Hi!
This is my first post here at Bladeforums! I Decided to start with showing a small project I have been working on for a week or two (in my spare time) and see what the community thinks.
I had gone to Costa Rica for a few weeks over the summer and while I was there I decided to buy a machete because machetes from that area of the world are common and cheap while still remaining useful because of their common day-to-day use. when I got home I showed it to my family and my mom told me "wow that's pretty small, you should see your grandfathers; it should be somewhere in the basement if you want it". I promptly went to the basement and found it. It had been in a basement for 40 years and because of the moisture looked AWFUL. As I looked at it I thought that it may be to far gone with the extraneous amount of rust on the blade and the rotten wooden handle, but I wanted to try to make it look nice again. It was an odd machete because of its hardness and 5mm thick blade, much thicker and harder than most machetes.
That is how I got started with this project. I first sanded down the blade with course steel wool and progressively finer steel wool until the rust was gone. It had almost no pitting from the rust surprisingly seeing as it had been sitting in a wet basement for 40 years. I then saw the model and make of the blade stamped in the side (now that the rust was gone) and it was a Martindale 227 bolo machete from around 1943 (my grandfather picked it up during WWII while in Australia). Then I removed the rotten wooden handle by using a Flathead screwdriver and sawed off the copper rivets. To protect from the blade rusting again I used mustard to patina the blade 3 times in succession with 00 fine steel wool in between each coat. I decided to make the handle out of rope so I widened the rivet holes of the handle with a drill (longest part of the process, the extra millimeter in diameter was a pain to drill out as the metal was surprisingly HARD!!!). The original rope I used was uncomfortable and easily snagged (picture 1) so I tore it off and made it out of 550 para-cord (picture 2). This stuff made a VERY nice handle that was comfortable and well fitting (over 25ft of para-cord was used!). I also added a double stranded monkey's fist knot to the end to help keep my hand from slipping off and a lanyard for my wrist. I sharpened it with 3 different Arizona stones and then thoroughly stropped it for a razor sharp finish, I can't wait to test it out seeing as it sliced through my office chair like it wasn't there while I was swinging it about...
Any input would be appreciated, thanks!
First handle wrap with some crappy nylon rope
Second handle wrap (4th try ), I stuck with this one. It works very well and is easy to hold
I am now working on modifying the sheath so that it can be left handed and I am adding some other things later, I will add pics when done.
This is my first post here at Bladeforums! I Decided to start with showing a small project I have been working on for a week or two (in my spare time) and see what the community thinks.
I had gone to Costa Rica for a few weeks over the summer and while I was there I decided to buy a machete because machetes from that area of the world are common and cheap while still remaining useful because of their common day-to-day use. when I got home I showed it to my family and my mom told me "wow that's pretty small, you should see your grandfathers; it should be somewhere in the basement if you want it". I promptly went to the basement and found it. It had been in a basement for 40 years and because of the moisture looked AWFUL. As I looked at it I thought that it may be to far gone with the extraneous amount of rust on the blade and the rotten wooden handle, but I wanted to try to make it look nice again. It was an odd machete because of its hardness and 5mm thick blade, much thicker and harder than most machetes.
That is how I got started with this project. I first sanded down the blade with course steel wool and progressively finer steel wool until the rust was gone. It had almost no pitting from the rust surprisingly seeing as it had been sitting in a wet basement for 40 years. I then saw the model and make of the blade stamped in the side (now that the rust was gone) and it was a Martindale 227 bolo machete from around 1943 (my grandfather picked it up during WWII while in Australia). Then I removed the rotten wooden handle by using a Flathead screwdriver and sawed off the copper rivets. To protect from the blade rusting again I used mustard to patina the blade 3 times in succession with 00 fine steel wool in between each coat. I decided to make the handle out of rope so I widened the rivet holes of the handle with a drill (longest part of the process, the extra millimeter in diameter was a pain to drill out as the metal was surprisingly HARD!!!). The original rope I used was uncomfortable and easily snagged (picture 1) so I tore it off and made it out of 550 para-cord (picture 2). This stuff made a VERY nice handle that was comfortable and well fitting (over 25ft of para-cord was used!). I also added a double stranded monkey's fist knot to the end to help keep my hand from slipping off and a lanyard for my wrist. I sharpened it with 3 different Arizona stones and then thoroughly stropped it for a razor sharp finish, I can't wait to test it out seeing as it sliced through my office chair like it wasn't there while I was swinging it about...
Any input would be appreciated, thanks!
First handle wrap with some crappy nylon rope
Second handle wrap (4th try
), I stuck with this one. It works very well and is easy to holdI am now working on modifying the sheath so that it can be left handed and I am adding some other things later, I will add pics when done.
