Love the design maybe go an 1/8 inch to get the weight to where you want... even at .125 should still pack quite a punch
The original design was supposed to be 5/32", I was afraid 1/8" might be too thin for a full-flat grind. I wanted it to be rigid enough at the spine for hard chopping. The knife is on its way to @Jeff Randall right now. If ESEE makes it, I'm calling dibs on the first one lol. If not, it will be my contribution to "I wish ESEE made it" thread. Really, if they make any version of Junglas that is slightly longer and thinner, I'd probably be all over that. It's what inspired that build: wishing that Junglas was longer and thinner or that my FBF machete was slightly thicker and a better slicer.
In for 1 - thanks for the opportunity @Paycheck! In all honesty, that is a seriously awesome design. I would buy one in a heartbeat. I love beefy utilitarian "choppers" that can do more than chop. This thing looks mighty usable; the 3/16" thickness and FFG will make it more versatile for other camp tasks. Great job, man!
Haha, I'm not entering the knife in a giveaway!! But I'm with you on the choppers that do more than just chop. Most of the choppers I owned were good at chopping, but way off balance to do other things comfortably. I prefer a short machete, but they tend to lack heft needed to chop larger things efficiently. But then, thicker short machetes (like Condor often makes) have a thick grind that's not conducive to efficient cutting/slicing and are very heavy on the wrist if you clear light brush with them.
Got the knife back from folks at ESEE. They said the manufacturers won't be able to get to it until about 2 years from now, figured it gives me time to improve on the design. A little update: I bit the bullet and bought a bench belt sander (cheap little thing from Home Depot). Took some time to thin out the distal taper on it to make it lighter. Feels a lot more comfortable now. The pics are spine thickness compared to Junglas and the (hopefully) final product (don't hate on the bear-paw slippers, I love those things). I'll do some testing on it when I get out, adjust it as needed, and when I'm done, we'll probably do a pass-around.
I recently got some time to work on the knife. Got to work with it a bit when dressing 2 wild hogs. It chopped bones like a champ and the edge didn't have any damage (very happy with Todd's heat treat). Next, I'm going to try it with wood and light brush. I have no doubt it is an excellent chopper, I am more interested in its ability to do finer tasks, effectiveness against light and flexible foliage, and test it for ergonomics/fatigue. After I'm satisfied with the testing, I'll do a passaround, if anyone would like to participate.
I really like it as a large knife. Obviously it won't be able to compete with a full size machete, there is just no comparison. But I will compare it to my Fiddleback Forge 12" machete and my friend's Ontario short machete.
I’d love a bigger (looooonger) Junglas! But with that handle you have on your prototype Then I could pair it up with the Junglas 2 (small task knife) and the 6 (smaller task knife) All in a nice leather sheath set up like the Ghurka knife
Jeff said the manufacturers will be busy in the course of the next 2 years or so. I figured it's a good opportunity to further tweak the design and subject it to additional testing. Hopefully they decide to produce it then. O1 is very close to 1095, so I think the dimensions will transition well.
Hey, guys: Wanted to send the knife for a little pass-around to a few of you who have been involved in and followed the project. The plan is to send the knife to @Allen Morrison for a sheath, then pass it around to participants for testing. I didn't want to involve a lot of people, so I selected the few who have reviewed big blades before and who I feel will provide valuable feedback. @Jacob Peterson - you have done good reviews on the Junglas knives and other large blades, you know how to use them and what to look out for. @FortyTwoBlades - Ben is my go-to guy for advice about machetes and various choppers. If Google doesn't know it, I ask Ben. @DYSPHORIC JOY - you guys are familiar with Todd's worksmanship and have done a good job reviewing his bolo and M18 Guys, if you send me your addresses, I can put the mailing list together. The objective is to treat it as what it is - a big blade made to do hard work. Chop, hack, split, slash, clear the brush, baton, do what you gotta do. However, the main challenge of this blade will be how it cuts finer things and how comfortable it is to use. Use it for some food prep, whittling, carving, skinning, whatever you normally do, and let us know what you think.