Machete 5 pack info needed.

No idea about "Prima" but the Gebruder Weyersberg piece is pre-Imacasa production. Nice snag--got pics?

And yes--sounds like you're describing distal taper. :thumbup:

 

Distal taper = good stuff!

Like fortytwo, I've never heard of Prima either, but if all those blades have distal taper (blade spine is thicker at the handle than the tip), you may have something there... and yes, old german solingen steel IS good stuff indeed!

I'm no expert, but here are a few tests you can do:

1) Flick the spine of each blade with your fingernail. They should ring. Good machete steel rings like a bell when struck. In fact, if you chop some hard wood with them, you will hear them ring with every stroke due to good and even heat treatment.

2) Slam the point deeply into a piece of wood (a tree stump is ideal, a tree trunk will work). Now pull the handle towards you and try to bend the blade as far as it will go. Release it. It should return to "true" (straight). A crappy blade will stay bent (too soft), or snap in two (too hard). Repeat in the other direction. Warning: This test will either ruin your machete, or prove its worth.

3) Sharpen them. Good machete steel will easily sharpen with a decent flat file. The rough edge left by the file greatly aids the cutting ability of a machete by leaving micro serrations at the edge. No need for "hair popping sharp". It is not for shaving.


Hope this helps.

 

This is horrible advice. Use sandstone or granite instead, it will grip the blade better.

 

Sorry, no disrespect sir but this is not horrible advice... In fact, using rock for this purpose will almost guarantee that the blade's spring temper will vibrate its way loose from said rock upon releasing the handle. Rock has no "give" to absorb that vibration. Wood does.
Sink that tip a good 2 -3 inches into a tree, and it will hold just fine (read very tightly). Don't be afraid. We've done it this way throughout the Caribbean for decades.
Can 40 million people all be wrong?

Maybe some caveats are in order:
If you do try this, hold the handle so that the spine is facing the stump / trunk. And when you release it, do so slowly.
A machete's tip is only about 1/16" thick. Try this with something thick like a Busse, and the blade won't give. The tree will. And that is indeed dangerous.

 

hmm, learned somethimg new today.

"Distal Taper" my Ontario does not have, and to think i percieved that as a good thing..

 

Distal taper is not needed in all designs as long as the lack thereof is taken deliberately into account, but in MOST cases distal taper is advantageous. My Baryonx Machete design, for instance, is an example of an untapered design that does not require the feature, because it was specifically designed to perform at its peak in untapered stock. The Imacasa Rozador, by contrast, is a great example of a design taking maximum advantage of distal taper.

 

Yeah I wouldn't bother with the whole flex testing thing. They should all be fairly decent if they're tapered. Ringing is more of an indication of a strong/tight handle fit. If the scales have a slightly looser fit then they dampen the vibration that would otherwise cause ringing. That's not the limit of the indications, but it's the biggest one.

 

"... a bit King Arthur to me" LMAO

Yes, the ringing thing...
I believe this is a holdover from the days when good machetes were forged and heat treated like the really old Collins and Martindales with a bit of inconsistency from batch to batch. In my grandpa's day, that's how they would judge them (they called it "singing") and I guess that info gets passed down to each generation as "common knowledge".

Ironically, the cheap knockoff companies quickly learned that a machete that sings, sells. I think that's why so many el cheapos have a bell like blade sound, but are total crap in use - low edge retention, high edge rolling, hard to sharpen, etc.

Most of those blade shapes look just like Ralph Martindale & co. patterns. Google them. I believe Imacasa also has similar designs.

Regarding the mods you want to do, IMHO stay away from any design that will leave a very narrow tip, it will be much weaker than a design with more "meat" left, when exposed to the high twisting and impact forces a machete blade experiences. That angled straight Sharpie line on the last one in your last photo looks pretty good I think..