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First custom chopper

T

Thor1986

Joined
Jun 24, 2008
Messages
221
Ok im hoping this thread takes off and im pretty sure ive got it in the right place. I believe this b/c i see every beautiful custom piece you guys put on here and it makes me want something just as awesome. Im looking for a chopper with great edge retention, comfortable grips, and a leather sheath b/c they are very aesthetically pleasing to me.
Now this is where i need y'all to set this thread on fire. I want your opinions and suggestions. Id like to get y'alls input on your favorite steel for a chopper, preferred length, thickness and width of the blade, what handle material, what blade style, and blade grind. Now for the really fun question of who has made your favorite custom chopper that you own or would like to own? Post a pic if possible. I am going to take all of this info and work with one of our custom makers to design this knife as my ultimate chopper. Thank you for any input you have.
 
You definitely have come to the right place! I'm sure there will be dozens of valuable opinions posted. At the outset, I would recommend checking out the Camp Knife Challenge threads - our resident makers recently created camp knives as part of a friendly competition. Some are one-off designs, while others are now for sale.

I have really taken a shining to my JK Handmade Knives Hudson Bay 7" chopper / camp knife. It has ) 0-1 steel, amazing edge retention, and a comfortable design. Plus a leather sheath. And it's quite the looker, in my opinion!

Thanksgiving2009016.jpg


FYI, JK has a great reputation for building custom knives to meet the whims of his customers.

See also Koyote's line (he does great stuff with thin stock, and he can do a mean convex grind). Both JK and Koyote offer excellent value for your money.

All the best,

- Mike
 
I absolutely love this. PA Backwoods by Robert Wetten (bobbywett)

Specs:
5160 Carbon steel
10.25" blade
9 5/8" cutting edge
.25" thick
15.5" overall
Curly maple handles with red mahagony stain and 3 coats of Tung oil.
Blade is hand polished to 600 grit and a ColdBlue finish.

PABackwoodsKnife1.jpg
 
Ok, so from what i've seen so far minimum seven inches in length for chopper and im gonna go with max length of 9-10 inches to keep weight down to allow for a wider blade. Really wanna hear some opinions on the type of steel for a chopper that allows for great edge retention and durability. Keep the pics and suggestions coming.
 
Thor1986 said:
Really wanna hear some opinions on the type of steel for a chopper that allows for great edge retention and durability. Keep the pics and suggestions coming.
Click to expand...

You will probably get recommendations all over the place. I suspect most people will recommend some type of high carbon steel like 1095 or tool steel like O1 or A2 or 5160. Those seem to be the most common.

There are lots of opinions about thick vs. thin. Having a thick spine lends itself to more mass and that means more momentum while chopping. On the other hand, you do get tired pretty quickly wacking a 9" x 1/4" chunk of steel one handed. Also, longer lengths coupled with thinner steel will increasing chopping performance. This is why a quality machete at 1/8" will often chop as well as a beast of a chopper knife.

I did a few tests comparing my ranger RD-9 (9" x 0.25" thick; the original custom ones made by Justin) and my 10" x 0.125" thick koyote pictured in this thread. The RD-9 chopped better than my koyote leuku, but only marginally better. Basically it took 4 or 5 extra hits with the leuku to get through the same piece of wood with the advantage of having a weight that was almost half that of the RD-9. So despite, the common intuition and logic about thicker/heavier choppers, I've come to the conclusion that a thinner 10-12" blade may be a better chopper (performance/carry) than a thicker shorter one.
 
I can't really see the point in a knife with a blade over 7" unless it's thin for use as a matchete !
Over 7" or IMO even over 5" the blade becomes awkward for anything except chopping and if that's all it's going to do you might as well carry an axe !
Up to 7" makes a good all round camp knife though if you just want a one tool for all purposes type thing !
 
Well yes, it will be used just for chopping and splitting, but its going to be more of a personal thing for me. It will be my last big purchase before getting married and i want to make it a special one. Ive always been partial to large knives, dont really know why. So im thinking a custom chopper that i will have for a very long time and probably cut my wedding cake with will fill that spot of no more purchases for a long time sadly....lol.
 
Those are some nice ones, that bottom one you have in the pic atakack is especially eye catching. I like the looks of it a lot. What are the dimensions on it?
 
Another vote for JK handmade knives (Stomper on here) -
Picture179.jpg
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This is his "LOBO" model, made of 01 steel & has a 6" x 3/16" thick blade :thumbup:
Another one of my favorite makers here is Bryan Breeden (Sicily02 on here)
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This is his PathFinder model, made from 01 steel & has a 7" x 3/16" thick blade:thumbup:
Koyote also makes some sweet blades from thinner stock.
 
Fiddleback's bow legged chopper is very sweet looking also! Check out his subforum in the Maker's area for pics.
 
I don't have a custom chopper, yet. The only chopper I own is a BK9 and the edge retention on that knife is second to none. I've beat the hell out of that thing it pretty much just smiles and asks for more.

I've got my eyes on a couple of custom choppers but don't really need one right now. I know, I know .....
 
Yeah, that bow legged chopper is very nice. It is definitely in consideration. After looking at the jk handmadeknives webside and reading some posts about them stomper is definitely on my list of people to email.
 
I love many of the knives I have seen so far. I ordered Stompers entree. JK. You can't go wrong with any of our resident knife makers.:thumbup::thumbup:
 
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