Field question for the Buck 124

G

g123

Joined
Oct 25, 2009
Messages
329
Hey Guys,

First of all a clarification that might help direct my question. For me, I consider a knife to be a chopper for only the use on green wood for shelter building, ect. On dry wood I would saw to cut and use a hatchet or larger knife to split the dry wood.

So here is my question - How good is the 124 on greenwood tasks? I have had a Becker BK7 which is close to the size and weight of the 124, How would you compare the ability of the 124 to the BK7?

I have a Buck 117 I want to team up with a larger knife and can not decide between the 119, 120 or 124.

How would you compare the 119, 120 and 124? Does the extra weight of the 124 give it a lot of advantage over the 119 or the 120. If not I will just go for the 119.

Thanks,

Geoff
 
First thing to consider is the tang. The 124 has a FULL WIDTH, FULL LENGTH exposed tand. The 119 and 120 have full length but small hidden (rat tail) tangs.
Green wood saws and splits just fine in my mind. Saw and axe are still the correct tools. That is the subject for many threads on here.

420HC would not be my first choice for chopping. Buck makes some very fine use appropriate camp tools like the Froe or 104 Compadre in 5160. The Froe has a permanent home on our Mule replacing the small hatchet for property maintenance.
 
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^what Roger said but im not so worried about 420hc being able to handle those tasks...more so the geometry of the 124. not bad but wasnt built to be a hard chopper in my mind. i do believe it can mostly handle it though on smaller diameter green wood, with limited twisting and torquing.

id also in the end prefer the froe and a saw and axe for those tasks myself. maybe even power tools if I could.
 
jbmonkey said:
....... maybe even power tools if I could.
Click to expand...
Ha Ha.... are you allowed to say that on a knife forum? Off topic but the best power tool I've discovered recently is the 18V Makita Chainsaw (XCU06Z).
Can't say enough good about it. It now rides on the Mule with the Froe replacing the Husky 335XPT, a fabulous saw no longer made.
 
The 124 chops into green stuff like a laser. It has a thin hollow ground edge so I don’t push it too hard, but I’ve also never damaged the edge. The Becker’s are indestructible but cut like an axe. They’d benefit from some thinning. IMHO

The 124 is twice the knife the 119 or 120 is.
 
Yes I’ve used my 124 420hc chopping small green limbs and hacking a notch in a green 4 inch tree branch and it was asking for more. Lol.
I didn’t get rough or crazy with it but still some serious type of chopping. I was kinda testing it to know how well it would take the tough work. And I split some small dry wood lightly batoning for kindling and it did great. I don't do any larger logs or hardwood stuff but I’ve seen a guy do it with his 124. I normally use an axe or hatchet for splitting dry wood and I’ve been thinking about getting a froe.
 
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