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- Thread starter siguy
- Start date
put some maple handle scales on the tester last night, but it was a bit dark to get some photos by the time they were all done.
today i took it out and banged it around some more, really wailing it through some of that hard maple and batoning it roughly through the same. i can say that this would keep a fire well fed for a night, as well as putting up a shelter frame and slashing brush to thatch the shelter...
the good news;
this thing is very comfortable in the hand and never gave me any trouble with hotspots at all during fairly extensive use. the retention is very good, i felt very comfortable without a lanyard (previously a luxury only afforded the kraton handle of my CS LTC).
the bad news;
the scales had some gaps against the tang, purely cosmetic but in the long run i could see it becoming a possible issue, but probably not because it was filled with epoxy.
i realized when the scales rattled loose that i forgot to degrease the tang before i glued up...so the scales were loose (the good side of this is that i continued to use it this way for several more minutes and it still performed fine)
i took it downstairs, popped out the pins, and put in new pins, but peened these over this time to make sure that the scales couldn't come loose.
on the next one, i will make sure to keep the fit entirely flat between the steel and scales and i will degrease the tang and the scales.
i think i have decided that i am going to keep this one, and dub it "prototype" because of the slightly ugly grind and the now-ugly handle. also, its fun to play with
by the way, the above tests were done with a belt finish to 220 grit with the burr buffed off to a razor edge. it lost some sharpness throughout the test to the point that it wouldn't shave anymore, but it still kept on chopping. i had no problems putting a fresh razor edge on it, but i took it up to 20 micron belt finish with a buff.
i am getting in touch with someone to get some micarta scales for the other one, so hopefully it will be together soon.
today i took it out and banged it around some more, really wailing it through some of that hard maple and batoning it roughly through the same. i can say that this would keep a fire well fed for a night, as well as putting up a shelter frame and slashing brush to thatch the shelter...
the good news;
this thing is very comfortable in the hand and never gave me any trouble with hotspots at all during fairly extensive use. the retention is very good, i felt very comfortable without a lanyard (previously a luxury only afforded the kraton handle of my CS LTC).
the bad news;
the scales had some gaps against the tang, purely cosmetic but in the long run i could see it becoming a possible issue, but probably not because it was filled with epoxy.
i realized when the scales rattled loose that i forgot to degrease the tang before i glued up...so the scales were loose (the good side of this is that i continued to use it this way for several more minutes and it still performed fine)
i took it downstairs, popped out the pins, and put in new pins, but peened these over this time to make sure that the scales couldn't come loose.
on the next one, i will make sure to keep the fit entirely flat between the steel and scales and i will degrease the tang and the scales.
i think i have decided that i am going to keep this one, and dub it "prototype" because of the slightly ugly grind and the now-ugly handle. also, its fun to play with
by the way, the above tests were done with a belt finish to 220 grit with the burr buffed off to a razor edge. it lost some sharpness throughout the test to the point that it wouldn't shave anymore, but it still kept on chopping. i had no problems putting a fresh razor edge on it, but i took it up to 20 micron belt finish with a buff.
i am getting in touch with someone to get some micarta scales for the other one, so hopefully it will be together soon.
finished up the second machete with some cocobolo wood. very hard to work, resulted in some problems, but it came out alright.
with the tester:
the grip on this one is very thick and very hand filling...almost too much. for someone with smaller hands, this could be a problem. i have big mitts (i wear a XXL glove when i can find it) so its not an issue for me.
by the way, mneedham, pm inbound
with the tester:
the grip on this one is very thick and very hand filling...almost too much. for someone with smaller hands, this could be a problem. i have big mitts (i wear a XXL glove when i can find it) so its not an issue for me.
by the way, mneedham, pm inbound
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2008
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- 3,346
that handle looks pretty comfortable to be, but i also hae some whopper hands.
- Joined
- May 12, 2008
- Messages
- 756
here is a pic of the soon-to-be-blades with some other blades that i have already shaped and am in the process of drilling (both of my drill bits snapped, gotta get new ones)
i decided to go for one of the handles pict chose, i think that it will be more comfortable to those not used to kukri style handles, it looks much more "machete", and it will be a little bit easier to make.
should i try doing a combo grind on one of these? i don't want to mess up and make something with alot of stress risers (this is pretty pricey steel...) but it could be cool to have something like a really thin convex or scandi grind for the first three inches, say, and a thicker convex chopping grind after that. i think i will probably stick to a single convex sabre grind on these...but maybe in the future i will play around with it.
Those blades look awsome.
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2007
- Messages
- 273
Very nice Siguy! What is the thickness of the blade?
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- May 12, 2008
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- 756
i think its 1/8
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2008
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- 3,346
that one closest to the bottom left corner looks like it will soon be an awsome blade.
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- Jan 21, 2008
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- 3,346
convex or scandi, it seems like it will turn out well either way.
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2005
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- 1,086
They're looking good. I think removable pins would be a good option, so the handle could be rebuilt/repaired in the field. I've had to repair handles several times, and being able to take the handle apart would have been helpful. When I was a boundary surveyor, I used a machete all the time. Unfortunately, the machetes I had access to were Tramontina 12" and 18", which weren't really bad; but, I would have liked to have more variety to pick from. I preferred the 18" over the shorter machete, for cutting miles and miles of lines through the thick FL swamps. We would sharpen our machetes 2-3 times a day with a file, and after about 3 months, the machete looked like a long fillet knife, and it was time for a new one.
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2008
- Messages
- 228
I was gonna say it, but Barber beat me to it. I agree that bottom profile looks tempting.
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2007
- Messages
- 5,846
Siguy-
I've been doing the "sierra machetes" - the bowie pattern camp choppers in 1/8 with 8 to 11 inches of blade. Still considerably different than your chetes. You should do fine in 1/8 inch. if you need to lighten them up a touch you can always do a really shallow convex grind. I do a LOT of 3/32 and I'd be a little iffy going that thin for a north american temperate forest machete, even though I can baton all day with one of the 5 inch 3/32 blades.
Now, for bushcrafting, 3/32 works well. The Revolution continues!
I've been doing the "sierra machetes" - the bowie pattern camp choppers in 1/8 with 8 to 11 inches of blade. Still considerably different than your chetes. You should do fine in 1/8 inch. if you need to lighten them up a touch you can always do a really shallow convex grind. I do a LOT of 3/32 and I'd be a little iffy going that thin for a north american temperate forest machete, even though I can baton all day with one of the 5 inch 3/32 blades.
Now, for bushcrafting, 3/32 works well. The Revolution continues!
christof, i am thinking in terms of flex...
the 1/8 thick blades are very stiff, they have just about no noticeable flex to them.
i want to make a more flexible blade, more like a typical machete. i just handled a tramontina 12" for the first time yesterday and it is just barely over 1/16" (2 mm), and 3/32 is still a step up from that in thickness.
i will probably mostly stick to 1/8 inch in the end for this size blade, but i want to see how it performs in the thinner steel.
i think i'm also going to do some longer blades, like the 18" and maybe even a 24"-and i think that those would be very unwieldy in 1/8".
thanks for the advice though, it is duly noted.
the 1/8 thick blades are very stiff, they have just about no noticeable flex to them.
i want to make a more flexible blade, more like a typical machete. i just handled a tramontina 12" for the first time yesterday and it is just barely over 1/16" (2 mm), and 3/32 is still a step up from that in thickness.
i will probably mostly stick to 1/8 inch in the end for this size blade, but i want to see how it performs in the thinner steel.
i think i'm also going to do some longer blades, like the 18" and maybe even a 24"-and i think that those would be very unwieldy in 1/8".
thanks for the advice though, it is duly noted.
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- Mar 29, 2007
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- 5,846
well, like I said- I think the choppers i'm doign in 1/8 are a bit different. I'd think the stuff I'm using would do for a machete, but now you've got me thinking. I'm going to try out a 10-12 inch machete in the .095 15N20!
After heat treating on the 1/8 stock I can get a camp chopper to flex about 15 degrees in my hands without ridiculous effort. But I also think that the heavier short machete thing works better in the environment I'm in and that that's the reason I've been working that way.
And to think the last several months I've been thinking everything I do is exceptionally thin in modern fashion!
After heat treating on the 1/8 stock I can get a camp chopper to flex about 15 degrees in my hands without ridiculous effort. But I also think that the heavier short machete thing works better in the environment I'm in and that that's the reason I've been working that way.
And to think the last several months I've been thinking everything I do is exceptionally thin in modern fashion!