How To machetes use in woody , North-American brush.

The weird thing with the Condor Golok is that it's a STRONG distal taper but the edge bevel is ground to a uniform WIDTH rather than uniform ANGLE so when I do Special Grade regrinds on them I do it at a proper low angle the full length and it makes the bevel like 3x as wide at the base of the blade as a result. The geometry near the base of the blade is like a cold chisel from the factory. Once thinned out they work well, but it's baffling that they haven't fixed that design issue in all these years.
 
Cold steel machetes are slightly thicker and better for north america imo.
Just dont get one of their skinny ones (like the piece of garbage katana machete) and it should be great. I have used a panga pattern from them for about 20 years now. I recently got a jungle machete and it is a favorite of mine. The ontario machete is thicker as well and is good too.
Condor makes good machete with nice leather sheath, but some may be too thick for some tasks and can be quite heavy. The engineer bolo for instance is awesome but quite heavy. I would also say condor comes in a range of thickness for their blades so you could find your sweet spot. For me i like the slightly thicker, but not too thickness of cold steel and ontario.
 
Ontario is overly hard, uncomfortable handles, and lack of taper, and the only reason I carried them pre-buy-out was because they were the only production USA-made machete option.

Cold Steel, by contrast, are softer than I prefer, and also lack distal taper. They do have injection molded handles, though, and some designs you can't get anywhere else (for good and for ill.) The original offerings they had were just rebranded Lasher machetes and were the most practical designs, if the most roughly finished. Some of the newer models are contextually good and useful while some others are...not great in the performance and practicality areas.

Generally I don't go thicker than 1/8" in my working machetes, and most are a lot thinner. Most of those 1/8" models are only that thick at the base of the blade and are much thinner near the tip.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Ontario is overly hard, uncomfortable handles, and lack of taper, and the only reason I carried them pre-buy-out was because they were the only production USA-made machete option.
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Interesting, I find their steel a little softer than I'd prefer. But that's better than being too hard and chipping.

I agree on the handles. So unreasonably blocky and painful in prolonged use. I finally took a rasp to my handles and they are much improved.

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The worst part about the Ontario blades is the grind. Just...special..?
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oldmanwilly said:
Interesting, I find their steel a little softer than I'd prefer. But that's better than being too hard and chipping.

I agree on the handles. So unreasonably blocky and painful in prolonged use. I finally took a rasp to my handles and they are much improved.

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The worst part about the Ontario blades is the grind. Just...special..?
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In my experience with modding them for customers, my usual machete-cutting process is to cut about 3/4 or more of the way through the blade stock with a cutoff wheel (far from the final line so as not to affect the heat treatment--I grind to final shape) and then lock the tip in a vise and snap it off, which avoids having to fight the torque that surges up when a cutoff wheel actually goes fully through the material. With Ontario machetes I've attempted that technique with, the machete has snapped ABOVE the score line. Never had any other machete behave like that.
 
Blues said:
I use a variety of machetes and goloks in the western NC woods. They work for limbing, clearing paths, getting rid of various forms of undergrowth.
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Try to chop some locust tree with it. What do you call them stickers that are in the woods that poke you every time you try to walk through them? I don't remember the name of them but they hurt like a Dickens. I suppose a machete might work on them.
 
Vlade said:
Try to chop some locust tree with it. What do you call them stickers that are in the woods that poke you every time you try to walk through them? I don't remember the name of them but they hurt like a Dickens. I suppose a machete might work on them.
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Not sure if you are referring to nettles?
 
Vlade said:
Can't say for sure but they scratch the living hell out of you. You'll find them in forest like Pisgah.
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Well that's my backyard. They're to be found in the Smokies, Nantahala, Pisgah, and most of the forests of western NC as far as I know.

They burn when they get you.

Lots of stuff to stymie a hiker in the "rhododendron hells" of the WNC mountains.
 
Vlade said:
What do you call them stickers that are in the woods that poke you every time you try to walk through them? I don't remember the name of them but they hurt like a Dickens.
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Probably prickly ash. They're a real b*$ch. They'll draw blood through heavy clothes. Short, stout thorns like a rose but MUCH sharper and stronger and the whole shrub is covered with them.
 
That's gonna leave a mark...

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(Prickly Ash)

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Stinging Nettles
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
The weird thing with the Condor Golok is that it's a STRONG distal taper but the edge bevel is ground to a uniform WIDTH rather than uniform ANGLE so when I do Special Grade regrinds on them I do it at a proper low angle the full length and it makes the bevel like 3x as wide at the base of the blade as a result. The geometry near the base of the blade is like a cold chisel from the factory. Once thinned out they work well, but it's baffling that they haven't fixed that design issue in all these years.
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I reprofiled the edge on mine and it certainly cuts better, but the handle is not comfortable to my style of using a knife. Just could never get use to it.
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Cobalt said:
I reprofiled the edge on mine and it certainly cuts better, but the handle is not comfortable to my style of using a knife. Just could never get use to it.
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When gripping higher on the handle, lock your thumb over the top of the scale. When gripping low on the handle, get the ball of the butt end locked against the heel of your palm and use a "handshake" grip. It works very nicely when used in those ways, but it's definitely sort of a "jack of all trades" combined machete and large camp knife kind of tool. Looks like the base of the blade on that one could have the angle dropped more if you had a mind to.
 
Cobalt said:
I reprofiled the edge on mine and it certainly cuts better, but the handle is not comfortable to my style of using a knife. Just could never get use to it.
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Looks great. What did you use to reprofile it?
 
kobold said:
Looks great. What did you use to reprofile it?
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It was more of a thinning out the existing edge than anything else. It came convexed and I kept it that way, just thinned it out a lot. I do this with all the condors. The edges seem to be very thick. Slack belt sander. 3 passes with 80 grit(could have been 120 grit, not sure), then switched to 220 grit, then finalized with 400 grit. Then I stropped it on my mouse pad that has 1000 grit sand paper glued to it.
 
Cobalt said:
It was more of a thinning out the existing edge than anything else. It came convexed and I kept it that way, just thinned it out a lot. I do this with all the condors. The edges seem to be very thick. Slack belt sander. 3 passes with 80 grit(could have been 120 grit, not sure), then switched to 220 grit, then finalized with 400 grit. Then I stropped it on my mouse pad that has 1000 grit sand paper glued to it.
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Thanks much. I am thinking about it also.
 
Vlade said:
Has anybody tried a Martindale crocodile? This is what I know about them, they're cold rolled carbon steel, they have three fullers, they're about 18 in Long, they have Beach nut handles. I can get them at the local hardware store for about $12.99 or I could go cheap and get a tramontina for about $7. I think Condor makes good machetes too. But the one I have is pretty much useless for other than it's intended purpose. I have a Martindale crocodile and it is superb. I don't think cold steel or condor could touch it. At least not in real world usage.
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I have the para.

They are good. But they need a bit of cleaning up before you use them.

The condor do the same machete as the crocodile. With better fit and finish. And a bigger price tag.


 
These are my go to's on the job. Mainly the square tippet cuta. I suppose it probably falls more into the cane knife category, but for breaking down tops to fit through the chipper (yes, I could use a saw, but where's the fun in that?) Chopping out roots while stump grinding, scraping frozen chips out of the dump box, and general tomfoolery around the house. The lighter guapote comes into it's own clearing multifloral rose, brambles, and tartarian honeysuckle when we're doing right of way or hedgerow jobs. The heavier machete has no problem handling any of the northeastern hardwood species found in Western New York.
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IMG_20231005_100220295.jpgI even occasionally find use for it in the bucket.IMG_20231025_110231490_HDR.jpg

I'd also much rather find a fence or other obstacle hidden in an overgrown area with a machete than a power saw.
 
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