Machetes & Bush Knives

Horn Dog said:
There was a Canadian who posted on one of the forums a long time ago who swore by the Tramontina bolo machete. I don't see why a machete would not be useful in any dense vegetation regardless of the latitude. Besides, they're cheap! :D
Click to expand...

I got one of them. Good stuff:thumbup:
 
I made a leather slip sheath for my first one. That's a big part of why I continue to get the same model. The sheath cost me three times as much to make as a new machete.
 
shotgunner11 said:
I made a leather slip sheath for my first one. That's a big part of why I continue to get the same model. The sheath cost me three times as much to make as a new machete.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I am really digging the prices on the Tram machetes and they have a good reputation. I am just not really set up to make my own sheaths so the Condors start to look pretty attractive.
 
I asked Rainwalker to make me a leather sheath for my most used knife, an 18" Tramontina. I waited a long time, but look what he sent me:
Jeff001.jpg

Jeff003.jpg

Can you believe it? Tooled on both sides, too.
Jeff005.jpg

Jeff007.jpg

Well, naturally I could not put my old Tram beater in this art, so I got a new one and put a mirror convex edge on it. But still, the sheath is worth many times what a $6.00 machete costs. So the machete is the disposabe part. Yeah, it's nuts. I know it. :D
 
I don't think it's extreme. It makes sense to have a good way to carry your most used tool. Well maybe a little extreme. :)
 
mneedham said:
Tram sheath from Brazil:

mike561.jpg
Click to expand...

Nice. :thumbup: Funny you should show that. I used to have a Collins with one of those nice South American leather sheaths. So I asked Rainwalker to make me one. A guy could make some money importing those nice leather machete sheaths, even if they do cost more than the machete. As I said, the machete is the disposable part.
 
affordable way to make a sheath for a tram involves duct tape and cardboard. i've also made one with plywood and staples... seen a couple made of PVC pipe, i think i'm gonna try that for my next.
 
mneedham said:
Tram sheath from Brazil:

mike561.jpg
Click to expand...

Mike,

Looks kind of familiar...

In Brazil the machete literally touches on every aspect, every task associated with wilderness survival. I live in Central Brazil so it isn't jungle like the Amazon, but depending on the time of year and where I go conditions are very similar. When I moved down to Brazil in '99 (I had also lived there before) I went from being a machete user to being a full blown addict.

Now when I'm back in the US my preferred way of doing things in the bush still revolves around my machete skills. In the summer here I don't really notice any change from what I do in Brazil. Where the machete starts to lag behind in the north is in winter. A machete can be pressed into service to hack through logs but as RAT said "Eventually we got through it". Yes, it can be done but somewhere in the process you will ask if someone brought an axe.

A machete is a poor tool for generating a large volume of firewood. In Brazil I don't use the machete for stocking camp with firewood, I just use deadfall and break it. The thing is that even in Brazil's brutal 45 degree overnight winter lows you don't need all that much wood to get through the night. If you can pile up one cubic meter of deadfall you are pretty much set.

When it's below zero your fuel needs are an order of magnitude greater. Dropping dead trees, bucking them up, and splitting them is the province of the axe and saw.

Mac
 
pict said:
A machete is a poor tool for generating a large volume of firewood.... Dropping dead trees, bucking them up, and splitting them is the province of the axe and saw.

Mac
Click to expand...

110% truth right there. If I had to spend all winter in the woods I'd want a axe and a saw for sure. Burning wood in winter keeps you warm three ways! Once when you split it, twice when you stack it, and thrice when you burn it! And it makes you all macho-buff too. :cool: :D

When I'm just out for a few hours to a day clearing up some stuff I'll still go with my machete though. :)
 
I'm curious if anyone else ever tried a chisel grind on their machete?

My Dad always put a chisel grind on our machetes, such that for a right-handed person swinging down into a standing tree, the chisel grind tended to make the blade bite into the tree rather than glancing downward. For my own machetes, I tend to sharpen both sides more evenly into a "V" grind, but I do understand my Dad's reasoning.

I don't remember if they came from the factory with a chisel grind or not. We bought them in Peru but they were likely made in Columbia.
 
I have not tried a chisel grind, but it makes sense if you are always chopping in the same direction. But sometimes in clearing, I strike on either side of the blade, so for me I think a symmetrical grind is better.
 
Horn Dog said:
I have not tried a chisel grind, but it makes sense if you are always chopping in the same direction. But sometimes in clearing, I strike on either side of the blade, so for me I think a symmetrical grind is better.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I frequently strike in both directions, most often times alternating directions of the strike. If you cut once from one side, then from the other, you can remove a huge wedge in two blows. Very efficient.:)
 
On my bushcraft machetes I put a convex on the forward portion of the blade and a very sharp scandi portion at the base. On some of my machetes that sharp base is more like a very high angle convex, I do the mods by hand. You can chop all day with a machete and the base of the blade will get very little contact. I like to keep that portion of the blade very sharp for detailed cutting tasks.

I file the spine of the machete flat for use as a scraper when making tinder from dry hardwood. Mac
 
pict said:
On my bushcraft machetes I put a convex on the forward portion of the blade and a very sharp scandi portion at the base. On some of my machetes that sharp base is more like a very high angle convex, I do the mods by hand. You can chop all day with a machete and the base of the blade will get very little contact. I like to keep that portion of the blade very sharp for detailed cutting tasks.

I file the spine of the machete flat for use as a scraper when making tinder from dry hardwood. Mac
Click to expand...

Cool mods, dude! I may have to try that out on one or two of mine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top