Smallest Busse acceptable for chopping?

M

Marvin8

Joined
Jan 18, 2010
Messages
403
Hi Gang,

I'm curious to know which Busse you'd consider the smallest one that is still capable of chopping without chipping the blade edge? Thoughts?

thanks
 
It's not that the blade edge would chip with a smaller blade; busse owners baton logs with any busse blade, except maybe the thinner BAD or Cultellis.

It's just that you wear yourself out hacking away with a smaller knife. For me, the smallest I would take to a chop-fest would be a CG ASH-1.

YMMV
 
I don't think chipping is the concern for chopping, it's probably the effectiveness of the blade, which will come down to mass, gemoetry and technique. For a fair amount of smaller wood chopping, a SAR4 or BATAC would be fine, but they dont have a lot of mass behind them. Step up to the 6" plus Busses and things are notably improved.
 
Seriously, how big is the subject matter?

Do you want to chop and destroy like most here, or just enough to do typical size stuff for shelters, and camp fires?
 
ash 1 cg is the smallest id bring unless it was a survival situation in which case i would make a hatchet with wood and cord out of it.
 
knife hunter said:
Seriously, how big is the subject matter?

Do you want to chop and destroy like most here, or just enough to do typical size stuff for shelters, and camp fires?
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Yep, mostly typical stuff for shelter and camp fires. Was curious to know if the smaller blades could make it thru 1 or 2" material without edge chipping.
Yes, I know that chopping with a small blade is wildly inefficient.
 
assault shaker.

you didn't say what you were chopping :p
Twigs.jpg
 
Marvin8 said:
Yep, mostly typical stuff for shelter and camp fires. Was curious to know if the smaller blades could make it thru 1 or 2" material without edge chipping.
Yes, I know that chopping with a small blade is wildly inefficient.
Click to expand...

if you mean chipping caused by thinner dry branches putting a lot of localized stress on the edge, chances are that won't happen - you'll dent, mash or roll the edge. If you get it to the breaking point it will more likely tear out than chip.

The thing with smaller knives and chopping small branches - you can't apply as much force so the localized stresses are reduced accordingly. you can get a HUGE amount of force behind a kz, and if all of that is localized on a tiny 1/4" rock hard frozen branch it'll probably do as much damage as a nail or hardened screw. But with a satin jack you can only get so much force out of a swing, so the force applied to the edge by the branch will be way less.

I would say that if your worried about that kind of damage you are not limited by any size of model. You are however limited by edge thickness, and temperature of the wood. If your chopping frozen wood with a thin edge, you will likely have some edge failure (as you would with any knife under those conditions)
 
I've chopped a lot with my CG ASH1.

I'd say anything that's .187 or heavier with at least a 6" blade is suitable enough.
 
Marvin8 said:
Yep, mostly typical stuff for shelter and camp fires. Was curious to know if the smaller blades could make it thru 1 or 2" material without edge chipping.
Yes, I know that chopping with a small blade is wildly inefficient.
Click to expand...

If one has to chop limbs with a small blade, then you can use the baton technique. Just place the blade and whack the spine.

Yes, your Busse can handle that.
 
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