All you woodworking/machete nuts... Best general machete design for woodwork?

[PayetteRucker]

In your opinion what basic machete design do you believe is the best for woodcraft, IE drawknifing, carving, etc etc? We focus on their effectiveness for chopping and battoning all the time but what about other woodworking techniques?

 

[Skimo]

That's a bit like asking how good is a mora for a chopper.

I think as a draw knife, pretty much any of 'em. Rounded spines are a pretty common alteration for those machete nuts.

I've seen several use a scandi grind towards the handle and convex towards the tip.

 

[PayetteRucker]

I'm talking about blade design... convexing the tip is an age old trick and a very effective one, but...

 

[tknife]

This is Joezilla territory, he's the machete guru

 

[cssims]

Pict has that video on Youtube about the mods he did to his machete. Just can't look it up right this minute.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

He's asking what pattern would be most useful--not so much what mods could be done to it.

I'd say that besides the classic Latin pattern, something like this fellow (Guapote pattern) would do quite nicely. You have a deep belly for cutting hollows, a decent point for detail work, and a good spot to grip it. It's also a beefy design that would do well at heavier chopping.

If I wanted to maximize usefulness for woodwork, though, I'd go with something on the shorter side (14.5") like the Imacasa Colin would do well. I have one of these and it feels like a sharpened feather. It'll still chop nicely for it's size/weight, but falls into a knife/machete hybrid category that would make it well suited for woodworking purposes. Forgive the image, as it makes it look like some sort of weird trailing point. It's a basic Latin profile with a tapered blade and thin stock. It has a nice stiff blade in spite of its thinness however.