Just wondered who out there likes to sometimes take the big blades out for a spin and see what kind of damage they can really do. I've been doing a lot of work on some Cold Steel machetes and a couple others lately, and decided to see what I could do.
I started off with some kids drink bottles. These were cut pretty easily in spite of being really light. I believe these were Mondo drink bottles.
Then I moved to gallon milk jugs. These are heavier, but will flex easily. You have to hit them with a pretty sharp blade moving pretty fast. 2 of them still went down, though the first didn't cut all the way through.
Next was the 24 oz soda bottle. Cut through the first try, no problem.
And for the final trick, there were 2 two liter bottles left. Each was neatly cut in two, and for the first time, I was able to leave the bottom of one of them sitting on the table corner.
All in all, pretty good for a couple beat up machetes without brand new edges. They were sharpened recently, but had been used a little before the cutting.
Now that I think about it, all the cutting was done with the same machete. It's an unknown brand, 18" blade in the classic Ontario GI profile, but the blade is only 1/16" thick, while I think the Ontarios are 1/8". This one has a primary bevel at about 4 degrees per side, with a secondary sharpened edge bevel of 20 degrees per side. I reground it a couple of months ago to see if it was still usable at a thinner geometry. I should say so.
I started off with some kids drink bottles. These were cut pretty easily in spite of being really light. I believe these were Mondo drink bottles.
Then I moved to gallon milk jugs. These are heavier, but will flex easily. You have to hit them with a pretty sharp blade moving pretty fast. 2 of them still went down, though the first didn't cut all the way through.
Next was the 24 oz soda bottle. Cut through the first try, no problem.
And for the final trick, there were 2 two liter bottles left. Each was neatly cut in two, and for the first time, I was able to leave the bottom of one of them sitting on the table corner.
All in all, pretty good for a couple beat up machetes without brand new edges. They were sharpened recently, but had been used a little before the cutting.
Now that I think about it, all the cutting was done with the same machete. It's an unknown brand, 18" blade in the classic Ontario GI profile, but the blade is only 1/16" thick, while I think the Ontarios are 1/8". This one has a primary bevel at about 4 degrees per side, with a secondary sharpened edge bevel of 20 degrees per side. I reground it a couple of months ago to see if it was still usable at a thinner geometry. I should say so.