- Joined
- Aug 7, 2003
- Messages
- 3,330
I guess that I am now at that point where I could be considered half dead. At thirty-nine, I have burned enough tread to see many knife "fads" come and go. Once upon a time a stockman pattern slip joint was all the rage in my days growing up in eastern Oregon ranch country among the young boys. The Dukes of Hazzard prompted a noticeable bump in the black Buck 110 cases hanging off of the belt over the blue jeans.
Boot knives were in for awhile, particular the prized Gerber Mark I, which I possessed for awhile until my dad took it away for my playing mumbly peg with it. Not because we weren't being safe, but because he thought me the fool for using my lone "good knife." It is probably still rattling around in his gun safe somewhere.
Long story short, there was the "butterfly knife" stage where every knife knut I knew had at least some imported junk example. Then there was the "survival knife" wannabe fad, etc. What I do not remember is where I first saw a glorified machete IRL or in the movies.
Now the market seems full to the brim of 9-12" choppers that share a few basic characteristics. They are uniformally thicker and tougher than machetes. They are too heavy to be effective brush clearers for being swung hours at a time. I have had a few pass through my collection, like a Livesay RTAK, and an Ontario RTAK, and have handled a Busse BM, but I do not find myself with a need for this pattern of knife, so I have none.
I find myself wondering how or why they have caught on. Or have they really caught on at all? What I mean is that perhaps the perceived popularity of this pattern is an artifact of a narrow enthusiast community that is overrepresented on this type of board, but in the larger world, these knives are genuinely uncommon.
Many a thread here goes on about what knives the military uses. Almost no one who responds, ever, talks about thigh carrying a huge chopper such as these. Most will say that a Leatherman pushes the boundaries of useful weight while under a full load.
I was backpacking this past week in the Central Oregon Cascades. Again I took just a Bark River Gameskeeper and a SAK Spartan Lite. Heck, as a part of the ethics of backpacking I am only to chop up the wilderness out of a real need and I usually don't have to bother with a fire. Even so, the BRKT will easily handle the chore of fuzzing sticks or getting me to some heart wood in a pinch.
Is it that I have to traverse a jungle, or want to punch through a berry bramble, or be facing off with a BG after he's out and my M-4 has locked up, to appreciate the big chopper? What am I not getting about this type of knife?
Boot knives were in for awhile, particular the prized Gerber Mark I, which I possessed for awhile until my dad took it away for my playing mumbly peg with it. Not because we weren't being safe, but because he thought me the fool for using my lone "good knife." It is probably still rattling around in his gun safe somewhere.
Long story short, there was the "butterfly knife" stage where every knife knut I knew had at least some imported junk example. Then there was the "survival knife" wannabe fad, etc. What I do not remember is where I first saw a glorified machete IRL or in the movies.
Now the market seems full to the brim of 9-12" choppers that share a few basic characteristics. They are uniformally thicker and tougher than machetes. They are too heavy to be effective brush clearers for being swung hours at a time. I have had a few pass through my collection, like a Livesay RTAK, and an Ontario RTAK, and have handled a Busse BM, but I do not find myself with a need for this pattern of knife, so I have none.
I find myself wondering how or why they have caught on. Or have they really caught on at all? What I mean is that perhaps the perceived popularity of this pattern is an artifact of a narrow enthusiast community that is overrepresented on this type of board, but in the larger world, these knives are genuinely uncommon.
Many a thread here goes on about what knives the military uses. Almost no one who responds, ever, talks about thigh carrying a huge chopper such as these. Most will say that a Leatherman pushes the boundaries of useful weight while under a full load.
I was backpacking this past week in the Central Oregon Cascades. Again I took just a Bark River Gameskeeper and a SAK Spartan Lite. Heck, as a part of the ethics of backpacking I am only to chop up the wilderness out of a real need and I usually don't have to bother with a fire. Even so, the BRKT will easily handle the chore of fuzzing sticks or getting me to some heart wood in a pinch.
Is it that I have to traverse a jungle, or want to punch through a berry bramble, or be facing off with a BG after he's out and my M-4 has locked up, to appreciate the big chopper? What am I not getting about this type of knife?
