From: mkoblic@uniserve.com   
      
   "deowll"  wrote in message   
   news:hbbmkf$a5o$1@news.eternal-september.org...   
   >   
   > "Michael Koblic"  wrote in message   
   > news:KE9Cm.16065$Lw1.8757@newsfe03.iad...   
   >>   
   >> "deowll"  wrote in message   
   >> news:hb8qp4$jpj$1@news.eternal-september.org...   
   >>> We had a discussion some time back about what to use to cut up dead wood   
   >>> on a camping trip. I started off suggest a hawk or hatchet. People   
   >>> seemed to get turned off by the very idea of an ax of any size for fear   
   >>> of hurting themselves which may be valid. I think they went with a fold   
   >>> up saw which is great for cutting across but kind of limited for   
   >>> splitting.   
   >>>   
   >>> Has anyone played around  with the short machetes from cold steel and   
   >>> others? Cold steel makes an 18 inch and a 12 inch blade.   
   >>>   
   >>> Ontario makes a nice one though the handle on it is not as comfortable   
   >>> as the one on the regular machete. Why they changed the shape I don't   
   >>> know. I certainly don't consider it to be an improvement.   
   >>   
   >> A year or two ago I did a comparative trial of chopping wood with a   
   >> kukri, Cold Steel Barong machete, a golok and a cheap small axe from   
   >> Fiskars.   
   >> The details are somewhere if anyone is interested I shall dig them up.   
   >>   
   >> The long story short: The axe was way superior to all the others. There   
   >> are modifications one can make to the axe to improve it even more or so I   
   >> am told. Furthermore, there are axes of similar sizes but more expensive   
   >> which are said to perform even better - let me know and I shall dig up   
   >> the links.   
   >>   
   >> --   
   >> Michael Koblic   
   >> Campbell River, BC   
   >>   
   >   
   > I'd like to look at it.   
      
   For some reason I cannot get access to the original report I generated for   
   the web-site and I did not keep a copy. To summarize what I remember:   
      
   The Fiskar's axe was easily the most efficient in terms of effort, number of   
   strokes etc. cutting through an identical piece of wood as all the others.   
   The second was a short golok sold by the Valliant company - in fact   
   considering that the blade was only 12" it was a pretty good chopper.   
      
   I did not like the kukri - a result I repeated in my previous tests. The   
   angle of the blade is awkward and the blade tends to wobble at impact,   
   unlike all the goloks I tried. The barong was way too small and the sweet   
   spot was way too close to the handle rendering it quite inefficient.   
      
   IMHO the best web site dealing with various types of cuttlery is here:   
      
   http://www.cutleryscience.com/reviews/reviews.html   
      
   The comparison of axes ( see section Axes, Tomahawks etc.) is interesting   
   and the modifications I refered to are covered under the 14" Fiskars. The   
   Granfors Bruks (Wildlife hatchet) is the industry standard it seems but way   
   more expensive than the Fiskars.   
      
   --   
   Michael Koblic   
   Campbell River, BC   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)