-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is available! Price is $250 ea (shipped within CONUS).
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/
Machetes - What is Your Choice?
- Thread starter cgusek111
- Start date
Great snowy north woods pictures, K! Thanks for sharing them. As for my machetes, I'm just "tickled ***less" to have a few of my old Collins blades I bought over 30 years ago. I think I still have a couple of 18" and 24" plus the remaining 12" that stays next to the driver's seat in my van. If I'd only known they would close their US plant I'd have really stocked up on them. They all cost under $5 each when I bought them!
I took my 18" Tramontina out yesterday while me and my son were in the woods. I have to say I was pretty impressed with this tool that only cost me $4. I have two tramontinas, the 18" and the 14" bolo. I have modified the handles on both as they didn't fit my hand well.
While I have the usual fondness for the big chopper knives, these two Trams have really opened my eyes.
Chad
While I have the usual fondness for the big chopper knives, these two Trams have really opened my eyes.
Chad
Revolvergeek
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2002
- Messages
- 3,517
My parents lost part of a big tree a couple weeks ago in a storm and I worked most of yesterday morning chopping it up. Just to try out some new toys I took my Ontario 22 in Heavy Duty and Cold Steel Two Handed, 18 inch Bowie and Kukri machetes. I had reprofiled them all a little with an old Craftsman wet grinder, but none were really 'sharp'.
The Kukri machete was mostly useless. It would bite in a little, and would cut, but the molded in checkering on the handle was miserable to try to use (much as I suspected it would be). Might be great for killing a quick zombie or two, but not for this work.
The Bowie machete wasn't much better, but I didn't buy it for chopping wood and didn't expect it to do much. It was the sharpest of the bunch, and would dig in a little and cut ok, but didn't really do much. It was very hard to get chips flying with it. The handle transfered a lot of shock, and was very jarring to try to chop with. The sharpened clip also made me somewhat nervous (I kept seeing that edge come back at me out of the corner of my eye).
I had been using the Two Handed machete for a few months and generally been quite pleased with it for light stuff. It is light, balances pretty well, and is thin enough that it chops non woody plants very well even when pretty dull. On the tree it did ok, really acting more like a light hatchet. It would blow out little chunks nicely, but didn't have much weight to it so it was somewhat slow.
The Ontario Heavy Duty made me feel like I was in a Samurai movie. It would cleanly and easily slice through 1.5 - 1.75 inch branches with one good hit. 2-3 inches were done in 3 or 4 hits. Once I tried it I put all the others aside and used it to finish breaking down all the big branches. I still used the chainsaw on anything over 2-3 inches, but this thing just ate up all the smaller stuff. I can only imagine how one of these things with a proper convex edge on it cuts like.
I realize that none of these were really intended to chop up trees, but after Rita and Katrina I thought it would be good to know what they could do. The Ontario and Two Handed will be living in my truck toolbox, the Bowie will be at my g/f's apartment and I don't know what the heck that I am going to do with the Kukri machete. Maybe give it a dramatic overhaul, maybe just sell it off and buy a 12 inch Ontario.
The Kukri machete was mostly useless. It would bite in a little, and would cut, but the molded in checkering on the handle was miserable to try to use (much as I suspected it would be). Might be great for killing a quick zombie or two, but not for this work.
The Bowie machete wasn't much better, but I didn't buy it for chopping wood and didn't expect it to do much. It was the sharpest of the bunch, and would dig in a little and cut ok, but didn't really do much. It was very hard to get chips flying with it. The handle transfered a lot of shock, and was very jarring to try to chop with. The sharpened clip also made me somewhat nervous (I kept seeing that edge come back at me out of the corner of my eye).
I had been using the Two Handed machete for a few months and generally been quite pleased with it for light stuff. It is light, balances pretty well, and is thin enough that it chops non woody plants very well even when pretty dull. On the tree it did ok, really acting more like a light hatchet. It would blow out little chunks nicely, but didn't have much weight to it so it was somewhat slow.
The Ontario Heavy Duty made me feel like I was in a Samurai movie. It would cleanly and easily slice through 1.5 - 1.75 inch branches with one good hit. 2-3 inches were done in 3 or 4 hits. Once I tried it I put all the others aside and used it to finish breaking down all the big branches. I still used the chainsaw on anything over 2-3 inches, but this thing just ate up all the smaller stuff. I can only imagine how one of these things with a proper convex edge on it cuts like.
I realize that none of these were really intended to chop up trees, but after Rita and Katrina I thought it would be good to know what they could do. The Ontario and Two Handed will be living in my truck toolbox, the Bowie will be at my g/f's apartment and I don't know what the heck that I am going to do with the Kukri machete. Maybe give it a dramatic overhaul, maybe just sell it off and buy a 12 inch Ontario.
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2007
- Messages
- 373
I had a similar experience with a Cold Steel Khukri. I had heard about how great they were for chopping, but mine, even with a convex edge, was basically useless. I bought it because I didn't want to spend the big bucks on an HI Khukri since I didn't know if I would like the style. I'm sure the HI ones would work better, but I am just sticking with my Tramontinas. I am thinking about picking up an orange handled 12" Ontario so I can have something a little heavier than my 12" Tram, but I haven't gotten around to ordering it yet.
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2006
- Messages
- 3,910
Thats because they were talking about the Cold Steel Gurka Kukri which isa great chopper and it 5/8" thick not the really thin Kukri machete. Big Big difference. Dont get the thin Ontarios get the heavy duty thick U.S. issue ones.
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2007
- Messages
- 373
Is there a 12" US Issue machete besides the one with the silly sawback?
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2007
- Messages
- 373
I carry my 12" Tramontina in the survival kit I keep in my vehicle. It is lashed to the outside of a Jansport backpack that I have full of all my survival equipment, ferro rod, pj cotton balls, first aid kit, signal mirror, etc... I have been wanting another 12" machete that I can keep in the house and carry with me when I go somewhere and I am not taking my truck, since I never take my 12" Tram out of the truck to carry with me if I am in another vehicle. I am afraid if I do that I will not remember to put it back, and then it may not be there when I truly need it. If the non-US issue 12" Ontario is not a good product, I will gladly get another 12" Tram.
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2002
- Messages
- 3,179
The Trams are good, amazing for the price. I have mixed feelings on the Martindales. They cost 4-5X what the Trams do and the fit and finish is terrible. Great blades but for the price you shouldn't have to put in that much elbow grease. I've been really happy with my bolo from Reflections of Asia. Village quality worker for less than the price of the Martindales. Might have to pick up an Ontario one of these days.
Frank
Frank
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2007
- Messages
- 373
I know how you feel. I have no idea where the nearest sugar cane plant is, but somehow a Tramontina Cane Knife still showed up in my house. Weird how that works.
just got my first machete recently. i wanted one of those ltc-style kukri machetes from cold steel and ordered it but they shipped the magnum version by mistake. i decided to just keep it. it seems like a decent piece of steel, just needs an edge. haven't used it yet. knowing i wouldn't need to use it diminished the importance of quality, too.
Tramontinas are extremely durable and good values, highly recommended.
Barteaux heavy duty machetes are good too. They seem more durable than the heavy Ontarios, unless you happen to get an Ontario that's tempered tougher than usual.
The thinner economy Ontarios are good for light brush, but mine has an extremely acute edge (10 degrees inclusive)from the factory. I'd be a bit afraid of doing stuff like heavy batoning for fear of mangling/breaking the blade. But it's fantastic for my gardening chores.
The Cold Steel machetes are OK, too. They offer lots of crazy shapes and sizes. Their edges seem to require the most work out of the box. The kukri machete seems to offer some advantage due to the shape in cutting some materials.
Machetes in general are simply cheap knives, made from soft-ish flat stock steel, rarely over 1/8" thick. The better ones seem to be tempered more like springs than typical cutlery. ISTR Ontario machetes sometimes advertised as having hardnesses in the upper mid Rc50s, whereas others like Tramontina and Barteaux seem significantly softer. Martindale advertises well below Rc50.
The only really crappy machete I've come across was a $3 Harbor Freight model that seemed to have been annealed rather than hardened. Needed lots of sharpeneing, a futile activity because the steel was soft enough that I could bend the blade easily by hand and have it set at a 90 degree angle.
Barteaux heavy duty machetes are good too. They seem more durable than the heavy Ontarios, unless you happen to get an Ontario that's tempered tougher than usual.
The thinner economy Ontarios are good for light brush, but mine has an extremely acute edge (10 degrees inclusive)from the factory. I'd be a bit afraid of doing stuff like heavy batoning for fear of mangling/breaking the blade. But it's fantastic for my gardening chores.
The Cold Steel machetes are OK, too. They offer lots of crazy shapes and sizes. Their edges seem to require the most work out of the box. The kukri machete seems to offer some advantage due to the shape in cutting some materials.
Machetes in general are simply cheap knives, made from soft-ish flat stock steel, rarely over 1/8" thick. The better ones seem to be tempered more like springs than typical cutlery. ISTR Ontario machetes sometimes advertised as having hardnesses in the upper mid Rc50s, whereas others like Tramontina and Barteaux seem significantly softer. Martindale advertises well below Rc50.
The only really crappy machete I've come across was a $3 Harbor Freight model that seemed to have been annealed rather than hardened. Needed lots of sharpeneing, a futile activity because the steel was soft enough that I could bend the blade easily by hand and have it set at a 90 degree angle.
- Joined
- May 23, 2006
- Messages
- 680
+1 Tramontina all the way!
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2006
- Messages
- 2,718
I bought myself one of those bolos for Christmas last year. Great buy for $20. Good chopper. With that and my 17" Tram, I think I'm covered for machetes. (yeah, right
)
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2003
- Messages
- 1,850
I bought myself one of those bolos for Christmas last year. Great buy for $20. Good chopper. With that and my 17" Tram, I think I'm covered for machetes. (yeah, right
now ya just have to get one of the 20"+ jobs to try out , and then ... its almost an addiction I think