I took my new seax and my new bowie (both deals of the day!) and did a little informal and fairly uneducated testing. It was too cold here in Vermont to do much.
The seax is much more comfortable in the hand. The wooden handle fills my hand better, its lighter and more lively in the hand. It did a pretty good job cutting sumac and maple limbs up to about 3 inches in diameter. It didn't remove as much material with each chop as the bowie, but it was a lot quicker and didn't get stuck in the wood as much as the bowie.
The bowie was very uncomfortable in my hand. The handle is quick small, and has that big round metal circle at the end of the handle, with a lanyard hole in it. That chunk of metal kind of dug into my hand when I chopped. It cut sumac and maple with more authority than the seax, but got stuck more and was a little slower, although taking less chops to do the same job.
The both debarked a couple of limbs easily and easily cut through about 3 feet of carpet with minimal effort. Neither one did well on cardboard, although the slimmer seax blade did better. The bowie just tore it. Neither one would cut paper or shave hair. I jabbed a couple of things just for fun, the seax was superior there too. I didn't try to pry much, but the bowie was clearly better for that kind of job.
Neither one showed any worse for wear after this light\medium duty, no rolling or dings or chipping.
I find them both almost impossible to sharpen, however.
Final result. The seax is unique but it would be a very good and handy camp knife but the sheath would have to be replaced. The bowie is everything it looks like, but that handle just doesn't fit my hand.
The seax is much more comfortable in the hand. The wooden handle fills my hand better, its lighter and more lively in the hand. It did a pretty good job cutting sumac and maple limbs up to about 3 inches in diameter. It didn't remove as much material with each chop as the bowie, but it was a lot quicker and didn't get stuck in the wood as much as the bowie.
The bowie was very uncomfortable in my hand. The handle is quick small, and has that big round metal circle at the end of the handle, with a lanyard hole in it. That chunk of metal kind of dug into my hand when I chopped. It cut sumac and maple with more authority than the seax, but got stuck more and was a little slower, although taking less chops to do the same job.
The both debarked a couple of limbs easily and easily cut through about 3 feet of carpet with minimal effort. Neither one did well on cardboard, although the slimmer seax blade did better. The bowie just tore it. Neither one would cut paper or shave hair. I jabbed a couple of things just for fun, the seax was superior there too. I didn't try to pry much, but the bowie was clearly better for that kind of job.
Neither one showed any worse for wear after this light\medium duty, no rolling or dings or chipping.
I find them both almost impossible to sharpen, however.
Final result. The seax is unique but it would be a very good and handy camp knife but the sheath would have to be replaced. The bowie is everything it looks like, but that handle just doesn't fit my hand.
