Those of y'all that don't think Texas can be a jungle should see the impenetrable masses of briars, mesquites, scrub oak, and wild rose that cover large portions of the state. 
This commission was made at the same time as the customer ordered up a Benghazi Warfighter for himself and one for his brother. He has been very patient waiting for the chopper to get finished up, and I waited until he could give me some feedback on its use before I posted pics.
The blade is forged from 5160 steel, approximately 15 inches long, with a fully sharpened forward edge. This is something I've done once or twice before, and is something I don't particularly want to do again. 
The handle is black Micarta with flared stainless steel rivets. This is the longest blade I have ever put a slab handle on; usually they are integral sockets. I'm very pleased with the results. He ordered a Kydex sheath from me.
And a leather rig from Luke Swenson.
A closeup of the handle. He wanted an exposed skullcrusher pommel.
Here's his report back: "So I finally managed to string together some days off and take the Chopper for a spin, but didn’t bring my phone so I don’t have any pictures. I cut through several thigh sized limbs as well as some smaller stuff. It went through both the live branches as well as some old dead ones with minimal force behind the swing. It took a couple of minutes to get through the thick stuff with just lazy swings and probably half that when I put some force behind it. Only thing that gave away that it had been used was some gunk from the green tree limbs which was easily cleaned off. No touch up on the blade needed, it’s still shaving sharp.
The weight was perfect and the handle is very comfortable and the handle made it easy to keep my hand in place without slipping when swinging it. I loved every second of swinging it around. Thank you for such a well made proficient blade."
Always glad to hear about my blades being put to work.
No comments:
Post a Comment