12 inch machete or heavy bowie?

RescueRiley

RescueRiley

Joined
Mar 22, 2006
Messages
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For clearing camp, shelter making.. Fire wood, and gerneral Grunt work???
Reccomendations? thoughts? I have several axes I use for the winter months... But prefer a large blade when severe winter temps are not an issue.
 
I would go for a 12inch Ontario, not one of the econo's, the thicker 1/8th inch version. They can take a beating.
 
RescueRiley said:
For clearing camp, shelter making.. Fire wood, and gerneral Grunt work???
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As much as I like Big Bowies and Machetes, I think a tool like the Bark River Golok excels at the combination of tasks you describe.

That said, I usually use a Big Bowie style knife for fire duty, and like to have a longer Machete for clearing vegetation.





"If you're not living on the edge, …you're taking up too much space."

Big Mike

Forest & Stream
 
Big Mike said:
As much as I like Big Bowies and Machetes, I think a tool like the Bark River Golok excels at the combination of tasks you describe.

That said, I usually use a Big Bowie style knife for fire duty, and like to have a longer Machete for clearing vegetation.




"If you're not living on the edge, …you're taking up too much space."

Big Mike

Forest & Stream
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Mike, you know anyone who's selling the BRKT goloks for a reasonable price? KSF have been out for quite a while.
 
+1 on the tram. I beat the snot out of mine and it keeps on kicking.

Edit: ZombaiO brought up a good point. I forgot to mention that I baton a lot for firewood, but it still keeps taking a licking. I just make sure that I don't make it bite off more than it can chew. 4" or wrist size logs is ussaully all I try to stick to.
 
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The Tram is a beast !
But it's no good for splitting wood IMHO - it's too thin.
If you want to baton wood - go for the thicker bowie.If not - get the Tram.
 
The thick 12" Ontario works best for me. I had Siguy of this forum sharpen my Ontario,Carbon V Trailmaster and Becker Brute and then did a little side by side comparison chopping. On a 12" oak log layed horizontally I took 20 chops with each blade and the Ontario out chopped them both by a considerable margin. I rested my arm and went back and did them again in reverse order and the Ontario still out chopped the other two by a noticeable amount. That said,Im still not getting rid of any of them:D--KV
 
j williams said:
12in Tram with a wicked edge.
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Going with J.W. here :thumbup:

Of course I can only say that growing-up here in SE Asia with different flora, setting, terrain, etc. Not too good for batoning/ splitting thick pieces of wood or lumber but long, thinner blades like machetes, bolos and parangs however have proven to be great all-'rounders and hardy enough for tough tasks.
 
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I would go with the machete, it just works better for me. But, I would definatly go with a thicker one for that kind of work, like a tram bolo (older ones are slightly thicker) or one of the ontarios or wait for one of the condors, i got to handle some condors and the factory edgeg and geometries are really good, not to mention the sheath.

Brian has got those modded ontarios on his website, those would be worth considering.
 
I'm sold on the 12 inch Ontario for North America. I just had mine out on my recent kayak trip and it did a great job clearing the campsite, making stakes, clearing places to sleep etc. It never leaves me wanting something else. Mac
 
Condor Aztec Cleaver.

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NESSMUK...SMASH! :D :D :D


It would do a great job as a compact chopper and a general camp knife. :)
 
I used to have a machete but switched to a few large choppers when I snapped my machete while abusing it. While I like the big knife thing, I miss my machete. I think a good machete like Tramontina or Condor is in my future. I think as long as you don't use the machete as a prybar or hit a bunch of knots you will enjoy the lighter blade more.
 
RR,

Knowing the type of vegatation you will most likely deal with in New York I would say the machete over the heavy bowie.

Quicker on the light vegatation with a little more reach then the heavy bowie. Also watching Pict in his past threads it seems that you will gain more with the machete.

Assuming you are camping at your regular haunts, firewood should not be a problem for you to collect and you can baton with a machete. IMHO the olnly thing I can think of that you will gain from the heavy bowie is being able to baton with more gusto.

Have you changed the edge on your ontario or are you still using the factory edge? That is he biggest complaint I seem to remember about the Machete.

Good luck in your decision.

Paul
 
EMT_Lee said:
...you know anyone who's selling the BRKT goloks for a reasonable price? KSF have been out for quite a while.
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According to the Bark River Production Schedule, steel has been ordered for a fill-in run of Goloks.

Get your order in now. :cool:





"If you're not living on the edge, …you're taking up too much space."

Big Mike

Forest & Stream
 
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