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

Speaking of machete edges, where I grew up using them (Puerto Rico, Dom Rep, Guatemala, Venezuela) the first few inches in front of the handle were never sharpened to allow choking up for lighter work such as cutting green coconuts while holding one in your hand. I still treat mine that way.
 
beeinak said:
Speaking of machete edges, where I grew up using them (Puerto Rico, Dom Rep, Guatemala, Venezuela) the first few inches in front of the handle were never sharpened to allow choking up for lighter work such as cutting green coconuts while holding one in your hand. I still treat mine that way.
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I also like mine that way. I'll be honest, I didn't catch on to the usefulness of such until watching some Joe Flowers youtube videos. Of course, he probably learned from the South American people that use them as their EDC.
 
bikerector said:
I also like mine that way. I'll be honest, I didn't catch on to the usefulness of such until watching some Joe Flowers youtube videos. Of course, he probably learned from the South American people that use them as their EDC.
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It was amazing watching some of those people using them. From making scaffolding from trees, to cleaning small fish, filleting large fish, butchering goats/cows/goats/chickens, to settling disputes, to digging up vegetables, cutting cane/coconuts, etc.

Our gardener in the Dom Rep used to cut the grass with one- the entire yard! He refused to use anything else. The fishermen who would take us out on boats to SCUBA dive and spearfish always had machetes around.

An indigenous group of people I ran into while canoeing on a lake in the jungle in Venezuela all were carrying machetes of different sizes/shapes. They did not understand Spanish and yet we ‘communicated’ for a couple of hours before they disappeared after darting a monkey. To see a group of people who looked like they just walked out of National Geographic suddenly appear out of thick jungle all carrying machetes, bows, and blow guns was a memory I will never forget!

I learned so much from different people who relied on them to live. Machetes will always be with me. 😀
 
Are they allowed to be called machetes if they have 3/16" stock thickness? With 13" and 19" full height flat-vex blades, I think these will cut the North American Forest™. Suretouch handles. Finishing them up after a snooze.

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David Mary said:
Are they allowed to be called machetes if they have 3/16" stock thickness? With 13" and 19" full height flat-vex blades, I think these will cut the North American Forest™. Suretouch handles. Finishing them up after a snooze.

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Oh there are plenty of machetes that thick at the spine. I'd say that the mark of a machete is overall thinness in geometry, but that can be obtained a number of ways. Actually putting primary grinds on it is one of those ways, certainly. It's just less commonly done because if necessarily bumps them up in price and most machetes place an emphasis on being economical such that they can be used like a consumable, but that doesn't mean that more complex builds are no longer machetes! The balance and weight just need to be such that they're suitable for machete tasks rather than "chopping knife" tasks. If it ticks those boxes, it's a machete!
 
Not sure if this is Germaine to the discussion, but as far as I know the indigenous people of Central and South America were not working steel before the Spanish arrived. Accordingly they got machetes that he Spanish or their descendants made, not something they had developed to suit their needs, at least initially. In South East Asia, the Philippines. Indonesia, Borneo they were working steel as the Spanish and later us (USA) discovered when we took over the Philippines after the Spanish American War, and those indigenous peoples developed goloks and parangs and a host of other cutting tools that suited their purposes. I like watching "Elang Bushcraft" on You Tube, where the man is in a Tropical Rain Forest on one of the Islands in Indonesia (they have over 17,000 islands!) and he caries two Parangs, one with about a 14-16 inch blade, the other about 9 inches which he uses primarily for food preparation. I enjoy watching him as he does not use anything other than those two Parangs (not sure if that is the proper term for them) to make shelters in the Jungle, dig holes, prepare food, split up logs for fire wood, and chop thru tree trunks. No tarps, saws, nails , makes shelters, splits long leaf type plants to make roofs on the shelters, and cuts up vines. and long roots he uses to tie of frame works of his shelters. Would a machete work as well in "His Environment"? Not sure but those Parangs work well for him. John
 
I view Benjamin as an expert on the subject and will defer to his explanation above. But I’m glad you had a good laugh. Laughing is good for the soul.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
This limits the number of manufacturers you can trust for long blades. Imacasa of El Salvador (the parent company of Condor) is my preferred choice, with distal taper, good hardness, a wide range of patterns and lengths, and lots of handle options, including injection-molded polypropylene, which is my preferred type. Other good brands are Incolma/Gavilan of Colombia, Hansa of Ecuador, and Tramontina of Brazil (no distal taper, so 18" or shorter blades only.)
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I bought this back in 1984 to use in the swampy area on my property that is filled with an impenetrable tangle of Tag Alders and overgrown Canary Grass. It’s been packed away since 1987, until I read this thread today and pulled it back out to have a look. Any chance this was one of the good ones from El Salvador back in 1984? It worked just fine for me back then, it did everything I asked of it and then some.

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Retired UPS Driver said:
I bought this back in 1984 to use in the swampy area on my property that is filled with an impenetrable tangle of Tag Alders and overgrown Canary Grass. It’s been packed away since 1987, until I read this thread today and pulled it back out to have a look. Any chance this was one of the good ones from El Salvador back in 1984? It worked just fine for me back then, it did everything I asked of it and then some.

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Makes one wonder if it was made by Imacasa for Corona. Corona's saws and pruners seem well regarded.

Looks good. How's the balance?
 
John A. Larsen said:
Not sure if this is Germaine to the discussion, but as far as I know the indigenous people of Central and South America were not working steel before the Spanish arrived. Accordingly they got machetes that he Spanish or their descendants made, not something they had developed to suit their needs, at least initially. In South East Asia, the Philippines. Indonesia, Borneo they were working steel as the Spanish and later us (USA) discovered when we took over the Philippines after the Spanish American War, and those indigenous peoples developed goloks and parangs and a host of other cutting tools that suited their purposes. I like watching "Elang Bushcraft" on You Tube, where the man is in a Tropical Rain Forest on one of the Islands in Indonesia (they have over 17,000 islands!) and he caries two Parangs, one with about a 14-16 inch blade, the other about 9 inches which he uses primarily for food preparation. I enjoy watching him as he does not use anything other than those two Parangs (not sure if that is the proper term for them) to make shelters in the Jungle, dig holes, prepare food, split up logs for fire wood, and chop thru tree trunks. No tarps, saws, nails , makes shelters, splits long leaf type plants to make roofs on the shelters, and cuts up vines. and long roots he uses to tie of frame works of his shelters. Would a machete work as well in "His Environment"? Not sure but those Parangs work well for him. John
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Makes you wonder how they got by in the same environment with only stone tools. I've never heard of a chipped/flaked stone machete.
 
Retired UPS Driver said:
I bought this back in 1984 to use in the swampy area on my property that is filled with an impenetrable tangle of Tag Alders and overgrown Canary Grass. It’s been packed away since 1987, until I read this thread today and pulled it back out to have a look. Any chance this was one of the good ones from El Salvador back in 1984? It worked just fine for me back then, it did everything I asked of it and then some.

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Yes, that was probably made by Imacasa for Corona under contract -- they were originally a factory owned by Gebruder Weyersberg of Germany, and gained the Imacasa name in 1964 when Weyersberg sold their Latin American holdings. The employees bought the company, as did the folks at Incolma/Gavilan in Colombia, which were also a Weyersberg plant. This is why both companies used to use the branding "Corneta" because it was easier for the locals to pronounce/remember than a German name. The machete you have there appears to be based on a Collins of the same model number. Looks like there are Imacasa-marked machetes with the same emblem on them out there.

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bikerector said:
Makes one wonder if it was made by Imacasa for Corona. Corona's saws and pruners seem well regarded.

Looks good. How's the balance?
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If measured from the very back of the handle going forward, it balances at exactly 12.5 inches. It’s the only machete I’ve ever owned or used, so I have nothing to compare it to.

I would use that and a lopper (for the underwater cutting) to clear out trails all day long on the weekends. The extra reach it has made the work day a lot more productive in my perspective, as it was some really thick overgrown stuff I was cutting through at the time.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Yes, that was probably made by Imacasa for Corona under contract -- they were originally a factory owned by Gebruder Weyersberg of Germany, and gained the Imacasa name in 1964 when Weyersberg sold their Latin American holdings. The employees bought the company, as did the folks at Incolma/Gavilan in Colombia, which were also a Weyersberg plant. This is why both companies used to use the branding "Corneta" because it was easier for the locals to pronounce/remember than a German name. The machete you have there appears to be based on a Collins of the same model number. Looks like there are Imacasa-marked machetes with the same emblem on them out there.

El_Salvador_Imacasa_152_Engraved_Machete_2_1024x1024.jpg
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That’s some great information and history, thank you 👍
 
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