Which Mistress Is The Best Chopper?

BARBARIAN-X

BARBARIAN-X

Joined
Mar 4, 2006
Messages
366
Looking for opinions on which Mistress is the best chopper. I assume it would be the NMFBM or FBMLE...maybe the Bushwacker? Any first hand experience comparing them? Thanks!
 
This question has come up many times, and I will always favor my fat fusion battle mistresses...:cool:

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Sorry, I have no straight chopping pics yet!!!
 
FFBM is good, but I prefer my slightly thinner, sabre ground FBM 2007 SE.

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a long time ago I tested several BM's, SHBM, BM-E, FBM-LE and FFBM. It basically followed weight, with the FFBM being the winner, then the FBMLE, then the SHBM and then the BM-E. however, the difference between all of them was not enough that it would stop me from owning the one I liked best. if I remember correctly, I hacked through a 5-6 inch piece and the number of cuts difference was less than 15 or so between them. But throwing wise the SHBM was king. It was hard getting the FFBM's to stick. The azz would stick well though:D
 
The best, IMO, is the new Bushwacker Battle Mistress...because I don't own a BM yet and this will be my first! :-)

In all honestly, I would imagine the extra weight of the fat fusion battle mistress would help with chopping...but I've never had the pleasure of trying one.
 
The balance of the FBMLE is the best of any FBM I've owned. The FBMSE 07, with its saber grind, feels very similar although it's much thinner. If your only metric is chopping ability, the NMFBM is king with the FFBM a close second.
 
Well I have owned a FFBM and still own a knife similar to the FBM LE which is a Satin Combat model....and also own a Combat Grade NMFBM which is stripped and been bead blasted after being fully convexed akin to the NMFBM LE's.

My NMFBM is the best of those tried above. I have'nt got a BWBM to compare them to but I cannot see it beating a NMFBM.

All my knives when I tested them though were "re-profiled" to convex edges....the NMFBM being actually Fully Convexed and not just the edge....and all were properly "very" sharp....as some have said on the KZ write ups they have done...their blade was'nt too sharp and did'nt do well....which shows the knives do need to be comparably sharp to be able to tell which is the best and I agree with Cobalt that it usually follows their weight when this is done.

Although I do think there is scope for going too heavy....some people don't seem to like the KZ because of weight....however on mine once I reprofiled the convex edge and thinned it....so that the profile was similar at the edge to what I did on my NMFBM....the KZ out chopped the NMFBM...and was/is heavier....so I have yet to find the idea of too much weight reducing performance....and would say therefore that the best chopping Mistress would be the heaviest NMFBM....which I believe were the LE's.
 
I've found the NMFBM to be the best chopper. I think it's the convex edge that puts it over the top. The FBMLE is a close second. With a convex edge, I think the FBMLE or FFBM would be pretty close to the NMFBM. They're all pretty damned good, truth be told. :thumbup:
 
My only experience is with my FFBM, but if it means anything i'm currently selling it or trying to trade it towards an NMFBM. It chops well, but I have a feeling the longer blade is going to power through a little bit more and fits my needs better.
 
Has anyone done a comparison over a larger length of time? It is my impression that the BWM might be the least fatiguing and likely the best to choose when having to clear a trail or some similar activity that takes some time.
 
I did a comparison test a while back. I haven't tried a BME or FBMLE. The results still pretty much have stayed the same in my mind. The NMFBM is the best to purely chop with for me now. I've put a better edge on it and learned how to use it better.

Gun to my head if I had to choose one it's probably going to be the FBM. I will be going after a Bushwacker at some point though so will have to see how it stacks up.

Here's my thread: CHOPPIN
 
The NMFBM will out chop any mistress, no problem. The NMFBM is a different knife than the other mistresses though. The extra length makes it a dedicated chopper. The other mistresses with the 10" blades will do other chores better than the NMFBM. It is a "give and take" situation. I think you need one of each at least.:eek:
 
Weight doesn't always equal better chopper. Thinner knives bite deeper, and require less effort to swing.


My cold steel LTC kukri, MUCH thinner and MUCH lighter, outchopped the big, heavy, mean Killa Zilla by a healthy margin.


I wouldn't be surprised to see the BWBM, with good technique, go head to head with the fattest mistresses, and be very close in chopping performance, if not better.
 
The new Bushwacker will probably bite the deepest:eek: and will probably be the best overall, over long use.:thumbup: I hope to find out today:D
 
MustardMan said:
Weight doesn't always equal better chopper. Thinner knives bite deeper, and require less effort to swing.
Click to expand...
MM raises a valid point.

IME there are a few factors that make for an efficient chopper, if "efficient" chopping is your definition of "best" chopping, and contribute or detract from the chopping experience. Those factors are (in no particular order and often interacting with each other):
- blade geometry
- edge geometry
- blade length
- overall length (OAL)
- total weight
- weight distribution
- handle ergo's (MUCH more important than usually acknowledged)
- penetration, as MM mentioned
- rough/smooth bevel surfaces (friction)
- chip clearing from the cut
- spine thickness (related to geometry)
- spine-to-edge dimension (also related to geometry)
- material getting chopped (light whippy wet-green grasslike stalks up to dried hardwood)
- and no doubt a bunch of other ones I've forgotten

The material consideration gives the advantage to thin, long, neutral-balanced blades like a machete when cutting light whippy stalks. In this case there isn't a lot of stopping influence from the material getting chopped and you need to brake the momentum with your arm/wrist/hand muscles. The heavier the blade, the greater the momentum you need to counteract. This would influence MM's CS lightweight machete choice over a FFBM in this type chopping.

For these types of materials, most Busses fare pretty poorly. My favorites for this type cutting are a 24" carbon-steel bladed WW II military machete (a little over 1/16" spine) and a 19" OAL, hook-nosed Gerber Brush Thinner. FWIW, the Gerber's light weight, length, and axe-handle-shaped handle make it quite comfortable for extended sessions of whack 'n chop in blackberry bushes and other such stalks. It penetrates quite well into green wood as well, even better than a fat Busse on frequent occasion, but is such a major PITA to extract from the wood due to lack of bevel on the blade that I don't use it on wood. Click here to see a picture of the Gerber Brush Thinner.

But when the material is a hard, rigid substance like dried hardwood branches or rounds that need splitting, the advantage goes to Busses and other relatively fat blades with lots of chip-displacing primary bevel to blow the chunks out of the cut. In this class, the kukris (some over 1/2" thick) really shine. However, their total weight works against me wanting to carry one, especially on my belt (vs in a pack). In this regard, the bigger Bussekin knives (BM's, Basic 9, NMSFNO, SH, CT) are my choice for a blade that will chop and cut well, but still not weigh me down like an axe or kukri.

As with so many things, a Busse gets the nod not so much for being a huge quantum leap above the competition in any single area, but rather because its combination of qualities makes it the tool of choice. Its versatility in handling a very wide range of chores, often unspecified at the outset, is its strength and IMHO the reason my "only have one knife" list is populated with Bussekin blades.

So, to answer the question "Which Mistress is the best chopper?" ----- whichever one you have with you. ;) :D
 
You make good points, and I agree with them for the most point... but, like most rules of thumb, rules were made to be broken :D


In the chopoff where the CS LTC Kukri (not quite the same as the machete version - a little better steel and a bit heavier than the machete) outchopped the Killa Zilla, I was using both green oak and birch that had been seasoned for about three years. The LTC outchopped the zilla in both materials. There, edge geometry probably played a bigger role than weight, though - in order to get the zilla's edge anywhere close to as thin as that on the LTC, you'd have to remove a crapload of material from the primary convex grind.
 
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