post storm limb clearing / big knife thoughts

[bleasure]

a few very large branches came down from a pair of silver maples after a big storm a couple weeks ago, while i was away. mix of live and dead/dry. to deal with them when i got back, brought out the loppers, pruners, bahco hand saw, council phantom bevel jersey axe, swedish forest axe, and bk9.

i have many years of experience, paid and personal, doing extensive landscaping/yardwork. long story short, this is yet another time i've been truly astounded by this knife, not just happy with it. this time, specifically in contrast to the axes. it just lightsabers through smaller to even 2-3inch limbs, green or dead. i didn't use my loppers or pruners at all. what negatively stood out was how much effort, by contrast, the council axe took to get through commessurately thick limbs (5-9"). i was surprised, because it's very sharp, and has great geometry and handle construction. the swedish forest axe is excellent, and proportionally faster/easier than the council, but there's just no comparison against the bk9 - it out-performs everything.

given how handy the bk9 is for splitting firewood for kindling etc, and that it even served as a diving knife recently, i can't see why you'd ever want a hatchet in its place. and this is all just with a prybar-thick slab of 1095! i've never owned or used an equivalent style knife from any other maker; i know people love their kabars for a reason, but are they really this supurlatively good comapred to others, or is this how good most equivalent knives are? anyone have experience with other big camp knives they'd share, whether to vouch for or recommend against?

final thought: this made me want a good billhook more than anything. its easy to imagine one being even more effective than this large, modified 'bowie' knife

[Naperville]

Take a look at the videos on YouTube for the Bark River Knives 1V Machete. I have one.

Don't cut yer leg off with that thing, it looks like it will go right through anything in its path.

[kennethsime]

Take a look at the videos on YouTube for the Bark River Knives 1V Machete. I have one.

Don't cut yer leg off with that thing, it looks like it will go right through anything in its path.

This one is definitely on my list. They make thicker choppers too, I hear.

[Naperville]

Take a look at the videos on YouTube for the Bark River Knives 1V Machete. I have one.

Don't cut yer leg off with that thing, it looks like it will go right through anything in its path.

This one is definitely on my list. They make thicker choppers too, I hear.

Yes they do. I also have a Bark River Moro Borong, but it is in a cheaper steel, maybe A2?

I have not kept up with knife manufacturers other than Spyderco over the last 2yrs.

If 1V does not suit your needs, study Larrin's knife steel charts and contact a knife maker for that one of a kind knife / machete! I saw the vidoes for the 1V Machete and was sold on it, then had to wait for a production run when I had cash available.

[mikey177]

I alternate between the BK9, Esee Junglas, OKC RTAK and some locally forged choppers for limb clearing. I have a few axes but I am more comfortable and accustomed to using choppers.

Years ago I planned to get micarta scales for the BK9, but never got around to doing so. The stock plastic scales work fine for me.

[JRinFL]

The last de-limbing I did was with the excellent Skrama 240. Prior to that I used the also excellent BK9 with aftermarket wood grips. I'll play with an Ontario this year, if we get any storms or if I need to drop another tree or two.

[u.w.]

I’ve had a BK9 for 15 or more years now.
I have found that my Bidor Parang and Condor Golok both vastly outperform it (the BK9).

u.w.

[VashHash]

I also vote for the condor golok. Been having mine for a few years now. Easy to touch up and it's sturdy enough to chop with. For big knives I usually use busse or carothers. Cleared a few downed trees a few yrs ago with the carothers medium chopper. I couldn't tell you how much I've cleared and chopped with the golok. I usually keep it in my vehicle or when I go in the woods for brush. I've hit rocks clearing around a fence before and the 1075 of the condor was easy to repair. They come with a convex edge from the factory.

Now if you wanna cut a car in half busse all the way. Most of their stuff is overbuilt but you can beat on it until you get tired. When I got my first busse I chopped into a really hard almost petrified cow femur. It felt like I hit stone. But I just kept chopping until it went through. No edge damage I was impressed.

All in all I don't use an axe much unless I'm splitting or just throwing for fun.

[vivi]

Strange. I've compared my Dogfather (9" S7 chopper) with a thinned out edge to my $30 fiskars hatchet doing similar work and the Fiskars was head and shoulders above the knife.

I moved on from chopper style knives because I find machetes and axes so much more efficient for clearing brush and chopping up wood, respectively.