Every month I go through hundreds of knives looking for the one that really stands out to represent the Knives.com, Editor's Choice. Usually its a bit of a battle between those knives that look good and those knives that look like they work, and the knives that look like they were made to work always win out This month it was no contest as Sam Salvati's Brute De Forge Chopper won hands down. It saved a lot of effort as the instant I laid eyes on it I just knew that this was going to be the next editor's choice.
It looks so good to me I'm thinking of buying one off him for my own use as I spend quite a lot of time beating back bushes and undergrowth and I just know in my water that this knife is exactly what is required for the job. Here at last is a knife made with a thin enough crossection to cut and chop with ease, light enough to carry all day, strong enough to use for a lifetime, or maybe two. So I'm planning on raising to few bob to buy me one of these as soon as I can. How sweet it is to see a bush knife that isn't a prybar.
As Sam says
I forged this knife both in part for trade for a Peddinghaus anvil from a friend who said he wanted a woods chopper/camp knife, and in part as a continuation of my study of Jungle and south asian style chopping knives. I feel there is a horrible overriding trend towards these horribly obtuse geometry knives that some makers are passing off as choppers, when they are even more blunt a geometry then an axe. So to move along with this I am working on knives that are thin and light and well balanced with tapered blade and tang that exhibit a most excellent cutting ability, both to chop and to slice, to cut through wood and brush with immense ease and far less effort then those with cleavers.