Got my Brute Christmas present the other day!
Joy, Deck the Halls. etc.
Unlike many of the forumites Im reduced to buying my own damn knives for Christmas.
Actually the girlfriend gets me some sometimes.
But I think its a swell gift.
Im quite impressed. Kind of the midpoint between a bowie, a kukri, and a bolo machete. Its lighter than I thought it would be much lighter than a kukri. Feels lighter than my trailmaster, I rather doubted its ability to sub for a machete but it sure feels cool in the hand.
The handles are large and have a silky texture I thouroughly enjoy hanging onto.
Inspired by Will's post of South Carolinian logging techniques I sought a woody nemesis of my own.
The first victim I found was a three inch deciduos ruffian in a thicket. I cleared branches in to the target, the Brute feels light secure and purposefull in use. The short blade gets you a little close but it bites quite well. An impressive cutter!
Upon clearing the tree, I braced, swung down and to the left and whacked the sucker more than halfway through.
Probably as good as I could of done with the POS machete.
I knocked it the rest of the way down, then looked for a more suitable foe. (Actually in my friends front yard) So next victim was a ten inch diameter apple tree.
Ordinarily I would not have attempted this with such a short blade but I aspire to be a southern logger.
Therefore I set about whacking the tree at waist height.
It carved through the outer layers quite well. I thought I may be able to down the thing in one berserk rush, and I almost did.
I got a three inch deep gash ringing the trunk before getting to some pretty tough heart wood.
At this point I stopped and threw the knife into the tree from about 4 feet. Well balanced and tough as a railroad spike it sunk deeply.
After a short breather I resumed and tactically assaulted the core of the tree.
The handle proved excellent ergonomically, and its very easy to deliver that fat sweet spot on the recurve to just the spot you are aiming for. The blade chips out sections and springs free unlike the machete and is limited only by its length for chopping power.
In a short time I was able to work through the rest of the tree and guide it victoriously to the ground. Conveniently missing the edge of the garage.
Yeehah! Unfortunately I was to bushed to actually limb out the tree and got us in trouble with the missus.
Ive always kind of chuckled at the idea of an edge holding up under hard use, I may be revising my expectations. The brute wasn't razor sharp out of the box but it certainly wasn't much worse after whacking down the tree with maybe 100 whacks, on some pretty hard wood.
I find that quite impressive.
Given its main limitation is its length, (I can't believe I chopped down a biggish tree with a blade under ten inches!), It seems obvious that I need a patrol machete too.
Thanks Ethan, Will and everyone involved in this project,
Chandler
