Looking for a 9-10" chopper

GentlemanlySteve said:
My favorite large chopper is the Ka Bar JAB potbelly, 1/4" thick and hollow ground makes it super efficient. Although not 9" it chops better than many.
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Personally I find that that combination often makes a blade stick like hell and limits depth of penetration during the cut. Just my experience though.
 
Katdaddy said:
Walt Davis Moonshine or medium Moonshine.
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Since when is Walt making knives again?? Is this the case, if so, I need to crawl out from the rock I have been laying under.
 
eginder said:
If you're a Bark River guy, check out their new Grasso Bolo II. Nine-inch blade and it is supposedly one heck of a chopper. The price for one with a no-frills handle should be in your range.
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Not trying to start a flame war in someones post, but I would steer clear of Bark Rivers for chopping, I have had all my Bark Rivers handles fall off, or get loose in some way or fashion. Not what I look for in a chopper.

Now, get yourself a BECKER BK9. I have 2, cause they rock. I also love the ESEE Junglas and the Condor Parang. You could afford a Condor and Becker and be way under your price point.!
 
I would recommend Bryan Breeden's Lord Greystoke, a chopper Bryan made for me it for me last Christmas. Since this is a knife you probably never heard of, I'm providing some videos Bryan did, as well as my first impressions, photos, and chopping/batoning test I did of the Lord Greystoke.

Bryan's Videos








First Impressions

I GOT IT!!!!! I received the Lord Greystoke today and I love it. Bryan, thank you so very much, this is excellent work. For those of you who don't know, Lord Greystoke is the proper Royal title of John Clayton, AKA Tarzan. For Bryan, Tarzan is the ultimate survivor. He wanted a name for this knife design that showed the qualities of this knife as "King of the Jungle," but also as "Urban Lord;" something that speaks of strength, resilience, and survival, but also of elegance and versatility. He finally decided on Lord Greystoke and I couldn't like it any more.

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My first impressions.

The Lord Greystoke is one beautiful chopper. It a 10" blade of 3/16" O-1 steel. The blade is well made with no visible imperfections. At first it looked dull, but that was the result of it been rubbed with a protective compound. A little cleaning with a piece of cloth and it was, in the words of Victor Creed, "oooooh, shinny." The edge is convexed, very sharp, and well centered. The micarta scales are well shaped and even with the tang. There are neither gaps nor rough/grating spots. The handle fits my hand very well and feels "grippy".

Bryan chose to use tubes instead of pins to keep the scales in place. I like that; it allows to add an elastic lanyard to the handle in the fingers area for additional grip/security. I also like the exposed tang/pommel. It allows for hammering if necessary without damaging the finish/look of the micarta scales. Not that micarta can't take the punishment, but why scratch it unnecessarily? The divot drilled into the handle allows the handle to be used as bearing for a bow drill for fire making. It comes in handy for those who like practicing primitive survival skills.

The weight distribution is excellent. The knife is well balanced and the longer handle allows for three hand positions, each better suited for a particular task. In the choke up position (closer to the blade), the knife feels "alive" and very nimble. In this position, the knife can easily perform precision/delicate tasks usually reserved for a smaller blade. The middle position (normal use) feels very comfortable and you start feeling the weight of the blade, but not too much. The chopping position (farthest from the blade) feels very secure due to the shape of the back end of the handle. In this position, the knife feels weight-forward in a very satisfying way when doing chopping motions.

The kydex sheath is very well made with no rough edges or imperfections. It keeps the knife secured in place; the knife doesn't come out of the sheath nor does it rattle when shaking it. It includes a firesteel loop fixed in place by a hollow rivet. This allows the loop to be part of the sheath without limiting your options of what or where you can add an attachment to the sheath. Since I plan to carry it baldric-style, he did not add a belt loop but that was an option. I wanted something that does not scream "tactical," especially for a knife of this size. Instead, I wanted a look that says camping, hiking, tool, bushcraft. Bryan recommended Coyote Brown kydex and I'm happy he did.

I'll do a full review after the 25th. Since it is my Christmas gift, my wife confiscated it until Christmas. Well, I can wait. The bottom line, I couldn't be happier with my chopper. From name to workmanship, I'm more than satisfied.
 
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Photos

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The Lord Greystoke with a Tan sheath and piggybacked Breeden Field Companion
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My design that Bryan brought to life, the Breeden Field Companion
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yea, I think preacher man pretty much nailed it.:thumbup:
I would follow his advise :D

If you want one even Bigger than Preacher mans This is what i would get.


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Just for fun this is what it would look like as a neck knife LOL

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Here is what the blank looks like side by side with some other 7" to 10" knives

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Just a few thoughts for ya lol

Bryan
 
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Chopping test

Well, my beautiful and graceful wife gave me my Christmas gift today. My dad came to visit and we were cutting some trees in the yard. I mentioned that this was the perfect time to test the Lord Greystoke and do a comparison with other choppers. At first she said, "wait till Christmas", but latter she surprised me giving me the Greystoke early. Have I mentioned I love my wife? :D

I put the saw aside and did everything else with choppers. Since I suspected the Lord Greystoke will be an exceptional chopper I decided to compare it with my big guns, so to speak. We compared Breeden's Lord Greystoke with:

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Condor's Golok Machete,

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and Himalayan Imports' Foxy Folly.

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By the way, that's my dad holding the knives. This is me with the Lord Greystoke.

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And my youngest son wanted to watch.

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Since this was the Greytoke's first real use and the other knifes have seen quite some use already, I decided to make it a fair fight and re-profiled and sharpen the Golok and Foxy Folly using Work Sharp's Knife and Tool Sharpener. I used 80 grit to re-profile and 220 and 6000 grit to sharpen and polish the edge. By the end both the Golok and the Foxy Folly had a hair-shaving convexed edge.
 
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Here are the three knives side by side.

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I decided to start with a simple shopping test. I chopped through a 1.5" thick branch with each knife. The Foxy Folly went first and it took three swings to chop through the branch.

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Next went the Golok. It only took two swings to chop through the branch.

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Last, but not least, came the Lord Greystoke. It almost went through the branch on the first swing, but not quite. I felt almost no resistance on the second swing.

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With that done We did a chop off. We positioned a 2.75" banch to compare performance of ten (10) chops of each knife side by side.

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Again, I started with the Foxy Folly. 10 chops got most of the way through.

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The Golok came next. 10 chops got a little deeper than the Foxy Folly.

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The Lord Greystoke had been waiting for its chance to prove itself, and it did not disappoint. It went through the branch in 10 chops.

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Here you can see a little more clearly the aftermath of the chop off.

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And each knife beside its handiwork.

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Honestly, I was surprised Breeden's Lord Greystoke was the better chopper. No offense Bryan, but I expected the Golok and Foxy Folly to do a little better than the Greystoke, if nothing else as a result of greater weight and a larger arch generating greater momentum. Of course, In addition to the edge geometry, the Lord Greystoke's thinner profile was one of the factors here. Bryan, I tip my hat to you sir. You do make one heck of a knife, not just a good looking one.
 
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Batoning Test

Well, I couldn't do this and not do some batoning.

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It is difficult to describe batoning with this knife, but I'll try. Usually when I baton I have to compensate with my left hand for the movement and torque effect batoning has on the knife. I have to keep the knife straight since the tip tends to go deeper than the handle. That was not the case with the Geystoke. I can only guess it is a result of the knife's edge, but with each impact the knife went in deeper with much less resistance that I expected. There was almost no torque effect to compensate. When taking about the edge, Bryan had explain that he does a modified convex edge. He tried to explain, but to this day I have no idea what that means. That is no fault to Bryan's ability as a teacher, but my own inability to grasp the geometry of the edge he was describing. Whatever a modified convex edge is, IT WORKS.

After batoning the branch into quarters, I took a section to do a firestick. Bryan had warn me that the knife's edge would not do "pretty" firestick sections. I wanted to try anyway. Been a 10" blade I tried the two hand technique I use with longer blades.

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It didn't work very well. I had problems controlling the knife or getting the cuts I wanted. The sections were way too thick or not deep enough to carve a "slice."

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I switched to a one hand position, chocking up on the knife. That gave me much better control and better "feathers." They were still thicker than I wanted, but Bryan had warned me about this. I need to practice making more feather sticks with the Greystoke. I may still find a way to get them closer to the way I want them. What I got today would not be good enough to use as tinder, but good enough to use with some other tinder. For the record, I have to admit my feather stick technique leaves a lot to be desired, but I'm learning. Part of the issue may lay on my faulty technique. Some more practice may fix that, we'll see.

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Well, what can I say? I'm really very impressed with the Lord Greystoke. I was expecting it to be a good chopper, but not SUCH a good chopper. Is not every day that you see a 10" blade outperform a Condor Golok or a HI chopper. Before testing the Greystoke, the Golok was my go to chopper. Not any more. This is one outstanding chopper. Is this a One-Knife-Does-It-All blade? I'm not sure. I need to use it more and get a better feel for really fine tasks, like feather sticks. It may be good enough to get the job done, but I need to get better used to it to know. In the meanwhile, Lord Greystoke will be taking a smaller companion when going to the field; just in case.
 
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JV3 said:
since you're going to baton a ton of wood (and since it'll be winter the frozen wood will be even harder on the knife) i'd go with a junglas...the turn around time for a warranty replacement should be one of the fastest if something bad happens.

i had a junglas and the busse basic 11 out chops it and feels more nimble in the hand but for your intended use, i'd save your money and go with the esee...or even a becker bk-9.
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I own 2 BK 9's but I wanted a bigger chopper so I just bought the Junglas a few days ago for $125 with free shipping on that big auction website. I can't wait to receive it.:)
 
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Thanks Ivan 51. I am going back into full time knife making in the next month or so.
so if you ever want one just let me know. My turn around time will be pretty quick I believe.

Bryan
 
Ontario SP- 50,51,52 and 53 in 5160 are pretty good bang for the buck. I have the SP-53 and beat it like its a Battle Mistress.
I mean no holding back and it takes every bit of abuse I can through at it. It holds a good edge with no chipping so far.
The handle is very comfortable and comes with a decent sheath.

I can understand if your looking for something higher end that you can appreciate more but you could buy three of them
and lend them to your students with out having to worry.
 
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