Chopping dead hard wood is not easy with anything. Last year I chopped up some of my long dead (and now extinct) red bay trees. I tried the ESEE Junglas, the Buck Hoodlum, and finally my fully convexed BWM. The BWM did much better than the others on that hard wood, but finally, I brought out the Stihl. It won that chop off. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />