Heavy-bladed, Light-handled Wilderness Chopping Knives

I don't own one so I can't really speak for it but I've heard pretty good things about the Cold Steel Bushman. Cold Steel's Recon Scout I hear is a decent chopper and is about the size you want. I own a Trailmaster (the Recon Scout's big brother) and it makes a good chopper (not as good as a hatchet or a good machete) but it's pretty thick at the spine and while it slices, a smaller, thinner blade for smaller work might be beneficial. Though it may be a tad longer than you want, you may also want to look at the Martindale Paratrooper machete.
 
The Bushman is WAAAAAY too small to be a chopper. In my opinion, at least. :)
 
The Cold Steel Bushman is not necessarily too small, it's just way too light for it's size to be a chopper. If you want a lightweight chopper, Condor makes plenty. The Kumunga is a great chopper for how light it is. Not a dedicated chopper, though.
 
Looking forward to seeing the new Kershaw Camp go head to head at chopping with a Junglas. At 10” of blade in 1065, and without all that micarta adding weight to the arse end, and with it being on pre-order for $41 USD whereas a Junlas is what – listed at $270 and on sale for about $180, it could get very interesting indeed. I still won't have a use for one but it could prove to be a far better 1lb object to tote about. The profile certainly looks a lot better for chopping whilst remaining pokey.
 
I can find Junglas all over for $150. It's American made, too. Plus the fantastic sheath system it has. And I much prefer Micarta. That said, I will still likely get the Kershaw, but that's only because I like choppers.
 
TheGame said:
The Cold Steel Bushman is not necessarily too small, it's just way too light for it's size to be a chopper. If you want a lightweight chopper, Condor makes plenty. The Kumunga is a great chopper for how light it is. Not a dedicated chopper, though.
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I don't mean it's too small to chop, but rather that it's too small to fall under the "chopper" classification.
 
If you want something fairly blade heavy, the new Condor Pack Golok might satisfy your chopping needs. It is quite the hog of a knife. Keep thinking it might actually be a better overall blade with a slightly thinner blade stock.
 
If you like Bark River Knives, what about one of the new Goloks in A2?
Golok_In_Hand.jpg
 
I tryed a lot of different blades/tools for light chopping and for me it's come down to the Ontario 12" machete and the Cold Steel Frontier Hawk and frankly the more expensive stuff left me dissapointed.

When the 12" machete wouldn't be appropiate the hawk is and vise versa.
 
You may want to have a look at the Hukari from Taiter factory in Finland.

hukari.jpg

I hear it used in Finnish military.

Good points:
it's pretty light (500g about a pound), thanks to hidden tang.
it's quite inexpensive, goes for like 45€
thicker than a Leuku

Bad points:
Fit and finish is very rough (ok, that's a minor problem)
Somewhat lacks punch (being light)
Steel is not so great and pretty soft
you can find some broken one pic.

Still it's light (will retaining more puch than your average leuku), cheap and many finnish people seem to consider it a good beater.
Probably worth a try.

http://www.taiter.fi/hukari.html
 
All good comments thanks. And thanks for the pictures and links.

I have a Cold Steel Bushman. It isn't a heavy chopper, especially now that I've reduced it in size. I removed some of the blade and a short bit off the handle. However it is a nice bit of tough steel, and a versatile tool. I don't really like the handle when using this tool as a knife, but it is good to be able to have a rugged knife that can instantly be turned into a spear because of this hollow handle.

This morning I took my short fixed-blade Mora clone on our daily dog walk. Using this knife and a baton I found that I could easily 'chop' into a tough gorse branch. So, like as has been mentioned, batoning throws a new light on the chopping question. I am confident, for instance, that while my 10" Tramontina machete is a bit light for heavy chopping, it is tough enough to be batoned into a fairly thick log.

Still.... I won't let all this common sense prevent me from wanting another knife.
 
pitdog said:
I know I'm not really answering your question but I often wonder how one of these would work in the woods !

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I got one of these bad boys on sale for 14 dollars and it is light weight but a hell of a chopper. nice and comfy too. surprised me a good amount. wish I would have bought a couple more for all the 4 wheelers.
 
FoxholeAtheist said:
If you like Bark River Knives, what about one of the new Goloks in A2?
Golok_In_Hand.jpg
Click to expand...

I'd like to hear any positive feedback from people that have these because I just think about the one in this pic, I do realise that Bark River sell millions of blades though so the odd lemon has to slip through now and again !

golok.jpg
 
The Busse Basic 11 is awesome. Its expensive but at 16 ounces and a hidden tang with res C handle it has great forward weight and is an awesome chopper. very easy to carry and INFI will hold its edge much longer than machete's or even other big knives like the Junglas.

I think its worth the price. Ive owned 2 and if you want something compact, versatile, light, comfortable, and american made there's nothing better.

Not to mention the basic 11 will outknife just about any blade its size.

A machete will clear brush better and depending on what type of environment you're in it might chop better but machete's are kind of difficult to carry and I don't like how soft they tend to be. Hatchets are a pain to carry and are heavy for how well they chop and can't clear brush.

A big knife like the basic 11 is a great choice for me simply because its so easy to carry while being a really versatile tool and a great knife.

If you don't want to carry alot of weight and want a comfortable tool its a great choice.
 
I have found that a hidden tang knife transmits less shock to your hand when chopping, which means you don't get as tired after a lot of work. Of course, a wooden handle hatchet is even better in this regard...
 
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