Any of you guys carry machetes?

Shotgun

Shotgun

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Feb 3, 2006
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most everone here uses either a Tramontina, Ontario or BRK&T machete very often, i dont know if many bring them camping though unless they have to do alot of bushwhacking to get to there campsite
 
Ive tried using a machete but find it almost useless on North American hardwood. It does cuts horseweeds well.
 
this is my current favorite
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its a bit over 1/2 meter long but Im a bit over 6'tall too so its not big in my hands , just a handy size .
 
dipbait said:
Ive tried using a machete but find it almost useless on North American hardwood. It does cuts horseweeds well.
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machets are made more for cutting softer jungle vegetation , green stuff , vines saplings brances etc ...

hacking into hardwoods is going to stuff them up , horses for courses , you need to go a step up , grab a valiantco survival golock or something like it , differentially hardened blade , to deal with the harder stuff , but still a slash n hack type tool .
 
I have carried the G.I. Ontario, a 12" Collins and a few other models/sizes, but I had a 20" Corneta ($5 back in '84) that saw the most use. I used it to cut raspberry and rose from poorly-kept trails, split coconuts with it, limbed and trimmed all sorts of trees and brush with it, cut palm, oak, maple, hickory, pine, etc. for firewood, shelter and staves with it, harvested fatwood with it and used the spine to give logs across the trail a good rap before I stepped over them in case there was something unfriendly on the other side. They are also good for clearing spidey-webs spun across the path. ;)

I never used one to make a fuzzy stick, filet a fish, peel an apple or trim my toenails, but I did find them very handy. :thumbup:
 
Woodman's Pal.

http://www.woodmanspal.com/

I carry it horizontally near the small of my back in between my ALICE pack straps. Fits snug as a bug and looks like it was meant to be put there. It is also totally American made so give them business, they are a bunch of great guys and the tool is AMAZING tough!
 
I recently dug three old machetes out of my closet that haven't seen the light of day in a decade or so.
When i finish re-handling them (2 of three done at the moment) i will get to try them out.
Newfoundland is not exactly a hot jungle, today we are supposed to get our second day of of temperatures over 20% celsius.
Thats not days in a row that our second day in total for the summer where the temp got into the 20's! (20% celsius equals roughly 70-ish farenheit).
Its mostly coniferous trees here with the odd birch/alder here and there.
Don't see much dense hardwood trees here except in parks and backyards.
I'll probably take at least one machete camping to play with for the softwoods.
:)
 
I like the 12" Tram and 14" Tram Bolo. No sheath for the 14", a $3 nylon one for the 12":

mike094.jpg


12" Tram
mike088.jpg
 
when I was younger I often carried one in the woods.
But all I ever really used it for was pointlessly hacking up vegetation.
As I got more experienced and a little wiser, I learned that carrying the extra weight wasn't worth it.
 
I have a 12in tram machete that rescueriely gave me. I am gonna rehandle it myself, and put a wicked convex edge on it. I might do some other reshaping to it, but dont know yet. Its unused right now, but when Im done it will be goin into my truck with my truck bag.
 
mneedham said:
I like the 12" Tram and 14" Tram Bolo. No sheath for the 14", a $3 nylon one for the 12":
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if you wanted a sturdier sheath, than can be made by heating and flattening PVC pipe. i made one, it isnt good looking but it is tough and gets the job done
 
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I'm big into my machetes but they really are a necessary tool here in Brazil. I don't live in Amazon type jungle but we do have a year round growing season only limited by rainfall. The machete is the ultimate beater tool but they don't work well on seasoned hardwoods, use a folding saw for that. An axe in Brazil is dead weight as it won't handle dense vegitation, vines, and grasses. Once you learn all your skills around the machete it is a hard habit to break. Even in the US I still carry a 12 inch Ontario just because I'm used to doing things with a machete. Mac
 
I use a ka bar kukri to clear up camp site or cutting through the south texas brush for whatever reason. The brush is thick and some times you dont have room for a longer machete and my kukri works great for me. Plus I love the looks of "wow" when I pull it out of my pack.
 
BRKT Golok here - very useful tool, always taken out with me camping, etc. Out here in the mix of grasslands to chaparral to oak and pine woods, it handles more situations than an axe or hatchet.
 
I like machetes but goloks and parangs (bolo style blades) are better suited for the hardwoods that are abundant in my part of the pacific Northwest.
 
BarberFobic1992 said:
if you wanted a sturdier sheath, than can be made by heating and flattening PVC pipe. i made one, it isnt good looking but it is tough and gets the job done
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I think I saw a tutorial that you posted a while back, really cool! I haven't had time to try but I would like to... I am also hopeful that Pict is going to return to the U.S. in August with a pallet-load of those beautiful, South American leather sheaths (just kidding Pict..).

I carried a 12" Tram and an SAK around my property for about 2 weeks here in Upstate NY this Spring and tend agree with Bear-the Dog and Jeff Randall about the great value of a machete throughout North America. The 12' Tram is very light, broad and thin-bladed, easy to sharpen. It is an excellent camp knife and a great value at $6, IMHO. I believe that Bear called the Tram, "the Mora of machetes.."
 
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