The clax is a lot of fun but I think I'd prefer the single-edged version, the Forester that Jim mentioned. I actually had a heck of a time finding a clax that someone didn't want an arm and a leg for (probably because they'd lost theirs using it lol) but a really great guy on the JD forums hooked me up. Part of the caveats of me buying it was that I had to promise to use it and take pictures. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I like the feel of the handle but I prefer the texture of micarta or res-c. I'm not the biggest fan of polished micarta. It looks really awesome (mine has the tigerstripe pattern I believe) and this sucker took massive chunks out of whatever we hit it with, but I would've preferred a handle with a bit more texture is all.

Size wise though yeah, it's not even fair to call this thing a knife. As many people have stated it's more like a short sword than anything, it definitely is a bit heftier than the dogfather (which is saying something).



Oh, forgot to mention we also had a hatchet (just a Kobalt from lowes, nothing fancy) and a nice old axe I've had for years to play around with. They threw the hatchet a lot and chopped a bunch of dead stumps up with the axe. I made them promise not to hit any living stuff behind the house, only to go after dead or already fallen stuff.