- Joined
- Dec 31, 2005
- Messages
- 2,984
Well I have been saving these photos up for a special occasion
.and I guess my 1000 post qualifies
.
Here are the knives in the chop off
The knives are ( left to right )
Busse NMFBM
Cold Steel Carbon V Khukri
Hossom XXL Retribution/Combat Machete
Busse Killa Zilla
We had a fair bit of snow here this winter here is up in our Pennine Mountains and mostly it is Moorland little cover so we also get some very high winds as a result some of the trees on my property are often casualties. Here is a good example.
This one has snapped off at the height it clears the shelter of the wall and gully probably a mixture of frost and the wind. It has fallen awkwardly between surrounding trees and access is not to easy. You need to be careful working amongst this sort of cover as tripping on branches and holding knives can be a bad combination. I always wear sturdy boots when chopping with knives. I placed the knives for the test close to the foot of a tree a bit away from the one needing clearing for safety but even then accidents can happen. I went to pick up the CS Khukri which had fallen over to take a pic and busy looking at this knife I didnt notice just brushing up against the Zilla and I mean just brushing it hardly touched it as it still remained stuck in the soil. Here is a pic of my Yeti Gaiters at the toe
cut straight through the rubber rand
so this trip was already a bit more costly than I intended
but I can send them of to be repaired
so no lasting harm done
. and there was obviously nothing wrong with the edge on the Zilla either.
All the knives have very sharp convex edges some have been re-profiled . The NMFBM was a CG model which I stripped and finished off the full convex grind and thinned the profile on it to more of an appleseed shape than a pear drop shape a bit steeper but still tough. I did the same with the Zilla. The edges are at around 40 degrees inclusive right at the edge but have a better profile from the shoulder to the spine for bitting in deep. Jerry Hossoms knife had his own edge and it may be a little finer it is the sharpest knife of the four an amazing job!
The first task was to drop the tree trunk from where it had snapped. I had to get some steps out for this. I anchored them deep in the soil and went for decorating steps instead of a ladder so I had a wider platform to stand on and could be well away from the tree when it dropped. I started the chop off with the Zilla and it went through the remaining wood holding the trunk in a single chop! This was looking good!
The branch landed well and didnt get caught up in nearby trees but this meant it was also trapped between these trees and would need to be sectioned where it lay.
There was some room to get at the trunk to section it but it was tight.
I started the job at the crown of the tree to take of the upper splayed branches and leave the straight trunk for sectioning. Cutting just below the V split in the trunk I started using the Zilla. The first cuts were to remove the bark at a width the same as the thickness of the branch. As a general rule this gives the optimum space needed for a V cut through the branch so that the angle of the knife can still remove chips right to the end of the cut. Starting on a more narrow angle means once you are deep into the wood the knife can bind before it reaches the other side.
The Zilla made quick easy work of the crown. A few strokes and we were nearly through.
Here are the knives in the chop off
The knives are ( left to right )
Busse NMFBM
Cold Steel Carbon V Khukri
Hossom XXL Retribution/Combat Machete
Busse Killa Zilla
We had a fair bit of snow here this winter here is up in our Pennine Mountains and mostly it is Moorland little cover so we also get some very high winds as a result some of the trees on my property are often casualties. Here is a good example.
This one has snapped off at the height it clears the shelter of the wall and gully probably a mixture of frost and the wind. It has fallen awkwardly between surrounding trees and access is not to easy. You need to be careful working amongst this sort of cover as tripping on branches and holding knives can be a bad combination. I always wear sturdy boots when chopping with knives. I placed the knives for the test close to the foot of a tree a bit away from the one needing clearing for safety but even then accidents can happen. I went to pick up the CS Khukri which had fallen over to take a pic and busy looking at this knife I didnt notice just brushing up against the Zilla and I mean just brushing it hardly touched it as it still remained stuck in the soil. Here is a pic of my Yeti Gaiters at the toe
cut straight through the rubber rand
so this trip was already a bit more costly than I intended
but I can send them of to be repaired
so no lasting harm done
. and there was obviously nothing wrong with the edge on the Zilla either.All the knives have very sharp convex edges some have been re-profiled . The NMFBM was a CG model which I stripped and finished off the full convex grind and thinned the profile on it to more of an appleseed shape than a pear drop shape a bit steeper but still tough. I did the same with the Zilla. The edges are at around 40 degrees inclusive right at the edge but have a better profile from the shoulder to the spine for bitting in deep. Jerry Hossoms knife had his own edge and it may be a little finer it is the sharpest knife of the four an amazing job!
The first task was to drop the tree trunk from where it had snapped. I had to get some steps out for this. I anchored them deep in the soil and went for decorating steps instead of a ladder so I had a wider platform to stand on and could be well away from the tree when it dropped. I started the chop off with the Zilla and it went through the remaining wood holding the trunk in a single chop! This was looking good!
The branch landed well and didnt get caught up in nearby trees but this meant it was also trapped between these trees and would need to be sectioned where it lay.
There was some room to get at the trunk to section it but it was tight.
I started the job at the crown of the tree to take of the upper splayed branches and leave the straight trunk for sectioning. Cutting just below the V split in the trunk I started using the Zilla. The first cuts were to remove the bark at a width the same as the thickness of the branch. As a general rule this gives the optimum space needed for a V cut through the branch so that the angle of the knife can still remove chips right to the end of the cut. Starting on a more narrow angle means once you are deep into the wood the knife can bind before it reaches the other side.
The Zilla made quick easy work of the crown. A few strokes and we were nearly through.
