Different traditions - different environments

[lagarto]

I'm with Longbow 50. I come from the Northeast, where traditionally I guess you could say that people such as Roger's Rangers, etc... made due with a midsize knife and a hatchet or tomahawk, which is how my father taught me. He used to be a forester, logger, outdoor hippie type, and his preference ran to a good axe and small belt/utility knife for most chores, so that's what I was taught. He preferred knives with a blade length usually under 5 inches, although personally I like knives in the 5-7 inch blade range coupled with a belt axe and SAK with saw to get most chores done.

Lagarto

 

[savagesicslayer]

I cary a cold steel hawk+Tracker+kabar big or small.I cut a lot of hardwood and I need a high impact tool for the job.Although..Since I sharpened my T.B. Tracker last it chopps better than ever.(I increased the angle of the grind a little)

 

[Cliff Stamp]

I do think that "when in Rome" is a pretty good palce to start blade selection.

I think not being familar with traditional blades would be very foolish. While ideally you always have your perfect selection of gear, how many people actually always carry a full survival kit on them, it isn't unlikely that you will have to depend on someone else tools. Passing back someones parang to them with a large bend it in because you are not familiar with annealed spines probably won't be a good way to start the day.

That philosophy has directed me towards machetes and away from axes/hatchets just from the environment I live in.

Have you tried a decent parang/golok. Valiant makes very nice ones, I have seen some QC problems, but the customer service is solid. You can get a blade which has a similar balance and feel of a machete, but which works much better on thicker wood. Tramontina and Martindale also make a nice bolo pattern which can handle a lot of wood work, I would choose either over an axe for most brush work including shelter building. The Martindale is better after some edge work, but NIB the Tramontina has a much more efficient edge.

-Cliff

 

[pict]

Cliff,

Like the “natives” my choices are also affected by economics. I would love to try such blades. Goloks and parangs are not available on the market here. Anything imported is very expensive. I only get back to the States every four years. I thought about trying the Martindale golok, they seem cheap enough but I read somewhere (maybe your review?) about vibration problems.

I have a Tramontina bolo that I love but I have yet to make a sheath for it. There is no commercially produced sheath sold for them here in Brazil. “NIB” for a Tramontina machete must mean “New In Bucket” as that is how they are sold here.

When I take people out into the bush here one of my objectives is to show them that they can assemble a decent pack full of gear from what is available on the Brazilian market or can be home-made from common items. The Tramontina machete is amazingly inexpensive here. I recommend them as the starting point; they are good enough to do almost anything you would have to do. You will pay 10x more for a decent sheath knife here than you will for the machete and end up using the machete 10x as much. Example a 14 inch Tramontina costs R$8* while a Cold Steel Bushman costs R$125 or a reduced size Ka-Bar costs R$198. Passable, Brazilian made, fixed blade knives run about R$80+.

The “use what the natives use” argument does break down where you evaluate the rest of “what the natives use”. Boots are likely to be molded rubber used without socks and the most common firearm encountered will be a single shot 16 ga. There are better boots, blades, and guns than “what the natives use”, but they are actually out there making a living in those environments. Mac

*$1 USD = R$2.23

 

[TLM]

Boots are likely to be molded rubber used without socks and the most common firearm encountered will be a single shot 16 ga.

Maybe the point is to see that boots and shotguns are useful, and not take the analogy too far . I know, a lousy example but as somebody pointed out,the more south one goes the more common a machete type of knife is, that is the type of inference I think useful, then we have to see what are the exeptions etc.

TLM

 

[Cliff Stamp]

Anything imported is very expensive.

I have a Valiant Golok you can have, drop me an email. I tend to prefer the parang style blades (3/16" - 1/4" stock, convex grind), but I use more of a wood cutting motion with them than the snap cuts that heavy machete users often prefer. I'd like to get such a perspective, no need to return it, it was an evaluation piece.

... a 14 inch Tramontina costs R$8* while a Cold Steel Bushman costs R$125

That is kind of funny, just buy the Tramontina and cut it off and make a small fixed blade. Tramontina also makes various knives, can you get them?

There are better boots, blades, and guns than “what the natives use”, but they are actually out there making a living in those environments.

This tends to hold true for most things, hobbiests for example tend to have much better tools than actual working carpenters. Someone who fishes for recreation can easily see spending $500 on a custom fillet knife, when you make $100k a year it isn't a big deal. However if you make $25k and work in a fish plant, odds are that custom never enters into your consideration.

-Cliff

 

[pict]

Cliff,

E-mail sent. Mac