As many of you know, the Scrap Yard DFLE has been my favorite big knife since it came out. Big enough to chop, light enough to slash vegetation, it's just about perfect. But it has some serious competition now. The new M9LE has much the same feel as the DFLE, with a well contoured G10 handle and a wickedly sharp blade of SR101 steel. I put a nice convex edge on my M9 to match the one on the DFLE. In fact, the M9LE's edge may be just a touch thinner.

I took a nice fat freshly cut limb of Red Bay and set it on the chopping blocks. I started with the M9. Man, this thing bites deep with each chop.
In 40 chops, it was through.


It was the mighty DFLE's turn. Never my most powerful chopper, it has always been a good one for its weight. The blade did not seem to bite quite as deep as the M9 did. It took 51 chops to chop through, but the limb is just a bit thicker here. Still, I must admit that the M9LE did chop a bit better.

Both knives were still very sharp and able to skin the limb in nice thin slivers.



Just for fun, I chopped a thicker portion of the crooked limb with the M9LE.



Even after this, the knife would still slash palmetto leaves like a lazer. These are definitely my two favorite big knives. Two can be good. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
[img]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w64/rivershaman/SRKW/M9LEDFLE013.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w64/rivershaman/SRKW/M9LEDFLE014.jpg[/img]