Kukri vs. big chopper..

I have a Busse KZII, a Busse B11 with res c handle, a Cold Steel Magnum khukri, and used to have a Busse FBMLE.

Of those, the best "pack" knife is the B11.


I would recommend an 1311 or 1111 from Scrapyard. The weight to performance is fantastic. The price is stellar for what you get.


I recently tested Kershaw's 1077 outdoor chopper. It is a rubber handle, full length tang, 1065? Steel knife. Not too thick, strong design. Comfortable for chopping, decent sheath with attachment options and about $60 or less. Tough to beat. Honestly, it did well against choppers costing 10x + more!

Bill Siegle makes a fantastic user knife. His heat treat on 5160 really gets the best out of it.


Anything from Busse, Scrapyard and Swamprat is going to give you top performance from any steel they make, but some of their grinds (Busse) can be a bit on the thick side. My FBMLE was a laser. The B11 is a great grind. The KZII I was glad I owned a belt sander to work on the shoulder!

Dan Keffler pops into my mind for choppers. He uses super steels and absolutely knows his geometry.

Many many custom makers can build you a custom that will give you top tier performance and pride of ownership.
 
If you want a good chopper in between a Khuk and a chopper, I too recommend talking to John at JK Knives. His new one is a nice, relatively lightweight chopper that will be easily backpackable.
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I am not sure whether a knife like rodent 9 from SwampRat (just as an example, the right blade length and thickness that you mentioned!) is a good choice for a chopper. Don't get me wrong, it is a well build knife, strong. However, it is quite thick, black coating with longitudinal grooves on the blade, quite heavy. Those knives are all overbuild and actually not very functional. Yes, you can chop into wood with them but you can also chop concrete with them. It is not the right tool for that kind of job. As mentioned above, a machete may be a better choice, particularly for clearing bush, felling a small tree etc. Just what you asked for above. However it is too long to be functional for skinning etc. It's not that easy to find the right knife for this. You really want to look into a custom made knife?! If you search for camp knives/choppers here on BF you should find much, much better choices than SwampRat and Co.
 
If price isn't a consideration, I'd go custom every time....that way you get exactly what you want. I prefer an OTK large-bladed chopper in M4 or one of David's custom small kukris....sweet! If weight is more of an issue, I'll go with either a Matt Lamey, Charlie Edmondson or Lamont Coombs bowie.....lighter but still packs more than enough punch for the weight! If I need to hack the turret off a tank, I'll go with my custom Joe Hoover .350" bowie/chopper hybrid.....I'll have forearms like Popeye after swinging this for the day, but you can fell a sequoia with one swing!
 
I vote kukri. I use a condor HD kukri for my chopping needs and I've been very pleased with it.
 
theblacksheep said:
thanks everyone for the help. where can I look for a kukri other than H.I. just want to look at some other options
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I wouldnt look anywhere other than H.I. if I were getting a khuk.-Great product and service plus you are supporting a rapidly disappearing cottage industry. Check them out.--KV
 
theblacksheep said:
i have heard that the handles on the H.I. are uncomfortable. any truth to that??
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It's a matter of preference.
Some people love the handle ring, some don't.
When I first got into khukuri, I didn't think I would like the handle rings because they looked uncomfortable.
Now that I've handled plenty and know how to properly use a khukuri, I wouldn't have a khukuri without the handle ring as it allows you to lock the handle into your hand. If you get one with a pronounced ring or one with a bit of sharpness to it, all that is needed is a little judicious light sanding to resolve the problem.
 
I love my kukris. I've got 2 Cold Steel Gurkha Kukris, one in Carbon V and one in SK5. They're fairly light for what they are, tough as nails and the blade shape is wonderful. I've also got a McCurdy Kukri and HI Sirupati (?) . The HI blades are thicker and overall heavier. Great choppers but can be fatiguing after a time, the Cold Steels are lighter and can be used over longer periods of time, again this is personal experience. I had a Killa Zilla II and as much as I like Kukris this one didn't win me over. The thickness carried down to the edge much further than the others I mentioned, had a wide edge angle and just didn't bite as well as the others... plus it was heavy as Hell.

I've had some large choppers and sold most of them, the largest I have now is my Rodent 9 followed by a SYKCO 7. I don't like knives above 7" since, for me, they are too cumbersome for general utility and not quite big enough to be great choppers. Don't get me wrong, they work but there are far better options. If I had a choice I'd carry a 4"-6" fixed blade and hatchet or small axe. If I didn't have that option I'd pick a kukri. Again, not a great utility knife but workable if you practice and a vastly better chopper than a large knife.

I'm a fan of the right tool for the right job, when your only tool is a hammer everything begins to look like a nail. Clearing brush or bushwacking? Grab a machete. Camp chores? Small axe and a fixed blade. Walking around town? A folder is great. Sorry... rant off.
 
theblacksheep said:
i have heard that the handles on the H.I. are uncomfortable. any truth to that??
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I only have one so that is all I can answer to but it fits me like it was made for my hand. When you pick it up it immediately makes you want to chop something. It's big but it feels great to me.
 
There is a world of difference between a rat tail tang and the full hidden tang of most HI models
 
Karda said:
It's a matter of preference.
Some people love the handle ring, some don't.
When I first got into khukuri, I didn't think I would like the handle rings because they looked uncomfortable.
Now that I've handled plenty and know how to properly use a khukuri, I wouldn't have a khukuri without the handle ring as it allows you to lock the handle into your hand. If you get one with a pronounced ring or one with a bit of sharpness to it, all that is needed is a little judicious light sanding to resolve the problem.
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The ring can take a little adjusting to, and like Karda said, a little light sanding can do wonders.
 
Jroden5446 said:
There is a world of difference between a rat tail tang and the full hidden tang of most HI models
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A full tang also throws off the balance off. One could argue that if you have a full tang kuk then you're not really experiencing it's full potential. ;)
 
OK...wow...a lot to take in. I am going to get an H.I. and start looking at the different models to choose from.. I want a blade 10-12 inches. going top try and keep the weight down a little. I am 6'1 and 175. I don't want to be swinging around a blade that weighs 3lbs but will still get the any job I throw at it.
 
I have a kukri and love it. Used to get made fun of on hikes until the other guys saw me gathering firewood faster than they were with their hatchets. They can and do get heavy when hiking though, so I thought I'd try the Becker Machax (BK4). It's a fantastic chopper and considerably lighter. Still love using my kukri though whenever I'm not out in the mountains. I ended up keeping the kukri in the truck and using the Machax when I'm out on foot.

Just my .02
 
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