Better blade design for wood chopper

[Mo_coon-catcher]

A blade smith friend is wanting me to build him a mollegabet and in trade want to make me a knife. We've done this same trade before with a different now style. And I like the quality of his blade. I've got a pair of hunting knives with good steel now, so I'm covered there. Why I'm thinking is seeing if he will make me a good brush chopper knife. Something that will be good to pack on the trap line to chop out brush, from shoots up to 3-4" diameter saplings. I will also use it for harvesting saplings and bamboo/cane for arrow shafts. I'll probably even use it in Sleek's style of chopping out a bow wth just a knife. I'm caught between 2 styles of blade. A khukri and a bolo machete. I'm leaning towards the khukri since I like the look of its shape better. Plus it looks like it'll be better at getting a good clean chop with the curved belly. But I have no experience with either. I only have experience with a hatchet for most of this, and I find it meh for the tasks. It works but not cleanly.

So what are your all's opinions?
This is a project for once I'm back on my feet and get a few other bows done first.

Thanks for the opinions and advise,
Kyle

[RBLusthaus]

How about a smallish (12 inches or so) Parang Machete?   Would work great.  I think Condor has one called the Village Parang for a look see at what I have in mind.  Russ 

[PaulN/KS]

Hi Kyle, glad that you are on the mend and being active.  Now, don't push it young'n... 
I recently bought a blade designed by a fellow named Mah made by CRKT. It's called the Mah-Chete. (Catchy name eh..?)
It's kind of like a heavy seax with some curve to the blade. Might want to check it out as it's a good chopper and cutter style.

[bubby]

I think a viking style seax is what i would want and it is on my to make list, or a stiff machete with a rounded belly towards the tip and about 16" long

[PaulN/KS]

I think a viking style seax is what i would want and it is on my to make list, or a stiff machete with a rounded belly towards the tip and about 16" long

Except for the 16", it's shorter, that describes what I was talking about.
I've made some 4" seax knives and it's a simple but effective style.

[Stoker]

Check in Pappy's Life is good thread.. Coupla weeks ago one of the fellas made one kinda scaled down from the original looked pretty cool
Thanks Leroy

[Greybuff]

Check out a Woodsman Pal. They've been around since WWII. Has a straight blade on one side and a cutting hook on the tip of the opposite side. I got an original and than one that I forged out of a piece of new truck spring. Works great.

[willie]

google "leuku ragweed",  for a traditional knife style that may meet your needs

[Mo_coon-catcher]

I didn't realize there were so many different blade styles designed around doing the same task. It seems like many of them have a similar design, ~1/4" thick spine,  some amount of belly curve to the edge, and some amount of angle between the handle and blade. Almost like it's mostly different amounts of each of these gives a different blade style. I might just give him those design outlines and let him decide what to do from there. I'm not sure how long of blade would be good. I'm thinking 12" sounds like a good number, but at hard telling without a blade in hand to feel.

Thanks for the suggestions
Kyle

[bubby]

Whichever one you decide on will be fine I'm sure , if i was going to be chopping brush with it i would be thinking15-16" a mini machete size and slightly tip heavy to help pull it threw while chopping

[Hawkdancer]

Kyle,
The Bowie design is similar to what the seax looks like, I think.  It served Ol' Jim quite well for multi purposes all the way to he end!  I had to look up "seax", probably similar designs all over early Europe, and likely inspired Bowie's design.  Keep up the recovery, sounds like you are doing pretty good.
Hawkdancer

[vinemaplebows]

I clear tons of brush by hand, and my number one go to tool is a hand sickle, they are bad ass! This is the one I use...look up "sk5 sickle"

[sleek]

Dont know if you are still thinking about this, but I believe I have designed and made a near perfect bow making knife. I call it the  K-Hawk, after myself of course.  Its full tang and the tang is full handle width. That is importand in any chopper. The blade is at a few degree downward angle from the handle to reduce wrist motion in chopping, the knife tapers larger towards the tip for more efficient energy transfer. Straight flat grind on the bevel to allow for the bevel to be stronger and do most of the splitting rather than making the edge cut, it improves edge life as it acts as a splitting wedge. Also the curve at the tip is radiused almost  all the way to the spine to avoid accidental stabbing or wood gouging if you slip, a problem bowie styles have. The curve is also good for chasing rings around knots and such.

Id post a pic but i havent got one at the moment.

[sleek]

I lied.  Here is one. It works well held as a draw knife for chasing a ring and scraping as well.

[sleek]

https://w ww.kabar.com/knives/detail/277

I am considering buying this one myself. But I need to find a way to contact them about the tang. If its not full width if the handle I dont want it. Other than that,  I like the design.