I bought a 24" Latin Machete for taking down brush on the uneven, rocky ground behind our house. On a cold day I went out and cut a few briars down, hit some softer brush, and then knocked down a little maple sapling. I sank the blade about 15 inches up the blade in the small stump that remained to pick up and move the top part of the sapling. Took 10 degree a set. OOPS! Should not have done that.
The machete wasn't all that expensive, so it could have cost me more to get it warrantied or replaced. It wasn't the company's fault anyway that I decided to take a knife made for vines and stick it in a piece of wood.
I bent it back with my knee as best I could, it still wasn't right, it had an awkward curvature to it. Since I bent it doing more with it than it was ever intended to do, I decided that I would just chop it down into something I could use. I wanted a Seax Machete but at the time Cold Steel had already stopped making them. I made my own beater Seax, to my own taste. Ultimately it turned out like a cross between a Seax and a Bowie.
This thing pierces like crazy with this kind of point. I removed the stop on the back of the handle to make it more true to what the long knife would have really been like. Retention is still good, but I think it was better before I took it off.
Overall, it's 18.5" long, with about a 13.25" blade.
Overall, I'm happier with the chopped down blade than I was with the 24" machete. The remaining blade is nice and stiff, but can flex like nobody's business and return to true. The chopped part has even retained its temper. I have chopped down small trees with this thing and it holds an edge respectably. Very light and fast to use.
Not six months after the project was complete, Cold Steel released the Bowie Machete... I think if this one breaks I'll buy one of those.
The machete wasn't all that expensive, so it could have cost me more to get it warrantied or replaced. It wasn't the company's fault anyway that I decided to take a knife made for vines and stick it in a piece of wood.
I bent it back with my knee as best I could, it still wasn't right, it had an awkward curvature to it. Since I bent it doing more with it than it was ever intended to do, I decided that I would just chop it down into something I could use. I wanted a Seax Machete but at the time Cold Steel had already stopped making them. I made my own beater Seax, to my own taste. Ultimately it turned out like a cross between a Seax and a Bowie.
This thing pierces like crazy with this kind of point. I removed the stop on the back of the handle to make it more true to what the long knife would have really been like. Retention is still good, but I think it was better before I took it off.
Overall, it's 18.5" long, with about a 13.25" blade.
Overall, I'm happier with the chopped down blade than I was with the 24" machete. The remaining blade is nice and stiff, but can flex like nobody's business and return to true. The chopped part has even retained its temper. I have chopped down small trees with this thing and it holds an edge respectably. Very light and fast to use.
Not six months after the project was complete, Cold Steel released the Bowie Machete... I think if this one breaks I'll buy one of those.
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