Can a well balanced bowie be as useful as a machete? Can a heavy machete out chop a big bowie? The problem with many big chopper bowies is that they are too heavy to slash through light vegetation well. If I am going to take only one big knife into the Altamaha, to use for slashing and chopping and splitting wood, should I choose one of my machetes or a bowie? To answer this question, I chose to put my best chopper machete against my best chopper bowie. The Cold Steel Bolo has a 16 3/8" heavy blade of 5/64" thick 1055 steel. It has a polypropylene handle. The Scrap Yard Dog Father LE has a 10" blade of 1/4" thick SR77 steel and a Respirene C handle. Both weigh about a pound, give or take an ounce.

This downed Black Gum limb took just two whacks with the CS.

The DFLE did it one blow, breaking the limb. I alternated between the two knives as I continued to chop up the limb. The bolo chops well, but the DFLE does better. This is surprising considering the extra length of the machete blade.

On to splitting oak. The machete hung up bad and I had to beat it back out with my baton.

The DFLE easily split the oak in just a few blows.

Afterward I slashed some pines and vines and the DFLE was still plenty sharp to do it cleanly. It and my RTAK II are my best "machete bowies", but the DFLE handles better and chops better.

I continue to be impressed by the versatility of the DFLE. Hello Swamp!

nice review vic.
I've always wondered the same thing myself.

I was just kind of clearing a little trail on the riverbank behind my house and I used the DFLE only.
I chopped through tons of small sumac trees with such ease, and slashed through tangled bunches of vines easily too, its just freaking awesome.
this knife really can do it all.
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Nice review Vic.
the dfle is clearly superior but you must consider the price difference

Since I already own both of them, that was not a consideration, only which one to take with me. In performance to price, good machetes beat all bowies all the time.

I have been looking into those CS machetes, I also have been looking into those Bark River goloks as a kind of hybrid in between of a chopper Bowie and a machete.

the goloks look pretty nice.
the coldsteel machettes actually chop really well.
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if your talking about the cheap ones.

the Bark River golok is like $150 but I want one bad

150 is not bad at all!
I thought they were more than that!
they're not as big as I thought though, the blade is only 11" long.
I thought it was going to be like at least 15".
still they're awesome.
do they make axes now?
I saw an adrvertisement on knifeforums and it included axes.

if I ever bought a barkie, it would either be a bravo 1, with some kind of burl handle.
or a golok.
if they're only 150$ I say go for it.

idk
http://www.jerzeedevil.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18560
love em

wow, I think they have more bladelength because they have no tip.
they do look really nice.

I have the CS bolo, panga, barong, and bowie machetes, the Condor Jungle bowie, combat machete, Inca knives (10" and 12"), Puerto Rican 14", and 18" el salvador models. I have 4 Ontario 12" machetes, one 18" military, and the Wordern Special Forces model, and the Tramontina bolo, 18" and 22", a Collins 22", and a Martindale bolo. The pangas and bolos tend to be better choppers. My favorite machetes are the Tramontinas, but the heavier CS and Ontarios are better choppers.

wow Vic

How do you like the Wordern?