I've been meditating on the challenge question "Cheap Machete or Expensive Production Custom KNIFE" for a couple of months now. I, like the host of this thread, also wondered if a $600 knife makes sense if the same work can be accomplished by a $12 machete. I started a thread in another forum about my resolution to this question. I'm not sure if linking there is allowed in this forum or not.
Actually, I believe the answer lies in a hybrid between blades of the Golok,Bolo, Khukuri and Latin Machete DNA.
So I created the Mach~Axe. Not a totally original concept but it covers some new ground.
The requirements:
- It had to be at least as EFFICIENT at chopping an 8" diameter of seasoned wood as an axe with a 4" edge and 13" total length
- It had to have an edge straight enough to use for effective butchering and impromptu food harvesting & chopping.
- The blade weight (lightness that is), length & geometry had to support the clearing of dense vines up to 1" thick
-The blade weight (lightness that is), length & geometry had to support the occasional clearing of dense grasses and thin vines and brambles
- The point of the blade had to be somewhat effective as in impromptu defense weapon
- This point has to be somewhat usable as a 'point work' tool
- The grip had to ensure a safe and efficient grip on the backswing wind-up and a good forward stop on the stroke.
-The geometry and balance had to support an efficient use of a back-of-the-blade swipe at branches to simply complete a cut or to affect a limb breaking operation or other bone breaking but not cutting.
- The blade steel metal had to support the type of abuse a general clearing,harvesting and chopping tool would be subjected to and yet be easily sharpened in the field with a stone,file and emery boards.
- Finally, it had to be available in a variety of grips, blade thicknesses and special metals to suit the needs of the individual customer as well as intended tasks. For a dessert or salt air/water, a high carbon steel might not be as long lasting as something in stainless steel
*Obviously, such a blade can't be a true all purpose blade so I eliminated the need to do many things that a good 4"-6" blade is expected to do. No filleting of small fish, no processing of birds either. Nor would you be expected to perform fine tool making etc.
So the blade that I came up with is now called the Ranger Knives Mach~Axe.
Part Golok, Part Parang, Part Latin Machete.
I calculated that a blade length of 13" delivers the most efficient degree of leverage for my arm length. As shorter blade will require far more brute strength + battoning for chopping and a longer blade will require more effort to control impact vibration on thick materials, even as it it's more effective at harvesting grasses and thin vines.
I marvel at the pictures of the Busse BM series and other similarly styled and sized knives- because I've yet to witness a video of such blades efficiently dealing with thick wood any better than a folding saw.In addition, due diligence dictates that actually seeing the blade doing the work in a timed video, mitigates any questions about misrepresentation- say a felling axe is in the background- really does all the work off camera in no time flat- with the fancy battle blade jumping in for the cameo shots. or a hand full of still representing an hour or more of laborious chopping to fell an 8" diameter tree. Just dotting the 'i's here- no insinuations are intended, and I'll be the first to admit that if a sole seasoned tree and a 9" long blade with which to fell it was all I had for firewood, a two hour investment might well be worth the effort in a survival scenario..
Ranger Knives made the prototypes for me.
