Gerber Gator Machete Modification

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Farnsrocket

Joined
Dec 31, 2006
Messages
431
There was an older thread about someone who broke their machete and found out it wasn't a full tang .......the blade only goes about 1/3 of the way into the handle!

So I figured I would make mine a full tang machete......here are some pics.

Showing full size just after I removed the rubber handle and two bolts holding the plastic handle on:
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Plastic, one piece handle cut in half with a hack saw blade and cut off wheel....you can see just how much really is in the handle....pretty weak! Those marks are showing the new handle placement.
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Blade marked with a Sharpie to show where I need to cut:
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Rotozip....check. Cutoff wheel........check. Earmuffs......check. Full face guard.....check. Begin cutting!!!!
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Cut blade and handle lined up:

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Full shot of new length:

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Then I had to fasten the handle. I drilled 2 new holes for the front bolts, then added two smaller bolts at the other end of the handle to hold it together. I thought about epoxying it together, but this worked out nicely!
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I tried to slip the rubber handle back on, but I couldn't get the ridges and indentations to line up inside and it made the handle lumpy and sloppy. So I opted to cord wrap it......I think it came out nice!

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I just cut the tip of the sheath off and just need to rivet it back together.
 
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Thanks guys! :thumbup:

I am wondering how you go about cord wrapping a handle, specifically, finishing it?
I basically started at the front of the handle and left a tag, then took the cord to the back of the handle and started wrapping towards the front, to the tag. It worked out better this way cause the curve at the front of the handle wouldn't allow me to wrap towards the back without slipping.

Here's a professionally finished MS Paint illustration! :D

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So when I got to the tag section, I just tied a couple of double overhand knots and then melted both ends and smashed them into the last cord wrap and handle. I can't get it to move around. I am considering finishing up the last couple of wraps with some super glue.
Any other suggestions??
 
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You did a very good job. I have done several knife modifications and it gets into some real work sometimes.
 
Instead of whipping with string you may get better results by stacking several tredder inner tube bands in a row. Being as they are closed loops you won't have the free ends business. Doing a whole bunch of narrow ones will probably work better - perhaps put one on, twist, and loop back the other way - avoids tensioning problems of going over an irregular shape. I bet that would afford you a far superior grip too.
 
great work. Seems like a lot of work to me to get basically a 20 machete. is the saw tooth back usable? I had considered one of these because of the longer handle length and i have onlyexperienced using short ones. No wise cracks please! do you like the shorter blade with the extera control of thr longer handle? anyway it is fun to play with our toys, thanks for the mod pictures.
I missed how the other thread showed the original handle being broken. Sure would feel better with the full tang version
 
Since I will have a lot of time on my hands in the near future, I may have to do this to my Gator. Sweet!

BTW - the saw back is very good on this machete, the only saw back I ever had that really worked good cutting wood.
 
sharpguytoo said:
great work. Seems like a lot of work to me to get basically a 20 machete. is the saw tooth back usable? I had considered one of these because of the longer handle length and i have onlyexperienced using short ones. No wise cracks please! do you like the shorter blade with the extera control of thr longer handle? anyway it is fun to play with our toys, thanks for the mod pictures.
I missed how the other thread showed the original handle being broken. Sure would feel better with the full tang version
Click to expand...

Yep, it was a lot of work, but I was bored and figured why not! :D
I bought this right before I read the first thread about it breaking! :mad:
I haven't even used it yet, but it is stiffer, possibly chop worthy. On top of what chewy said, the saw seems like it will work well.
 
I have 2 of these, one for me and one for my son.
We've hacked some limbs and weeds and they work great.
The saw back is very useful.
We haven't broken ours yet, but when it happens I'll have to steal your idea...thanks!
 
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