Machete vs. hatchet

reconranger said:
Depends where you are!

In the North American woods, a hatchet for sure. In the tropical jungle, the machete for sure. If you are somewhere in between, it is a personal call based on the local conditions.
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Funny enough I live in the North with plenty of dense old growth forest around and my choice is still the machete unless I plan on doing a lot of dedicated felling or splitting.
 
I've found that I'm usually content with just a machete, but when I have a hatchet I often long for a big knife aswell.
 
I like the Bark River Golok. When I was out in the bottom lands hunting squirrel, it came in real handy clearing a trail or knocking down overhanging limbs and spider webs. It I needed to deal with big wood, just use my Silky saw and split with the golok.
 
I ilke a five inch fixed, and my JK hatchet. Thiscombo works well for me. I alwasy have a machete in the Jeep.
 
I personally have both. The "machete" if you can call it that is something I made myself. It has a 13" blade of 3/32 stock and it goes from about 1 1/4" at the handle to a full 2" just before the tip. It's light as air but I can hack limbs off deadfall in a fraction of the time I can use a hatchet. Speaking from my own experience camping on Government land in Northern Ontario, Canada, there wasn't much I used the hatchet for other than tent pegs.
 
Machete. Unless I'm in the PNW and Canada, then its chainsaw or felling axe. Since I've never been to the PNW or Canada, then machete. I got 3 now, and 2 more coming. I have a CS Kuk, MAG Kuk, Becker Patrol. Soon a Reinharht Kuk, and a FBF 14" Nat Mic. For me, more versitile in my neck of the woods. I have axes and use them, nothing special, just axes. Wood splitters.

Moose
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Funny enough I live in the North with plenty of dense old growth forest around and my choice is still the machete unless I plan on doing a lot of dedicated felling or splitting.
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True, when the undergrowth gets nasty, would be nice to have both. But, I'm thinking more in terms of a light hiking/survival type situation, where weight will be an issue and you can't drag along everything with you that you might like.
 
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I can get along with a hawk and knife, Machete and knife or short axe/axe. Last month I went backpacking and didn't use my hawk even though it was on my pack. I just jumped on the logs to break the ones I could, and burned the others in half. I do prefer a Khukri or small axe when harvesting lots of wood.
 
reconranger said:
True, when the undergrowth gets nasty, would be nice to have both. But, I'm thinking more in terms of a light hiking/survival type situation, where weight will be an issue and you can't drag along everything with you that you might like.
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My point was more from the standpoint that unless I actually plan on doing lots of dedicated felling and splitting, which you wouldn't be in a light hiking/survival type situation, I'd choose a machete. You CAN fell and split with one...just not as well as an axe of course. And it can do a lot more besides.
 
bladefoolish said:
Okay, you're out for a weekend outing. The decision to carry a medium sized fixed blade (4"-6" blade) and a folder is a no-brainer, but . . . assuming space/weight limitations, would you take a machete or a hatchet? Why?

I've always been a hatchet guy, but hey, you machete fans can try to change my mind.
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In my neck of the woods...Southeast U.S., I'll take my machete over a hatchet any day.

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Depends, I get a lot of use out of a machete.

Then again, hatchets/tomahawks do come in handy a lot too.

But usually what you can do with a hatchet you can do with a good knife when you bash the spine with a smal log.

So..... machete in the end.
 
What kind of camping are you doing? If you are bushwhacking at all, you might find the machete to be useful not just to get there, but to clear out camp. There may be an opportune spot if it weren't for the dead brambles in that area. Splitting of course, is important, but you may find yourself doing so less and less once you get the eye for standing dead wood. A crotch of a tree works well for breaking logs into smaller manageable sizes to throw onto the fire, and the machete will help get the necessary amount of small wood needed to reach the optimum temperature for drying out any wet surface on large logs. If you want to have a bon fire, an axe may be what you want but you can still pull it off with a machete too. Are you looking to do anything else with the camp tool, like a shelter or friction fires or bark peeling? Once the fire is all good and set, where could the benefits of one outweigh the other for specific tasks you want to accomplish as a knife nut? These are questions that may help you out
 
Here in Brazil it is machete all the way. I have seen guys take hatchets to the bush here but I have never seen anyone use them. We have a year round growing season so everything gets choked with brush, vines, grasses, weeds etc. Without a machete you just can't move, clear a place for shelter, make the shelter, cut water vines etc. Here the machete literally touches on every survival task you need to perform. A hatchet just cannot function in that wide a role.
 
Hatchet/axe for me, but I grew up in New Hampshire. During the five years I lived in Florida, the machete worked better. Given a choice, I would like to have both.
 
I have a modified banshee sword from Hanwey that a use a as a machete when I’m on jungle operations down in the south of México. But that’s pretty much it. When I’m in the sierra, or high desert areas a small hatchet is what a carry. It depends on the terrain and on the weight you are willing to carry.
 
Shotgun said:
Not necessarily. I find I have no use for a knife with 4-6 inch blade. A SAK and a tomahawk/hatchet is what I need.
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You mean you only catch minnows, never downed a deer, wild hog, or just had to reach the bottom of the peanut butter jar?
 
Here in south eastern OK I prefer my 28 in. tramontina machete when out in the woods
we have quite a few thickets and green briers and a machete makes life much easier they also come in handy for the occasional copperhead.
 
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