Nathan the Machinist
KnifeMaker / Machinist / Evil Genius
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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2007
- Messages
- 17,601
The light chopper was a collaboration with Lorien Arnold. It has been a long time in the making. It is an exercise in geometry, weight distribution and ergonomics to make a light weight chopper that hits well above its weight. It's a large woods knife, with a 10" blade that weighs 17.1 oz that is somewhere between a machete and a camp knife. It's light enough to be carried on a long hike without weighing you down and it's engineered for performance when you go to use it.
It's light enough and long enough to develop tip speed to cut thinner vegetation that heavy choppers struggle with. But when you put it to work in the big stuff you'll find that it hits hard and bites deep and it won't wear you out.
It's made of CPM 3V at HRC 60.5 with a preliminary version of the newest heat treat that I believe is the finest heat treat for this material available anywhere with a combination of toughness and edge retention that will blow your mind. With that in mind I gave it relatively thin cutting geometry designed for cutting performance. We're gonna shoot a durability demo for this knife today, I'll post it here when it's done.
edit to add:
[video=youtube;yC2PLk_04vE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC2PLk_04vE[/video]
The hand grip works great as a camp knife when held towards the front with good balance and dexterity. When held towards the back it fully fills the hand and offers control and reduced hand and forearm fatigue for extended hard chopping.
It has a forward lanyard hole (as used in competition cuts) and a hidden rear lanyard hole.
$340 without sheath, $410 with a David Brown custom Kydex sheath
Shipping is $10.
Dan doing what Dan does, with an early prototype:
[video=youtube;TvUsh5FijcY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvUsh5FijcY[/video]
This is "field grade", milled and tumbled.
~16 total length, ~10" blade, 3/16 thick, 17.1 oz, balances at the plunge. Edge is sharpened 20 DPS.
This is the last of these for a little while, we're starting heat treat on the 1st batch and will get grinding on some kitchen knives while the choppers are processed so it's gonna be a couple weeks.
Thanks for looking.
It's light enough and long enough to develop tip speed to cut thinner vegetation that heavy choppers struggle with. But when you put it to work in the big stuff you'll find that it hits hard and bites deep and it won't wear you out.
It's made of CPM 3V at HRC 60.5 with a preliminary version of the newest heat treat that I believe is the finest heat treat for this material available anywhere with a combination of toughness and edge retention that will blow your mind. With that in mind I gave it relatively thin cutting geometry designed for cutting performance. We're gonna shoot a durability demo for this knife today, I'll post it here when it's done.
edit to add:
[video=youtube;yC2PLk_04vE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC2PLk_04vE[/video]
The hand grip works great as a camp knife when held towards the front with good balance and dexterity. When held towards the back it fully fills the hand and offers control and reduced hand and forearm fatigue for extended hard chopping.
It has a forward lanyard hole (as used in competition cuts) and a hidden rear lanyard hole.
$340 without sheath, $410 with a David Brown custom Kydex sheath
Shipping is $10.
Dan doing what Dan does, with an early prototype:
[video=youtube;TvUsh5FijcY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvUsh5FijcY[/video]
This is "field grade", milled and tumbled.
~16 total length, ~10" blade, 3/16 thick, 17.1 oz, balances at the plunge. Edge is sharpened 20 DPS.
This is the last of these for a little while, we're starting heat treat on the 1st batch and will get grinding on some kitchen knives while the choppers are processed so it's gonna be a couple weeks.
Thanks for looking.
Last edited:
