This is a user's impressions review. No Scrap Yard or other Busse kin knives were damaged in this review.

Having spent most of the weekend outoors doing machete work and picking up dead wood, the break in the recent rains meant I could burn some wood. That meant chopping and splitting some wood.

I chose these three choppers for the job. Left to right:

Scrap Yard Dog Father Limited Edition. It weighs 17 oz with a 10" long, 1/4" thick, 1.75" wide flat ground blade of SR77 steel. The DFLE has a handle of Respirene C.

FE & JR Hopkinson British Special Forces Golok. It weighs 19 oz. It has an 11" long, .20" thick, 2 3/16" wide saber ground blade of Sheffield High carbon steel and a rubber handle. I recently reprofiled the edge to convex.

Bark River Knife & Tool Golok. It weighs 17 oz and has an 11" long, .21" thick, 1 5/16" wide full convex ground blade of 1095 high carbon steel. It has a full tang with riveted on black canvass micarta handles.

I started on this very hard dry maple. The Hopkinson golok, even with the improved edge and extra weight over the cutting edge had a hard time chopping this very hard wood.

I switched over to the BRKT golok. It bit deeper and chopped easier than the Hopkinson. There must be something to that full convex edge thing.

Then I switched over to the DFLE. It chopped better on this wood than the Hopkinson and nearly as well as the BRKT. On some other softer woods, the Hopkinson has chopped a bit better than the DFLE.


Then I did a little splitting of maple wood with the Brit golok. I didn't even need my baton. I just stuck the blade in and pounded the wood and blade together against the chopping block.


It's a splitting machine!

Both the DFLE and BRKT Golok did well spitting, too.

[img]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w64/rivershaman/SYKCO/Burning027.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w64/rivershaman/SYKCO/MPbeerkiller003.jpg[/img]
But neither golok can do this ! Thunk!
[img]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w64/rivershaman/SYKCO/Burning028.jpg[/img]
I'd have to honestly say that all three of these are handy around the camp.
[img]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w64/rivershaman/SYKCO/Burning029.jpg[/img]
As is my EDC, the famous Rat Trap folder, shown here preparing a skewer from a palmetto frond.
[img]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w64/rivershaman/SYKCO/burn007.jpg[/img]
Lunch time!
[img]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w64/rivershaman/SYKCO/burn008.jpg[/img]
Perfect.
[img]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w64/rivershaman/SYKCO/burn009.jpg[/img]
The Brit golok is a slightly better splitter. The Bark River maybe a slightly better chopper. But the best all-around chopper remains my favorite, the DFLE.
[img]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w64/rivershaman/SYKCO/Burning030.jpg[/img]