A fun new woods chopper--Friedrich Dick "Italien Messer" cleaver!

[Worsleyoutdoorsman]

Some of those pictures makes it look like you are looking right through it.

[Eagle_Hawk41]

ooooo...

[FortyTwoBlades]

The finish on mine has held up very well so far! I like that it's not a 100% glassy mirror polish, but rather a little more of a satin one. Gives you the benefit of the polished surface finish but without making you as concerned about scratching it up.

[FortyTwoBlades]

Cut some poles today.

[Joezilla]

Hey how is that selling....cause...you know...

[FortyTwoBlades]

I've wanted one of those since you posted the pic of it amongst a bunch of other misfit machetes and knives. What's the thickness though?

Finally got my hands on a set of calipers and the "Italien Messer" is 5mm thick at the base of the blade and 3mm at the tip (measured at the spine)

[Opportunist]

I was lookng into these on your site, can you please tell me if the one pictured in this thread has an original manufacturing edge, or the ... how do you say ... special grade treatment? thanks a billion, cool hunk o' steel!

[FortyTwoBlades]

I was lookng into these on your site, can you please tell me if the one pictured in this thread has an original manufacturing edge, or the ... how do you say ... special grade treatment? thanks a billion, cool hunk o' steel!

The one shown in the photographs is the original factory edge. The Special Grade regrind thins out the cheeks of the factory convex and converts the obtuse "bone-chopping" configuration of the stock edge to a a nice thin one for deep bites when chopping wood (which, at its hardest, is still much softer than bone!) and shaving. I used mine for tarp camping in the middle of a snow storm on the side of a mountain this winter and it did a great job of handling all of the fire prep and maintenance work. It's funny to think that it's made of the same steel as Swiss Army Knives--imagine how many SAKs you could make out of just one of these!

[Paul Foreman]

that is some more camp knife ...

[FortyTwoBlades]

I've found, also, that the extra "meat" they left on the scales is a big plus. The nylon scales file like micarta does (that is to say, smoothly and controllably) which allows you to shape the grip to your preferences in about 15 minutes of tuning. Fits my hand like a glove now. My understanding is that it is (and historically was) fairly common to leave cleaver handles a little blocky for just such a purpose.