Hand-Forged Heavy Chopper, Upswept Point

It gives you more curved cutting edge and a weaker tip, and that trade is the whole of it. On this blade the point rises above the line of the spine rather than sitting on it or dropping below it, which means the belly — the curved section that does the actual slicing — runs longer and further round toward the end of the blade. That matters for any cut where you draw the edge through material rather than chopping straight down: skinning, breaking down a carcass, cutting through hide and hair, working around bone. It is why the shape is standard on skinning knives, at much smaller sizes. What you give up is the tip. A point that curves upward has steel removed from underneath it, so it is thinner and less supported than a drop point or a spear point and it will not take prying or a hard thrust into anything solid. Our camp knife with the spear point is the opposite choice, and our crossguard bowie is the third: a drooping point that keeps mass forward for chopping. Three different answers to what the front third of a blade should be for.

No. It is cowhide with a crocodile pattern embossed into it, and we would rather you heard that from us than assumed otherwise. You can tell by looking: on the sheath the scale pattern repeats at regular intervals and runs straight off the cut edge of the panel, where genuine skin has scales that vary in size across the hide, change direction along the belly line, and cannot be cut through mid-scale without it showing. There are two reasons we use embossed leather and neither is that we are hiding something. It looks very good and it costs a fraction of the alternative. And genuine crocodile is listed under CITES, the international convention on trade in endangered species, which means it needs permits to cross borders and would turn a straightforward parcel into a customs file for both of us. We do not work in protected skins at all. If you want the plain vegetable-tanned version instead, that is a free change.

Because the figure we have is under review and we would rather leave the row blank than print something we are checking. The number recorded for this piece would make it by some distance the densest blade in our whole catalogue for its length, and while the stock is genuinely thick and the fittings are heavy, a figure that far outside the rest of the range is worth confirming on a second set of scales before it goes on a listing that people make buying decisions from. It will be added once it has been re-weighed. If you want the exact weight before ordering, email us and we will put the piece on the scale and tell you the answer rather than an estimate.

A finger notch, and it does two useful things. It gives you somewhere to put your index finger when you choke up onto the blade for controlled work — carving a point, opening a carcass, anything where you want the edge close to your hand rather than out at the end of a swing. And it acts as a stop, because the notch sits behind the sharpened edge so your finger has something to sit in rather than sliding forward. On a chopper it matters more than on a small knife, because the whole point of a heavy short blade is that it does both jobs: swing it for the heavy work, choke up on it for the fine work. Without the notch the second half of that is uncomfortable. It also creates a natural end to the sharpened edge, which is why the sharpening stops where it does rather than running back to the bolster.

Less than it would on a thin one, and the honest answer is that it is mostly appearance here. A fuller removes metal from the middle of the blade face, where it contributes least to stiffness, so on a thin blade it saves useful weight without much cost in strength. On stock as thick as this one, a narrow fuller takes out a small fraction of a large amount of steel. It does slightly stiffen the section by leaving a raised area either side of the channel, and it does look like the hand-grinding it is. But if you want a lighter chopper the answer is a thinner spine, which is a build option above and will change the weight by an order of magnitude more than any fuller. We would rather say that than let a groove in the blade stand in for a specification.

By what the front of the blade does. We forge three blades at twelve inches and they are three different answers to the same question. This one has an upswept point: the longest curved belly of the three, best for drawing cuts and processing, weakest tip. Our Crossguard Hilt bowie has a drooping point that falls below the handle line, which keeps mass forward for chopping and puts a full steel cross between your hand and the edge. Our Book of Eli inspired machete has a forward curve with no cho and a contoured grip, built purely around mass close in. If you are choosing, ask what the last three inches of blade will be doing. If the answer involves hide, meat or long slicing cuts, take this one.

5160 high-carbon spring steel, brought to temperature in the forge, quenched in oil and tempered back so the edge is hard while the body of the blade stays springy. It is the leaf-spring steel our smiths have worked for generations and it suits a chopper well: tough enough to take repeated impact without chipping, and soft enough at our temper that the edge rolls rather than breaking when it finds grit or a nail. A rolled edge comes back with a file or a steel in a minute; a chip is a repair. It is not stainless, deliberately, because the stainless grades that genuinely resist rust give up the toughness a chopping blade depends on.

Yes. The tang is the full width and shape of the grip with rosewood scales pinned through it, and the line of steel shows between the scales along the outline of the handle. On a blade of this mass it is the only construction we would fit. The heavy stepped bolster at the front and the flared cap at the back are doing structural work as well as looking the part: they clamp the scales and spread the shock of a hard chop across the whole hilt rather than concentrating it at the pins. A hidden tang, where a narrow spike runs into a solid handle, works loose at the shoulder under repeated impact and is the standard failure point on inexpensive heavy blades.

Yes. The spine is thick, flat and unsharpened, the tang is full width, and the fittings spread the load, which is everything batoning asks for. Strike over the belly rather than out near the tip, keep the blade square in the cut so it does not twist, and use a wooden baton rather than a rock. The one caution specific to this blade is the upswept point: do not use the tip to lever a split apart once the blade is buried, because a point that sweeps up is the thinnest part of an already thin section and it is the part most likely to go. Drive it through and start again rather than twisting.

Sharp and ready to work, with a convex working edge put on by hand at the forge. We do not send choppers out with a fine polished edge, because it is the wrong edge for the job and will be gone within an hour of real cutting; a slightly coarser edge bites better into green wood and survives contact with grit and soil far longer. If you would prefer it shipped blunt — for display, for a gift, or because of the rules where you live — say so in the order comments and we will send it unsharpened at no extra cost.

A mill file for the straight section and a round or half-round file for the curved belly and the upswept tip, which is where most people go wrong. A flat file bridges across a tight curve and only touches the high points, so the belly ends up with flat spots and the tip ends up rounded off after a few sharpenings. Follow the curve with a smaller file or a rounded stone, work in one direction along the bevel until you feel a burr along the full length, then turn the blade over and take the burr off with lighter strokes. Two or three minutes restores a working edge. The upswept point in particular wants care: it is easy to shorten it by degrees without noticing until the profile has changed.

In our own workshop in Tokha-3 on the northern edge of Kathmandu, Nepal, by around ten smiths, most from families that have forged blades for generations. Everest Forge has operated since 2010, and we forge, grind, heat treat, fit the scales and cut the leather in the same building. This is a modern working design rather than a traditional pattern from anywhere, and we would rather say that than imply a heritage it does not have. What it does have behind it is a forge where heavy chopping blades are made and used every day.