Machete?

I generally call anything that looks like a sharpened piece of flat stock or sheet metal a machete. Once it gets into primary and secondary bevels I think of it as a bush knife. That looks like a large bush knife.
 
The Grendels said:
It's a panga machete by the looks of it. The bolo machete is wider and rounder at the tip.

swordencyclopedia.com

Machete Sword: The Best Survival Sword • Sword Encyclopedia

Discover the very useful machete sword. Learn about all its types and the most common characteristics. Find out how it is used and a bit about its history.
swordencyclopedia.com swordencyclopedia.com
Click to expand...

It's a bolo. Panga is simply Swahili for big wide knife/machete, but they are traditionally much lighter in stock than the above. The weight mainly coming from the broadening of the nose, rather than the stock. Also the handle on the above is carabao horn (Water buffalo) which is common in the Philippines. Also the slabbed full tang construction points to post WWII, as that was an American influence, before WWII it most likely would have been a stick tang.
 
Just what these various machetes ought to be called can be a fluid proposition. For example, I think of a bolo as a knife with a bulbous end. But a Filipino bolo may have a tapering pointed end, looking totally unlike anything I think of as a bolo. I say let the people call their knives what they want. If a Filipino guy with a long pointy knife calls it a bolo, I am not going to argue with him.

Another one we see some confusion with is “parang” vs. “barong”. Some people suggest these are two distinct types of knife. I beg to differ. Parang and Barong are the same word; a parang is a barong is a parang. The difference in spelling is a result of differences in transliteration, maybe different observers hearing one language pronounced differently, maybe different observers widely separated by distance or time observing insignificant differences in pronunciation by native speakers of different languages.

“Machete” just means chopper. But I tend to classify my machetes as “choppers” or “slashers”. Typically, in my mind, a chopper will be made from stock 4-6mm thick, and will cost 60 dollars or more. A slasher will be under 2.5mm thick, and will cost less than $15. Of course, there are slashers that can chop pretty well, and a smaller numbers of choppers which are also pretty decent slashers.

In between, there are machetes with blade stock under 2.5mm that cost more than $30, on up to any amount. They are too expensive to be a slasher, and too flimsy to be a chopper.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top