MDinana,

I am absolutely leaning that way too on blade thickness. I field tested a Becker BK-2 last winter back in the woods. It is a foot long knife with a very heavy 1/4" thick blade. Don't get me wrong, it's a great knife, and it worked well for lopping off small branches and light chopping. You would be able to chop through ice and pry up rocks from the frozen ground with it. I thought the blade thickness made batoning through 4 inch branches to split them for kindling more difficult. I had to hit the knife so hard with a log to move it, that eventually my arms got tired and I bashed my thumb. I think a thinner blade would have cut through more easily.
_________________________
The man got the powr but the byrd got the wyng