bigbore.45, on small wood a quality bowie will chop alongside a quality hatchet. If you go really high end and get a bowie from a master smith you can get a knife that will in fact readily outchop a quality hatchet on small wood (say about 15-25% or so) . The bowie will have a similar mass and heft but have a much thinner primary and secondary grind. There should also not be much of a problem with binding on wood that small so the thinner ground knife should still be able to chop at a smooth pace.
However a small axe (hatchet) will generally outperform a quality bowie on wood larger than the face of the hatchet. This is because by using multiple hits with the hatchet you will see no penetration loss on larger wood. This will mean that as the size of the wood increases that the hatchet will be able to break open wood far more readily than a quality large bowie and thus outperform it in regards to time and effort. As well a quality hatchet can be bought for about $50 from Granfors Bruks. This is a handmade forged axe with all the desired aspects done in a quality manner. Compare this to the cost of a quality bowie.
In regards to general cutting, while a quality hatchet will cut very well, a bowie of similar quality will in general be able to cut at a higher performance level in regards to penetration, while not generating as high a level of fatigue. A hatchet has advantages in being used as a mallet, being able to handle knots in wood much better and as well it is a much better wood splitter and in general has a much lower tendancy to bind. A bowie is easier to use as a draw knife and of course has the advantage of a much longer edge as well as an acute point.
In regards to khukuris, they will readily outchop a hatchet on smaller wood, but suffer a similar fate on larger wood as the bowies. Tomahawks in general have thicker bits than hatchets because of the need for greater durability and thus they will be outcut and outchopped by bowies readily on small wood, but again because of the ability to use multiple hits will gain ground steadily as the size of the wood increases.
Some specific performance examples which include a quality and low end bowie as well as a quality hatchet and tomahawk and a few other knives :
http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sstamp/knives/blade_testing.html#chopping
You can see how the quality bowie fares well on the small wood compared to the hatchet, but falls behind quickly as the wood gets larger. The cheap bowie is totally outclassed on larger wood. The Tomahawk fares well on the large wood compared to the blades as even though it has a much thicker edge it gains a penetration advantage because of the multiple hit pattern.
Other considerations are that bowies generally are of a higher grade of steel than axes, with a greater quality of temper and thus you will see better edge retention, edge durability and so on. You can of course get a quality hatchet from a custom maker and have the same performance. Note as well that if you go custom you could get a hatchet that is ground very similar to a quality bowie and thus it will readily cut alongside it, and outchop it even on small wood. However this geometry would lead to poor splitting ability and in general a great tendancy to bind on large wood.
-Cliff
