Machete - time to make this happen

Cobalt

Cobalt

Platinum Member
Joined
Dec 23, 1998
Messages
17,894
is there any possibility of this happening? Scrapyard? Swamp Rat?


Ideally, 15-16" long blade of SR101 or SR77 .15" thick with resiprene handle. INFI would be cool but too costly. I'd settle for the other two steels.
 
I would be in with either the SR 101 or 77,, maybe with the ceracoat coating ? I would agree ( as great as INFI is ) it would be a little too pricey.
 
Been wanting this for a long time. I'd be happy with 14" if it helped make it happen
 
Chuckette....5160....Reasonable and since its a working blade might be doable.
 
A couple of those Prototype choppers from Swamp Rat at Knob and Blade were about the right thickness for this, just a little too short and narrow blades perhaps.
 
Cobalt said:
is there any possibility of this happening? Scrapyard? Swamp Rat?


Ideally, 15-16" long blade of SR101 or SR77 .15" thick with resiprene handle. INFI would be cool but too costly. I'd settle for the other two steels.
Click to expand...


The Magnum MOASKs they had at blade feel like a machete :)
 
I'm not after a bolo, or a kukrichete, or anything fancy... just a straight blade, thin stock machete.
 
Anything with a blade thickness greater than 3/16 is not a Machete. Machetes are light and fast, flickable with the wrist anything with a 1/4 inch blade is not. As soon as you start wanting a thick blade then you want just a big knife. Machetes are 1/8" to 5/32 inch thick.
 
Found this photo posted long ago... I'd go for a SAR14/15 that's 5/32 thick :D

drift draft said:
SAR18.jpg
Click to expand...
 
The 1311 is very close to what you're asking for. 13" SR101 blade, 3/16" thick with resiprene. It's a pretty awesome blade.

The coating on the knife makes it quite a bit heavier than a typical machete, though that can be remedied by stripping and blueing.
 
Yes, but at 3/16 you are stretching calling it a machete. Machete blades are flexible,
 
For years I wondered why Jerry Busse didn't put an INFI machete into production. I've actively lobbied for a thINFI machete for 15 years. But I finally began to realize that, whatever his reasons, I was discovering reasons of my own why an INFI machete didn't make a lot of sense.

As Cobalt says, when it comes to machetes, thin blades obviously work best. Thin doesn't correspond well to the Busse model of indestructibility. ThINFI works in a small knife, but in a long, broad, machete-style blade optimally less than 1/8" thick, a blade meant to be swung at high speed into all kinds of rough material, it would be subject to major damage during "normal" use (as all machetes are). It would also be very expensive. To me, when you reach that threshold it makes more sense to go with something tough and disposable, and there are plenty of inexpensive machetes out there that do a perfectly adequate job on under-3" dia. limbs and saplings (as does the B11). Anything 4" thick or thicker is chainsaw fodder in my view, although I've taken out 5"+ dia. seasoned juniper clearing trail with a B11--no problem, just takes awhile.

So I no longer see an INFI machete as all that desirable--especially in terms of price vs performance. And anything longer than a B11 isn't going on my belt for long distances, anyway. Taking it a step further, any blade that is too long (or too heavy, for that matter) to carry comfortably on my belt is destined to stay in my vehicle (or at my house), which means it's not significantly more portable than a chainsaw. And as a chopper, no knife can compete with a chainsaw.
 
360joules said:
The 1311 is very close to what you're asking for. 13" SR101 blade, 3/16" thick with resiprene. It's a pretty awesome blade.

The coating on the knife makes it quite a bit heavier than a typical machete, though that can be remedied by stripping and blueing.
Click to expand...

I love my 1311. I am not a log destroyer as some of you here but for the branches, soft trees that I have used on it works awesome. I like it better than my old tired home shortened tool steel machete,. Which was about 13" as well. I can see if you are doing jungle clearing a longer machete is good but for most other stuff the 1311 is perfect. Maybe for the infi fix a 1311 in infi will do.
 
I think that an SR77 machete would be the bomb. S7 is flexible and extremely tough
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top