Oooh, aaah... new 'chax.

[Galeocerdoshark]

Yup! This guy arrived a few days ago. Thanks go out to Dex for getting this badboy a one way ticket to Belgium.

He also included... a ton of stainless for my other Beckers! (One 16 missing in the pic...)



Didn't have much time, but I decided to have a little fun. A minor chop-off, so to speak with these guys:



Cleared a bit of Common Hazel sapplings...


I'd like to say that all 4 performed equally, but the 9 and 4 were best at this. The machax snapped the sapplings off, the 9 sliced them off, the Swabbie did a pretty good job as well, comparable to the 9 but just a little less. The 5 was really fast, and bit in the wood pretty deep, but it lacked the power to go all the way through and got stuck. The sappling did tip over and snap off though, but it wasn't a clean slice.


Chopping through them against the grain on a larger block of wood showed similar results. No problem for either.


Somewhat bigger, dryer branches got all the knives stuck, but a few whacks and they all cleared this one...


Going through some bird cherry... That was pretty hard actually. At some point the machax was all bent and twisted and my breath stopped at that sight. A few whacks later though and the bk4 had cleared the log and popped straight back. What a relief . Yes, that's a leg of a chair that I used as a baton.:thumbup:


Pretty twisted bird cherry...


Had quite a bit of fun afterwards clearing some more hazel and some undergrowth. Pretty damn pleased with the machax so far!


Didn't have much time left, but these hazel sapplings will make some nice figure 4 traps.


In the end, he sits on his throne like the prince of Bel Air.



I'm really glad I got a 4. I'm sure this blade is gonna offer me a lot of fun and good use.
A real test with some heavier batonning (and for a longer duration) will have to wait, but I'm pretty confident it'll handle these tasks like a charm.

If you're still in doubt: GET A MACHAX. I'm assuming everybody already owns a 9, so get that 9 a lover to play with and buy a machax :thumbup:

 

[TBL]

Nice chop-off! Congrats on the new steel!

 

[Dexwithers]

Awesome Buddy!

Glad you got to get out and try that bad boy out!

Nice pictures. Love that 5 too.

 

[The Warrior]

The 4 is definitely a blast to use. Really nice tool. :thumbup: Congrats on the new steel.

 

[tradewater]

Some fine looking steel you got there. Great pictures too.

 

[granitestateofmind]

Those are some nice looking....leashes .
Great pics and write up. I love that 4 more every time I use it. I was out with my youngest and a couple friends a few days ago and I used the 4 (and a folding saw) to help them build a little shelter.

 

[Galeocerdoshark]

Nice chop-off! Congrats on the new steel!

Thanks TBL!

Awesome Buddy!

Glad you got to get out and try that bad boy out!

Nice pictures. Love that 5 too.

Though I only got to test it for twenty minutes or something, it did feel good. Excited to try it out more. Will update this thread soon with future thoughts
The 5 is probably one of, if not my most favourite becker.

The 4 is definitely a blast to use. Really nice tool. :thumbup: Congrats on the new steel.

Love it, and thanks!

Some fine looking steel you got there. Great pictures too.

Thanks trade.

Those are some nice looking....leashes .
Great pics and write up. I love that 4 more every time I use it. I was out with my youngest and a couple friends a few days ago and I used the 4 (and a folding saw) to help them build a little shelter.

Those lanyards totally make the blade. I don't say this to crawl up your *ss or anything, it's just the way it is. I often read about people finding the grivory to be too slippery... Well, if you use the lanyard the proper way, it completely locks your blade around the handle so that there's absolutely no way it's gonna slip while chopping or cutting. Honestly, one of the best accessories I've ever gotten for a knife. Thanks!

 

[Mathias888]

the paracord helps a lot. anyway great sharing bro .. was thinking of getting a 4 perhaps much later.

 

[neeman]

The #4 is the way to go

I found that fundamentally re-beveling the blade with a much more acute angle turns it into a machete like slicer

 

[Galeocerdoshark]

the paracord helps a lot. anyway great sharing bro .. was thinking of getting a 4 perhaps much later.

It does, doesn't it? You should get it now though... some great prices on the 4 at the moment.

The #4 is the way to go

I found that fundamentally re-beveling the blade with a much more acute angle turns it into a machete like slicer

I'm gonna need a belt sander. Or lot's of time.

 

[Galeocerdoshark]

With my master photoshop skill I went ahead and edited the first picture in this thread since I'm trying to share my thoughts here. After using it a bit more, I came to realise a few things. I might be wrong and imagining this, but hear me out...



I've added colours on different parts of the blade, and I'd like other owners of the 4 to chime in on this if they feel the same way or different. Unlike in other blades, I have this feeling that the BK4 offers a LOT of different functions in one package, because of its unique shape.

The area marked in red is the Choppy-McChopfest area if you ask me. Great to take large chunks of wood out of a thick log or branch. Also: the Splitty-McSplit area of the knife.
The area marked in green is the snappy part. Because of the angle it forms, it snages smaller branches in there and snaps them right off. Great for clearing undegrowth.
The area marked in blue work pretty much the same as the green area, only that it doesn't snap. This is (imo) the fastest part of the blade. The speed, combined with the weight of the thicker head also allows you to clear thinner branches up to the thickness of a thumb (or a bit more) very efficiently. Works differently than green, but with similar results.
The pink area is where your draw knife is at.
Last but not least, the yellow part is extremely useful for detailed tasks. Didn't think a blade this size could do that as well as, let's say a 16, but the bk4 comes pretty close.

Finally, red, green and pink together do fine at batonning as well.

Have others done similar observations, or different? Maybe additional?