If you have a good machete, what's the point of having a large knife?

I had a friend sharpen up my new RMD with his belt sander (he's a professional knife maker), and while he was at it, I had him improve the factory edge on my Condor Golok. He basically moved up the shoulder a bit, and also improved the convexed edge. This thing now has a beautiful convex edge and it's far sharper than it came from the factory.

Here are a few pics of the edge, tried to shoot from a few angles so you can see the blade grind a little better. I'm really happy with both how sharp he got it, and the really strong convex grind that keeps a lot of steel behind the edge. I think now this thing will be ready to go from being a good chopper to a great one.

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That is how my little Golok started, it has since thinned out even more. Use it for awhile, i bet that shoulder walks a bit higher still :D

nice work by the way.
 
ron_m80 said:
That is how my little Golok started, it has since thinned out even more. Use it for awhile, i bet that shoulder walks a bit higher still :D

nice work by the way.
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Bingo. As is it ought to do a lot better for you, but you haven't even seen its full potential yet! :D
 
I'll bet that thing cuts like a spoon now.:D It looks nice how he was able to maintain the even bevel with the varying thickness. I can't even get an even bevel at the same thickness.
 
So, when you guys are envisioning a much higher shoulder on the Golok, it sounds to me like something that would look almost like a "Scandi" grind.

I'm sure my friend can do that if I want. However, he definitely got it REALLY sharp, so I'm just going to use it and beat the snot out of it for a while. He said I could maintain it easily without having to do a bunch of fancy "mousepad" tricks for convex sharpening, and without (for the time being) needing to buy a belt sander just to sharpen my handful of knives. He said I could just use my DMT diafold, or my Sharpmaker, and put sort of a micro bevel v-edge on the bottom of the convexed edge when I need to maintain. Hopefully that will work and enable me to field sharpen this when I need to.
 
if you have a good machete, theres really no point.

theres generally no point to a large thick knife most of the time anyway. the easiest way to look at this argument is based on world blade styles, nepalese kukris are really the only example in the world of a very thick knife being used regularly by villagers, and its mainly based on their land and needs, but if you research it, when processing large hardwood, they have axes.

up here in Canada, if you walk around the woods in the winter with a battle mistress, youll not only look like an idiot with an oversized/overpriced knife, but if your life depends on processing firewood, your going to die. thats a fact. An axe is the only non powered tool acceptable to process wood along with a good bow saw, but generally we have chainsaws...

for something along the lines of 60-70% of the rest of the world, machetes are king. so whats the question again?

all you need is a small knife, axe and machete, and the world is yours :)
 
machetes are generally choppers. truth is, they are not weapons. they are tools. and they are wieghted for chopping. chopping haas very limited utility functions. but when you live in a swampy, marshy, more rural area, then they are great. but you still need a knife for ust about everything else. you wouldent take out a machete to open up a packet of food would you? especially if there are other people around and its covored in swamp stuff :eek:
 
I use my machete for almost every task when I'm out in the woods. The small knife comes out for precise tasks, generally, but there's certainly no need for a big knife when a machete's involved--just a small one will do.
 
I bought a Condor Golok thinking the same thing. If I have a thick machete, why do I need a big knife? I can honestly say that the Golok out-chops any knife I have. It even comes close to my hatchet. However, I would rather carry a big knife. This is because I find the Golok very difficult to use for splitting. I was able to use it to split that same way you would use an axe a few times, but for the most part it is very difficult to use. I am willing to sacrifice some chopping ability to have improved splitting ability as well as the ability to perform fine tasks.
 
instructed2 said:
I bought a Condor Golok thinking the same thing. If I have a thick machete, why do I need a big knife? I can honestly say that the Golok out-chops any knife I have. It even comes close to my hatchet. However, I would rather carry a big knife. This is because I find the Golok very difficult to use for splitting. I was able to use it to split that same way you would use an axe a few times, but for the most part it is very difficult to use. I am willing to sacrifice some chopping ability to have improved splitting ability as well as the ability to perform fine tasks.
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Thin out the shoulder and it ought to both chop and split better. :)
 
hodges said:
up here in Canada, if you walk around the woods in the winter with a battle mistress, youll not only look like an idiot with an oversized/overpriced knife, but if your life depends on processing firewood, your going to die.
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Well, I too live in Canada, and you aren't going to die in the woods with a big knife...largely because "processing firewood" never becomes an issue.
I have a step-brother who winter camps alot. The biggest knife he ever carries is a regular, beat up Ka-Bar. He usually doesn't even carry that.
Yet he stays toasty warm without dying. Why? Because once you get the fire started, with is easy with any knife and a fire starting device, then you can just throw wood on, and strangely it burns.:eek:

So no, you won't die in the Canadian woods if "all" you have for cutting stuff is a large knife, and many people here won't think you look like an idiot either.

The three big knives here chop stuff just fine too:

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yeah actually you can, and people have. But that depends on where in Canada you are, how isolated, and how long you will be out and exposed. So those are generally things to consider with your gear. And frozen logs dont magically burn, but again, where and how long really matter.
 
hodges said:
yeah actually you can, and people have.
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If they die when they have a means of cutting and fire starting, then that's their failure, not that of the gear.
Sure an axe would be preferable for winter fire prep, but if someone cannot survive using a hatchet or big knife, they should just hole up in the house.
And frozen logs don't magically burn, tis true, but they do burn when put on a fire of sufficient size.:) And you don't NEED an axe (or chainsaw) to get a fire of that size going...although it would make it easier.
 
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