- Joined
- Dec 13, 2005
- Messages
- 6,105
Ooooooh mercy, I got a nice package from the UPS man today.
Mmmm.... choppy....
As stated, I ordered the 12" bolo machete, and the 14" Golok. Both are friggin' sweet.
[Shown with 12" Tram and Becker BK9]
The fit and finish was higher than expected. No big gaps in the handles or rough spots, or areas that are hot spots waiting to happen. There is an area at the top corner of the bolo handle where the wood is chipped out, but I dropped it outside while playing with it and there's a chance it hit a rock at that spot, so I'm not gonna blame Condor QC. The edges on both came with the typical Condor convex edge, which was even, polished, and sharp.
The Golok is very lively in the hand. The distal taper does an impressive job into fooling you that this isn't a big chunk of steel; it is every bit of 1/4" thick at the handle. The dimensions are actually such that it's not even very awkward to choke up a bit for 'finer' work, if pressed into it. The 'ball' at the rear of the handle is a real pleasure to use, too. I'd heard complaints that the handle was too thick on this model, but I must disagree. When used in a typical 'wrist flick' sort of chopping style (typical with machetes), it's perfectly designed. I'm in a very poor environment for quickie machete tests, but it did a pretty good job on very seasoned firewood out back (wood that's far harder than I'd ever expect a machete to work on).
About how deep the Golok would bite on soft wood with a very mild-moderate swing:
The 12" bolo machete is a surprise. I was expecting something with a teensy bit of extra heft out front versus my 12" Tramontina machete. Way, way wrong. This is a pretty serious piece of steel, too. Thickness is 1/8", which doesn't sound like much until you add up the surface area of a bolo pattern. This thing chops quite far outside its size class, and even handled some batoning through, again, seasoned firewood. About 4" at the top side of the tip is ground but not sharpened. I may actually further 'dull' this area since I like to use these as draw knives sometimes. The handle is well fitted plastic. Very rounded and also without hot spots. It was a good fit in my large-ish paws.
Bite after, again, a mild-moderate swing:
Here's the effect on wood with 2-3 hits on the top and bottom of this piece of wood, while the wood was laying flat. Split it in half smoothly.
I really can't say yet which one of these I prefer more at the moment, this is obviously just the sum of a few first impressions after 15 minutes of playing around. Both would make superb camp knives. They would make quick work of shelter building and fire prep, not to mention trail blazing. Something about the bolo speaks to me, but the Golok is a new design for me so I need to get more familiar with it before making a judgment.
I can also say with certainty that I will be purchasing several more Condor machetes in the near future. Damn things are like Lays potato chips...
Mmmm.... choppy....
As stated, I ordered the 12" bolo machete, and the 14" Golok. Both are friggin' sweet.
[Shown with 12" Tram and Becker BK9]
The fit and finish was higher than expected. No big gaps in the handles or rough spots, or areas that are hot spots waiting to happen. There is an area at the top corner of the bolo handle where the wood is chipped out, but I dropped it outside while playing with it and there's a chance it hit a rock at that spot, so I'm not gonna blame Condor QC. The edges on both came with the typical Condor convex edge, which was even, polished, and sharp.
The Golok is very lively in the hand. The distal taper does an impressive job into fooling you that this isn't a big chunk of steel; it is every bit of 1/4" thick at the handle. The dimensions are actually such that it's not even very awkward to choke up a bit for 'finer' work, if pressed into it. The 'ball' at the rear of the handle is a real pleasure to use, too. I'd heard complaints that the handle was too thick on this model, but I must disagree. When used in a typical 'wrist flick' sort of chopping style (typical with machetes), it's perfectly designed. I'm in a very poor environment for quickie machete tests, but it did a pretty good job on very seasoned firewood out back (wood that's far harder than I'd ever expect a machete to work on).
About how deep the Golok would bite on soft wood with a very mild-moderate swing:
The 12" bolo machete is a surprise. I was expecting something with a teensy bit of extra heft out front versus my 12" Tramontina machete. Way, way wrong. This is a pretty serious piece of steel, too. Thickness is 1/8", which doesn't sound like much until you add up the surface area of a bolo pattern. This thing chops quite far outside its size class, and even handled some batoning through, again, seasoned firewood. About 4" at the top side of the tip is ground but not sharpened. I may actually further 'dull' this area since I like to use these as draw knives sometimes. The handle is well fitted plastic. Very rounded and also without hot spots. It was a good fit in my large-ish paws.
Bite after, again, a mild-moderate swing:
Here's the effect on wood with 2-3 hits on the top and bottom of this piece of wood, while the wood was laying flat. Split it in half smoothly.
I really can't say yet which one of these I prefer more at the moment, this is obviously just the sum of a few first impressions after 15 minutes of playing around. Both would make superb camp knives. They would make quick work of shelter building and fire prep, not to mention trail blazing. Something about the bolo speaks to me, but the Golok is a new design for me so I need to get more familiar with it before making a judgment.
I can also say with certainty that I will be purchasing several more Condor machetes in the near future. Damn things are like Lays potato chips...
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