Barteaux B - 18 Budget Machete Review.

[frank k]

DETAILS: This is a very light weight machete with a black injection molded polypropylene grip and a nominal 18” “tempered high carbon spring steel” blade. Blade thickness is only 0.050”, giving the B-18 a flexible spine.
Although the retail price is $5.88, I found it offered for the princely sum of $1.95 (plus s&h) here: www.michaelholigan.com/Search/AdvFind.asp?search_manuf_id=179

OUT OF THE BOX: (O.K., it comes in a plastic bag/sleeve, not a box). Considering the B-18’s low cost, I was expecting to find some major flaw; instead I was impressed by its utilitarian quality. The blade has no warps and appears to have been machine sharpened; leaving the edge smooth and even, although well short of shaving sharp, with a full length wire edge. The first 2.5" of the blade foward of the handle is left unsharpened. The blade is thinly blued and coated with a clear tacky rust preventative of some sort. The handle has some molded-in coarse raised cross hatch checkering and a lanyard hole. There was a bit of excess polypropylene left on the mold seams, but this can be easily shaved off, if desired.
Since Barteaux advertises that their machetes come “sharp - ready to use”, I put it to the test, and did a bit of work with the factory edge. The B-18 was able to cut light/soft vegetation fairly easily, but the factory edge proved too dull for heavier/tougher stuff, like hardwood saplings and woody vines.

HANDLING & ERGONOMICS: I found the handle to be very comfortable and secure. The bird’s head on the handle makes it difficult for the machete to fly out of your grasp and the front of the grip is contoured to form a guard, that keeps your hand form sliding forward onto the sharpened edge (unlike the heavy duty Barteaux machetes, there is no D guard).
The balance point is 5.5” forward of the handle, but owing to the light/thin blade the B-18 dose not feel overly blade heavy and swings near effortlessly.

SHARPENING: I started with a file and moved onto a DMT hone. The steel of this machete seems to be harder than the M18 heavy duty Barteaux that I reviewed here: www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=207783. The factory edge bevel was about 22 degrees per side, but I took it down to about 16 degrees per side, figuring that this would work better on the light vegetation that this machete seems best suited for.

TO CUT TO THE CHASE: After sharpening, the B-18 performed pretty much as expected, cutting lighter foliage with ease while proving to be a little light for things like thick vines and oak saplings; although these could be hacked through with out too much effort, provided that the blade was sharp.
I felt much less vibration through my hand/wrist/arm while using the B18 than I would have expected (I suspect that the flexible blade is dampening out some of the vibration).
The B-18’s performance, handling, workman like quality and incredibly low price make it a quite a bargain in my opinion.

NOTE: I also ordered an E-22 Economy machete and a couple of canvas sheaths. The E-22 is similar to the B-18, the main difference being that the E-22 has a nominal 22” blade that is 0.065” thick. I have not had a chance to sharpen or use the E-22 as of yet.
The sheaths are made of light weight canvas and seem flimsy. There is very little to prevent the blade from poking or slicing through the sheath, and for this reason alone I would not recommend them.

Barteaux web site: www.machete.com.
Cold Steel Panga machete review:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=217728

 

[Cliff Stamp]

Does it cut through the lighter vegetation easier than the M-18 with similar edge profiles on each, or is the fatigue just less? How much lower is the fatigue rate on light vegetation, something like 1:3 or even more?

Can you cut thick wood with it at all, or is the vibration too excessive? If you can, what is a benchmark for its performance as compared to the M-18?

What are your thoughts on length, are you wanting for a longer blade, or does that class suit you fine?

Have you ever used a sickle?

-Cliff

 

[frank k]

Originally posted by Cliff Stamp
Does it cut through the lighter vegetation easier than the M-18 with similar edge profiles on each, or is the fatigue just less? How much lower is the fatigue rate on light vegetation, something like 1:3 or even more?

On light vegetation the light B18 cuts better than the M18, as could be expected due to the fact that the blade is half as thick (.05" vs .1"), but the difference was not as much as I would have thought, I quess that the greater mass of the thicker blade gives it some added momentum that may be overcoming some of the cutting power lost to the extra thickness. It would be interesting to see if this holds true if both blades had a full flat grind.
The lighter wieght of the B18 dose make it less fatiguing to swing, but my technique tends to favor heavier blades, since I keep a firm grip on the handle (like you would use on a hammer) and don't use a alot of wrist movement.
For those who favor the technique of gripping the handle between the thumb and index finger, and let it pivot away form their palm, with a lot of wrist action, will probably heavily favor the ligher machetes for light vegetation cutting. This technique dose not work for me on the heavier stuff (hard wood saplings, thick woody vines etc.), since I can't keep the blade under control, without a firm hammer grip.
So to answer your question, fatigue rate (for me at least) is less, how much less is hard to say, but nowhere near 1:3 in my opinion, though I am sure that after several hours of use on nothing but soft vegetation, the lighter weight of the B18 would be much appreciated. The problem I have is that most of the machete work that I do is on mixed vegetation. I find that the light machetes won't cut some of the heavier stuff (especially the woody vines) that a heavy machete will cut with one swing, and it is more fatiguing to have to hack through them with repeated swings, than any advantage gained by the lesser weight. Also, with the heavy machetes, I try to let the momentum do as much of the work, without putting alot of "muscle" into my swings.
In general, I find sharpness to be much more important than blade thickness.

Can you cut thick wood with it at all, or is the vibration too excessive? If you can, what is a benchmark for its performance as compared to the M-18?

I did a bit of side by side wood chopping with the B18 and found that it will chop seasoned pine and oak, but it is much slower and less effecient than the M18 (which I found to be a relatively poor hardwood chopper compared to an Estwing hatchet). With the thicker M18, I could get the wood to chip, while the B18 tended to shave off thin slices. Vibration was not a problem (I felt more with the heavier M18), the B18 is as flexible as a saw blade and I suspect that it is damping out much of the vibration. I did not have any thick green wood handy, but I think the B18 would penetrate well.
So, if you were in a jam, and nothing else was avalible, you could do some light chopping with the B18, but it is in no way the right tool for the job.

What are your thoughts on length, are you wanting for a longer blade, or does that class suit you fine?

I have not used the longer E22 yet (I have the edge profile about where I want it, but I have not got it fully sharp yet). I think that there are times when the added reach would be welcome, but the balance of the longer blades may require some adjustments in technique. I suppose that the 18" blade would be fine for clearing a narrow trail, but the longer blades might be better for clearing a large area.

Have you ever used a sickle?

No.


- Frank