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Posted: 3/2/2016 12:59:26 PM EDT
| The boys want to clear some brush. Mostly yaupon, small cedar and briers. Anyone have any suggestions other than the cheap junk at the local box stores? |
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Tramontina. The Brazilians know their Machetes.
ETA a couple more cool options: http://www.valiantco.com/ More jungle choppers from countries with jungles  I want one of their Goloks. The reviews I've seen have all been excellent.
Svord makes a very good 12-inch Machete |
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Who'da thunk they would make good machetes in Brazil. I will look into those as well. Thanks.
I know its just a machete but the last one the boys had came from harbor freight and it lasted 2 hours before it broke in half. Swinging a machete is dangerous enough. The last thing I need is to have to take someone to the ER with half a blade stuck in their noggin. It had saw teeth cut on the spine which I imagine caused a stress fracture. |
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I have two sizes of the old Cold Steel Kukri machete. They are great choppers, the smaller one is an excellent field knife too. All kinds of youtube videos of useful mods to make them even better. Made in South Africa.
They're cheap too, I think I paid like $18 for the small and $22 for the large. The may have gone up like $2 in the last 15 years... |
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I'm a machete geek.
I like the idea of buying machetes from places where they use machetes on a daily basis. Ontario is a well-made machete designed by people who don't use machetes. Too heavy for soft vegetation and too light for woody plants. It's a compromise that doesn't work well at either end of the spectrum. I like the orange handle - there are two colors of machete, orange and lost - except that the knuckle guard gets in the way. I suspect that it would make a pretty good cutlass if you ever have to board an enemy sailing ship, though. Cold Steel has been a disappointment - edges so soft that they roll with minimal use. If I could only own one machete, it would be an 18" Imacasa "Pata de Cuche" pattern. Imacasa is in El Salvador. Their blades are made of 1075 steel with a nicely-executed distal taper (they get thinner from the handle to the tip). And Imacasa seems to get the tempering process consistently right, unlike some companies. Several US outfits market "high end" machetes that are simply rehandled Imacasa blades. Hansa (from Ecuador, I think) also makes an outstanding machete. Incolma/Invermec and Belloto are more rare, but also nice. Can't remember where they're from. Tramontina from Brazil is a lot of bang for the buck, but not of the same quality. That's probably a lot more info than you were looking for. 
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Anything you like from Cold Steel.
http://www.coldsteel.com/Category/5_1/Machetes.aspx BTW, Lyle Thompson is a very pro gun rights guy who would personally come talk to students at the Piru CA Appleseed shoots. And he always had a box full of give away knives to raffle off as door prizes. Great guy, great company. |
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You can't go wrong with the Condor brand from El Salvador.
They are made on German equipment and were trained by the German knife makers. I have several, and they are top notch. http://www2.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_store.html?ttl=Condor%20Tool%20and%20Knife%20Carbon%20Steel%20Machetes&cat=cn&b=machete&d=carbon&series=905& |
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Quoted:
I'm a machete geek. I like the idea of buying machetes from places where they use machetes on a daily basis. Ontario is a well-made machete designed by people who don't use machetes. Too heavy for soft vegetation and too light for woody plants. It's a compromise that doesn't work well at either end of the spectrum. I like the orange handle - there are two colors of machete, orange and lost - except that the knuckle guard gets in the way. I suspect that it would make a pretty good cutlass if you ever have to board an enemy sailing ship, though. Cold Steel has been a disappointment - edges so soft that they roll with minimal use. If I could only own one machete, it would be an 18" Imacasa "Pata de Cuche" pattern. Imacasa is in El Salvador. Their blades are made of 1075 steel with a nicely-executed distal taper (they get thinner from the handle to the tip). And Imacasa seems to get the tempering process consistently right, unlike some companies. Several US outfits market "high end" machetes that are simply rehandled Imacasa blades. Hansa (from Ecuador, I think) also makes an outstanding machete. Incolma/Invermec and Belloto are more rare, but also nice. Can't remember where they're from. Tramontina from Brazil is a lot of bang for the buck, but not of the same quality. That's probably a lot more info than you were looking for. I never had a problem with the SA made Cold Steel stuff. Most production machetes are induction tempered now and then the edge is burned (temper loss) at the initial sharpening, so I typically file the edge back till I hit tempered steel again before I put a cutting edge on em. |
Narrow blade machetes suck, in my experience they lack chopping power and if you don't have the blade aligned perfectly they want to twist on impact. You want a wide thin blade like a sugar cane style, lots of chopping power and it doesn't promote the twisting problem. I personally wont ever own anything else after trying one.
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Quoted: Narrow blade machetes suck, in my experience they lack chopping power and if you don't have the blade aligned perfectly they want to twist on impact. You want a wide thin blade like a sugar cane style, lots of chopping power and it doesn't promote the twisting problem. I personally wont ever own anything else after trying one. http://www.machete.cn/uploadfiels/20090915150223713.jpg |
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Quoted:
Narrow blade machetes suck, in my experience they lack chopping power and if you don't have the blade aligned perfectly they want to twist on impact. You want a wide thin blade like a sugar cane style, lots of chopping power and it doesn't promote the twisting problem. I personally wont ever own anything else after trying one. http://www.machete.cn/uploadfiels/20090915150223713.jpg Ooh dat's nice! |
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Quoted:
I'm a machete geek. I like the idea of buying machetes from places where they use machetes on a daily basis. Ontario is a well-made machete designed by people who don't use machetes. Too heavy for soft vegetation and too light for woody plants. It's a compromise that doesn't work well at either end of the spectrum. I like the orange handle - there are two colors of machete, orange and lost - except that the knuckle guard gets in the way. I suspect that it would make a pretty good cutlass if you ever have to board an enemy sailing ship, though. Cold Steel has been a disappointment - edges so soft that they roll with minimal use. If I could only own one machete, it would be an 18" Imacasa "Pata de Cuche" pattern. Imacasa is in El Salvador. Their blades are made of 1075 steel with a nicely-executed distal taper (they get thinner from the handle to the tip). And Imacasa seems to get the tempering process consistently right, unlike some companies. Several US outfits market "high end" machetes that are simply rehandled Imacasa blades. Hansa (from Ecuador, I think) also makes an outstanding machete. Incolma/Invermec and Belloto are more rare, but also nice. Can't remember where they're from. Tramontina from Brazil is a lot of bang for the buck, but not of the same quality. That's probably a lot more info than you were looking for. In 1984 when I was fifteen I bought a machete from a local hardware store. It had some furrin' inscribing on the blade, and I do not remember what it was but IIRC it was in Spanish. It was the best machete I've ever had, and I should have tried to figure out what brand it was so I could buy a dozen more. I cut more brush and stuff with that machete than I can ever care to remember. A couple of years ago it snapped in half while I was clearing some brush. I nearly cried. It lasted thirty years so I can't complain. I bought my son an Ontario machete when we visited Smoky Mountain Knife Works four years ago. It's a good machete but it is heavy. |
| I am trying real hard not to start a machete collection. I have had quite a few in "the cart" but did not pull the trigger. Soon I will succumb and will be flush with machetes from all over the world. Thanks for all the replies. I will keep looking here and will post what I think will be first in the collection. |
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As a land surveyor, I use a machete almost daily. I've personally chopped hundreds of miles of survey lines, through some of the nastiest vegetation FL has to offer: wild blackberry thorns, saw palmetto, bay heads choked with vines, and scrub oaks that seem steel-reinforced. A lot depends on what type of vegetation you encounter.
Here in Cen. FL, we use the 24" Martindale with a WOOD handle. The wood is important for two reasons, it soakes up sweat, and it doesn't have that little tang-thingy hanging off the toe of the handle. That thing kills my pinky finger. The wood doesn't last as long, but I've got a few years on my current blade. It's actually time to replace it, as I've filed it down over the years to look more like a Japanese sword than a machete. It's nice and light, but I had to hack down an 8" pine the other day, and it doesn't have enough ass for that. With a full-weight new 24" blade, I've cut down pines bigger than 12", I have enough reach to get into the saw palmettos without slicing up my hands, and don't have to bend over as far to mow down maiden cain and other tall grasses. The steel is important. While I can't recite the type used by Martindale...it's good for the task. It sharpens easily with a 16" mill bastard file and holds enough edge for a full day in the palmettos, or a half day in the scrub oaks. Martindales are made in England, with good British steel. I've not liked the various Central and South American blades I've tried (Condor and the like). They dull too fast in the trees, and chip easily on barb wire. If you just want to add it to a collection and look at it...get either the Ontario or the Esse. If you want to go out and break a sweat...it's Martindale all the way. (Maybe a Disson, in a pinch.) ETA: in honor of the 2nd page, I'll dig up photos to add later. Posting pics doesn't go well with my iPad for some reason. |
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Quoted:
Gerber Bear Grylls model has been working for me for years. http://www.firearmstalk.com/images/5/8/0/6/3/machete-2205.jpg Thanks. |
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