Newbie Chopper Design Feedback

Looks like you're trying to build a "Jack of all trades, Master of none."

So I'm guessing that you have about a 5 inch handle, 7 inch blade?

"The chopping part has a less acute grind to keep the blade from being chipped." --It doesn't matter if the grind is thick or thin, chipping or rolling the edge is going to be a function of the heat treat and temper. You are assuming that because you have a thicker geometry that you will have a more robust chopper, and that just isn't necessarily so. Most machete's are thin blades.
 
NStricker said:
Looks like you're trying to build a "Jack of all trades, Master of none."

So I'm guessing that you have about a 5 inch handle, 7 inch blade?

"The chopping part has a less acute grind to keep the blade from being chipped." --It doesn't matter if the grind is thick or thin, chipping or rolling the edge is going to be a function of the heat treat and temper. You are assuming that because you have a thicker geometry that you will have a more robust chopper, and that just isn't necessarily so. Most machete's are thin blades.
Click to expand...

Thin bladed machetes are used to cut grass and very light brush, not to chop and split hardwood.

I agree that HT and temper plays the biggest role in edge durability and robustness, however a whittling knife and and a chopper have different grinds
 
Ironwood666 said:
I agree that HT and temper plays the biggest role in edge durability and robustness, however a whittling knife and and a chopper have different grinds
Click to expand...

I agree that a whittling blade and a chopping blade have very different geometries. But think about your blade as a whole. You are trying to insert a thin geometry in between your handle and the front of the blade, which you are designing as a chopper. Not only do a whittler and a chopper have different geometries, they often have different heat treatments because of the way the edges are used. An axe--a true chopper--will have been drawn down to a softer state because you don't want the edge to chip, you want it to roll. A whittler, on the other hand, you want to generally have at a harder state to retain the acute angle for fine carving detail. So, not only will you be sacrificing optimal geometries for the tasks you want to accomplish, you will also have to compromise on the temper.
 
I'd say it looks pretty good now.

I assume the three holes shown are three lanyard holes?
I would suggest Corby bolts for the handle mounting hardware
 
You will be happy you didn’t go with the Tom Brown design...I have seen a lot of theses designs come up in the last few days (the rounded belly) and find that the knife and the design falls short in a lot of categories. I'm glad that you want to improve the design and not duplicate it.

I feel like the movie really made this knife to be more than it is…just my opinion…
 
bladsmth said:
I'd say it looks pretty good now.

I assume the three holes shown are three lanyard holes?
I would suggest Corby bolts for the handle mounting hardware
Click to expand...

Those are lanyard holes, and I just looked into Corby bolts and that's what I'll be using.

Thanks for all the help
 
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