Author Topic: big chopper made - no more toting a hatchet!  (Read 4040 times)

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Offline Sidmand

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big chopper made - no more toting a hatchet!
« on: July 27, 2018, 08:18:16 am »
I wanted to make myself a good sized chopper to carry for clearing shooting lanes, general bush work, and because I like really big knives.  I was a surveyor for many years (and still am sometimes) and swung a machete for a long time, so using a big chopping knife is just something I know how to do.  Granted, this knife isn't as light or nimble as a machete, but man it can chop! 

Overall length of 22 inches, blade length is just north of 13 inches and the handle is big enough for two of my hands (I have smallish hands).  Pretty sure it's 15N20 steel from a 3/8 inch thick, 6 foot sawmill blade my dad scavenged from a strip mine of all places.  I didn't forge it, but I did heat treat it in my solid fuel forge.  It's not as hard as I'd like it to be, but hard enough to chop and split wood.  I tested it on a little hickory bat and then whacked through a deer antler.  Got a little kick in the blade when I went through the antler and into a screwhead in my workbench, but it sharpened out just fine.  Working on a sheath now.  It will be seeing a lot of woods time.
"Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing." --> Aristotle

Offline osage outlaw

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Re: big chopper made - no more toting a hatchet!
« Reply #1 on: July 27, 2018, 10:19:43 am »
Looks like a very useful blade.  That's a huge saw blade.  Those go for big bucks.
I started out with nothin' and I still got most of it left

Offline Hawkdancer

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Re: big chopper made - no more toting a hatchet!
« Reply #2 on: July 27, 2018, 10:37:04 am »
Looks like a real chopper!  There might be a couple more things come out of that saw blade >:D )-w(
Watch the direction of "TIMBER"! (lol). Good job!
Hawkdancer
Life is far too serious to be taken that way!
Jerry

Offline Trapper Rob

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Re: big chopper made - no more toting a hatchet!
« Reply #3 on: July 27, 2018, 10:46:28 am »
Good looking knife.

Offline Sidmand

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Re: big chopper made - no more toting a hatchet!
« Reply #4 on: July 27, 2018, 11:57:16 am »
Looks like a very useful blade.  That's a huge saw blade.  Those go for big bucks.

yeah, it is a monster saw blade.  Dad said it was in one of the sheds at a strip mine he was inspecting (he was a mine inspector) and he asked if he could have it.  They told him if he could move it and load it to take it, it had been there for more years than anyone currently working the mine.  He got it loaded with a forklift, then took it home and starting cutting on it.  He made a decorative sword out of the first piece he cut, I just followed suit.  We want to knock a few of the teeth out and see what kind of steel they are, just haven't taken the time to do so yet.

Thanks for the kind words all!
"Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing." --> Aristotle

Offline dylanholderman

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Re: big chopper made - no more toting a hatchet!
« Reply #5 on: July 28, 2018, 07:42:49 am »
That’s a beast!  :o how much does it weigh?

Offline Sidmand

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Re: big chopper made - no more toting a hatchet!
« Reply #6 on: July 28, 2018, 10:52:58 am »
Couple of pounds at least, I will weigh it after I get the sheath done. 
"Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing." --> Aristotle

Offline Sidmand

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Re: big chopper made - no more toting a hatchet!
« Reply #7 on: July 30, 2018, 08:35:14 am »
Knife weighs almost exactly 2 pounds, 32.06 ounces on my scale.  Tis a monster for sure!
"Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing." --> Aristotle