So why do folks buy giant chopper bowies

cchu518

cchu518

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I've been wondering about this for quite some time. Is there an advantage to using a giant franken-bowie-machete knife vs say a 30 hand axe with a composite handle?

I saw this Guy on you tube with what looked like a 400 dollar HUGE Bowie going to work on a medium size tree limb. He just looked so happy chopping at that limb... if i trade in my hand axe for one will I be able to have a koolaid smile ad well? :)
 
cchu518 said:
I've been wondering about this for quite some time. Is there an advantage to using a giant franken-bowie-machete knife vs say a 30 hand axe with a composite handle?
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Prolly not. But the person using the giant franken-bowie-machete knife is going to look a lot cooler de-limbing the tree than you are with your 30 hand axe. ;) :D
 
smileypopcorneating.gif
 
Nah. We're just going to have fun here.

HUGE Bowies have been around since . . . well . . . Jim Bowie. ;) They're FUN, they're BIG, they're MEAN, and they're not going anywhere . . . even if they're not the most efficient tool for the job.
 
It's not just about fun. This may start a debate about big knives vs. hatchets but no biggie. The idea behind the big knife is simple: you can do small knife tasks with a big knife, but you cant do big knife tasks with a small knife. So the answer is versatility. Also the are things that can be done with a big knife that you could never do with a hatchet, things like brush clearing. I personally find it easier to carry a big knife rather than a hatchet. I also find them safer to swing than a hatchet. As a defensive weapon (if you had to use it for that) big knife would trump the hatchet, the .45 I carry would handle that better, however. There are numerous other reasons to choose a big knife over a hatchet, just as there are numerous reasons to choose a hatchet over a big knife...

What it comes down to is environment, skill set, and personal preference. For example, I'd never be caught deep in the mountains or in the north woods without a good axe or hatchet. In that environment the hatchet/axe is king. Nor would I go deep into the South American jungle with an axe, there the machete (big knife) is without a doubt the best tool to have. So just like with anything else, you have to choose the right tool for the job.
 
Big knives are easier to carry than hatchets. In a wilderness scenario they are better for splitting wood when you don't necessarily have a stable base and nicely shaped pieces to work with. Their chopping ability is not really relevant to me because I generally carry a saw. Big knives really fill a niche role for hikers in cool/temperate climates if you ask me. When weight is less of an issue an axe is superior, and when you have the right setup even a hatchet is probably better, but it is the versatility of big knives that makes them useful especially when you are not in a controlled environment.
 
PharaohX3 said:
So just like with anything else, you have to choose the right tool for the job.
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Or not and pay the price. ;) For what it's worth, I'm sort of a Nessmuk trinity fan myself. But if that's too much to handle, a Camp Knife/Folder combo will generally do the trick.
 
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I think I'm just rewording what others have already said, but you get more versatility with a large knife versus an ax or hatchet. You get more use for your money.
 
There are somethings a big knife does better than an axe. Chopping is not one of those things. The only chopping I do with a big knife is limbing small branches off a log so I don't trip over them when I stick the log in the fire. Other than that I think chopping is horribly inefficient with a big knife. Batoning cross grain on large logs is much safer and more efficient IME than chopping. However if you don't do a lot of chopping when camping like I do then a knife offers a lot more versatility.

I have to disagree though with Pharaohx3 and everyone who says swinging a knife is safer. It's only safer if you swing hatchets in the same manner (speed & force) as the knife. Then yes it IS more dangerous to swing a hatchet. But IMO that's not how a hatchet should be swung. You should swing it with light fluid strokes letting the weight of the head do the work. With a knife you don't have that weight so I feel that I have to swing a knife harder and faster to do the same job as light swings with a hatchet which to me is a lot more dangerous.

I like both big knives and axes. Why choose one or the other when you can have both? :D Of course I rarely carry either when camping anymore.
 
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Lol that's what I was thinking the dude basically looking like he was having a hoot destroying that fallen tree limb. I must do the gentrified kinda camping, my wife won't go camping unless we pack the kitchen sink into the truck so I guess I've never had to have the franken-bowie on me at all times. I hope the dude built a nice fire to make some s'more with all those logs he produced...

Poez said:
Because their wives would not allow any swords in the house!
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Shotgun said:
I have to disagree though with Pharaohx3 and everyone who says swinging a knife is safer. It's only safer if you swing hatchets in the same manner (speed & force) as the knife. Then yes it IS more dangerous to swing a hatchet. But IMO that's not how a hatchet should be swung. You should swing it with light fluid strokes letting the weight of the head do the work. With a knife you don't have that weight so I feel that I have to swing a knife harder and faster to do the same job as light swings with a hatchet which to me is a lot more dangerous.
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I'll agree with you that a lot of it is technique and how you swing, that comes from experience. That's why I was saying skill set has much to do with your choice of tool. Yet there are two points that cannot be argued. For one, a large knife is going to be lighter than a hatchet, and two a large knife is going to have better balance than a hatchet. So what it comes down to is control. Since you have better control over the tool you are swinging you are far less likely to sustain an injury while swinging it.

And it's not just that. Batoning, while many here dont agree with it, is far safer than swinging an axe for splitting since you dont even have to swing the knife to accomplish it. Again, control.
 
Some of you may have noticed that I favor the big knife over the hatchet :) This is purely because of the region I live in. Here, in the harsh desert, an axe is less than worthless. It's dead weight. All the extra weight you can manage must be in the form of water(I always love hearing people talk about how they will just simply find water here). A big knife easily chops what I need chopped, and more importantly is a brush clearer. Here, nearly everything growing has very nasty spines or thorns so clearing is important. Safety, again, is critically important. Because of the distances and terrain, if you bury a hatchet in your thigh you are very likely a dead man.

But like I said, when I head to the mountains, as I often do this time of year due to the heat in the desert, the hatchet is my best friend.
 
The safety thing is definitely an issue. Although I think if you have experience using an axe and are fairly careful then not so much. I remember a while back I took a friend out to the woods and we were doing some fire prep, I showed him how to baton and he was making up kindling and whatnot no problem. While he was doing this I was using a splitting axe - this was one of my rare car camping trips so I was able to carry one - to split some bigger logs. After watching me do it for a couple of minutes he asked if he could try it out. I explain to him the technique and how to do it safely, to bend your knees so the axe head comes down vertically etc. First swing he didn't bend his knees at all, glanced off the log and missed his leg by about half an inch. We'd walked down a fairly big hill to our campsite and my friend is a big guy, I didn't like my chances of getting him back to the car and into a hospital quickly enough if he had buried that axe in his leg and split an artery or something, since we were at least an hours drive from one. Needless to say I politely asked him to go back to working with the knife and my days giving tutorials on how to use axes are pretty much over.

There is a moral to this story, even though in this example my friend was inexperienced and seemingly didn't listen to my instructions, it illustrates the fact that the nature of using an axe does pose a threat to the user if they are careless, which can easily happen if you're very tired. This is another reason to consider using a knife for splitting tasks when going into remote areas.
 
Big screwdriver vs. small screwdriver, big bulb vs. small bulb.....a big knife is just another tool. Most of us really wouldn't need a big knife or any kind of knife at all; someone can make the argument that most us would need very little of anything. Why a big screen TV when you can go with a 2" screen on a portable? Arguing need is a falacy, pushed by those who would strip people of everything. The fact is that we enjoy knives and we like to own knives that stand out from the average run-of-the-mill stuff. Then again, there have always been many large knives used by a wide range of cultures throughout the world over very long periods; these were often not resource rich people, so if they invested the energy to develop these knives it was likely because they found them useful and it was not just about weapons.

n2s
 
not2sharp said:
Big screwdriver vs. small screwdriver, big bulb vs. small bulb.....a big knife is just another tool. Most of us really wouldn't need a big knife or any kind of knife at all; someone can make the argument that most us would need very little of anything. Why a big screen TV when you can go with a 2" screen on a portable? Arguing need is a falacy, pushed by those who would strip people of everything.
n2s
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Gotta disagree here. Making the caparison between two sizes of lightbulbs is not the same as big knife vs. small knife vs. hatchet. Remember, you are in the wilderness, possibly deep in the wilderness. Possibly in very adverse conditions. Possibly injured. Possibly with others depending on you, like your children. These things happen all the time. Just because we as Americans are spoiled rotten by our money and technology and carefree lifestyles doesnt mean we are immune. Your choice of tool can save your life, this cannot be intelligently disputed.
 
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