Jungle chopper for the Texas jungle

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Apr 12, 2006
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Those of y'all that don't think Texas can be a jungle should see the impenetrable masses of briars, mesquites, scrub oak, and wild rose that cover large portions of the state. :D

This commission was made at the same time as the customer ordered up a Benghazi Warfighter for himself and one for his brother. He has been very patient waiting for the chopper to get finished up, and I waited until he could give me some feedback on its use before I posted pics.



The blade is forged from 5160 steel, approximately 15 inches long, with a fully sharpened forward edge. This is something I've done once or twice before, and is something I don't particularly want to do again. :)

The handle is black Micarta with flared stainless steel rivets. This is the longest blade I have ever put a slab handle on; usually they are integral sockets. I'm very pleased with the results. He ordered a Kydex sheath from me.





And a leather rig from Luke Swenson.





A closeup of the handle. He wanted an exposed skullcrusher pommel.



Here's his report back: "So I finally managed to string together some days off and take the Chopper for a spin, but didn’t bring my phone so I don’t have any pictures. I cut through several thigh sized limbs as well as some smaller stuff. It went through both the live branches as well as some old dead ones with minimal force behind the swing. It took a couple of minutes to get through the thick stuff with just lazy swings and probably half that when I put some force behind it. Only thing that gave away that it had been used was some gunk from the green tree limbs which was easily cleaned off. No touch up on the blade needed, it’s still shaving sharp.

The weight was perfect and the handle is very comfortable and the handle made it easy to keep my hand in place without slipping when swinging it. I loved every second of swinging it around. Thank you for such a well made proficient blade."

Always glad to hear about my blades being put to work. :)
 
It is a beast and really a beauty, but the handle doesn't seem to fit in with your style . May I ask what about it makes you not want to do it again ? Also , the leather sheath is beautiful ! Does the maker have a page to see more of his work ?
 
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5160 is kinda hard to beat for a big chopper isn't it?

Steel snobs may turn up their noses but for a large, hard use knife it's about all you need.
 
Glad you have some feedback from the owner about the blade's characteristics and quality. Feedback is a wonderful thing that's not easy to get! :D
 
Thanks, guys!

MrJet - The slab handles are definitely a different approach than what I've done on big blades, but I've done plenty of smaller ones with them. The thing I don't want to do too much more is the sharpened forward edge on a blunt-ended chopper. Getting the two bevels to meet in a clean point can be boogery.

And Luke makes some very nice knives. Upon occasion he helps me out by building a leather rig for one of my blades since my one attempt at a leather sheath was very sad. :(

Lycosa - Jungle chopper was his term. :)

Sirupatespecial - 5160 yields good performance from a simple heat treatment, and I really like it. I'm moving over to 80CrV2 because it's similar in heat treatment with an improved performance due in part to higher carbon. But I won't ever turn up my nose at a well-done 5160 blade. :) I haven't had any customer complaints about it, certainly, and I've had some customers who really put their blades to work like this fellow.
 
5160 is a great steel choice ! (In my opinion ) Let us know how you like that 80crv2 . I have been looking at it myself as well.

As for my earlier comment . I hope it didn't come of as sounding negative , because I definitely didn't mean it that way. I have seen your smaller knives with slab handles . I really like the bengahzi ! I just meant that it was different to see slabs instead of socket handle on that chopper , that's all :-)

Also , do you heat treat your larger blades in a forge or oven ?
 
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I'm pretty fond of 5160. Great steel, especially for the price. I think 3V is a "better" steel, but it's also a lot more expensive, and I would hesitate to say it's 2 or 3 times better than 5160. 5160 is just great stuff. I'll definitely be interested to hear about how 80crv2 goes for you (and am looking forward to stopping into your shop and getting a chance to meet you). This one looks like it's going to be an incredible chopper!
 
Cool. But I think I prefer your standard handle. The blade style and the handle are kind of at odds with one another.
 
MrJet - Missed your question about what I use to heat treat. These days, I do all of my normalizing and hardening using my Evenheat furnace, and tempering in a big Paragon kiln. I got it all set up for tomahawks and big blades, but I do my smaller stuff in them as well.
 
Those of y'all that don't think Texas can be a jungle should see the impenetrable masses of briars, mesquites, scrub oak, and wild rose that cover large portions of the state. :D

I've spent time in eastern Texas. I have friends who live out by Sam Rayburn Reservoir.

It's definitely a jungle.

Good catfishin' and pig huntin' though.
 
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