Engineers Machete

I don't know Orth, I am thinking about having a local smith fashion a blank for me to finish and put on a handle
 
hey Garlisk, I saw on some military type forums that machetes like this turn up on eBay. I might, just might use one if I got it in that manner.
 
That does look very cool and quite effective. Thanks for sharing ad welcome to the forums.
 
Collins has been out of business for some time now (sad to say) but their machete legacy still lives on! Good luck on finding them on the 'bay for good prices though. They've been skyrocketing lately. Must be all the glowing words about them from forum folk! :p

Condor is the big name right now, but Tramontina, Cold Steel, and Ontario Knife Company all make some decent ones.
 
I was fortunate enough to land a couple of Cold Steel's Gurkha Kukris before they quit making Carbon V blade steel. One of the Gurkha's I got kind of reminds me of this super thick machete this fellow just showed us. The one Gurkha has 5/16ths thick blade steel at the middle of the spine. And the penetrating power it has is almost scary. When I need to bust through heavy vines or cut low hanging limbs off of hard wood trees I use that CS Gurkha.

I wonder why so few companies now a days don't use a thick and heavy blade like that? I would think they would have more sales than they would know what to do with.
 
JD Spydo said:
I wonder why so few companies now a days don't use a thick and heavy blade like that? I would think they would have more sales than they would know what to do with.
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Some companies do. But once you get into thicknesses greater than about 1/8", manufacturing cost goes way up, and they tend to not be called machetes anymore. Grinding a useful edge bevel on a 1/4" thick slab of steel takes significantly more resources than putting a simple single bevel on a blade .080" thick. If you're going to spend that much effort, you may as well use a premium steel. And nice handle material. And more thought into the blade shape. Follow this line of thinking, and you end up with a $300 Busse, not a $10 machete.

However, thick and heavy blades are not always that desirable. Not only do they cost more, they take more effort to use. In a tropical setting where you may need to swing one around for extended lengths of time, the benefits of a lightweight slasher become clear. If more mass is needed, it's cheaper to simply make the blade wider and longer than to make it thicker.

Real Asian bolos are typically forged. With that type of construction, thicker blades are cost effective, because the maker out in the jungle uses scrap metal in a simple forge, working for pennies since the cost of living is low, because there are no viable alternatives, and couldn't even dream of a foundry capable of stamping out hundreds of blade blanks in a day the way modern machete companies do. I don't know if the Collins was forged. But whether forged or ground, a comparable knife made with US wages and overhead would certainly cost significantly more than a typical machete today.
 
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