the camp knife. Such as the 1816 French foot artillery short sword. In size and shape it resembled a Roman gladius. It wasn’t for defending the big guns. A two food blade was useless against cavalry sabers or fixed bayonets.

It was a tool. Artillery men used them to clear a trail, to cut fascines and make a path for big guns over soft soil, to firm the dirt around artillery emplacements, to clear fields of fire. It was such a useful tool that French troops called it an acoupe-chou—a cabbage-chopper.

America copied the pattern and issued it as U.S. Model 1832 foot artillery shortsword. That saw action through the American Civil War.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top