• The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
    Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
    Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.

  • Today marks the 24th anniversary of 9/11. I pray that this nation does not forget the loss of lives from this horrible event. Yesterday conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was murdered, and I worry about what is to come. Please love one another and your family in these trying times - Spark

more machete....

R

rion_72

Joined
Oct 3, 2008
Messages
125
Im looking for a machete (seems recent trend here lately)....condor seems to be popular as does ontario around here..any feedback pros /cons on a traditional style vs something like the ontario sp 8....and a recommendation on what you would buy in the 12-16" blade length realm...I will kinda of be relying on a consensus here for the purchase since I live in the boonies and cant go somewhere close and "hold" em before I buy em...so its internet shopping I will go as well! General purpose, light chopping, brush clearing, attach to a 3-day camp pack kinda of use....dont plan on killing any "zombies" with it but maybe some saplings!!:) Thanks for your thoughts.
 
Last edited:
There are tons of choices out there! I have a several big blades but to be honest I don't get many chances to use them so I'll let someone else help you with some suggestions.

I will say that I owned an Ontario SP8 at one point and IMHO there are way more useful knives out there in that size range. The thing is definitely a brute and if you wanna beat on stumps or cinder blocks or cars or dig in the dirt with it I'm sure it would do the job. It is pretty heavy and pretty dull. For use as an actual knife it would probably need a bit of re profiling. It is also not very long so it will not do well in the role of a traditional machete. The saw back is pretty useless beyond making notches for traps and such and that can be done easy enough with a SAK saw. The thing is a beast! But I'd look around a little more before biting the bullet on one :)
 
Did someone say zombie? Cold Steel also makes a 12 inch Bowie Machete out of carbon steel that I like.
 
In all seriousness, get a Condor. Nothing else even comes close. It can be a little frustrating trying to find the exact model you are looking for, but it is so, so worth it. The quality difference between a Condor and anything else on the market is like night and day.
 
moonwilson said:
In all seriousness, get a Condor. Nothing else even comes close. It can be a little frustrating trying to find the exact model you are looking for, but it is so, so worth it. The quality difference between a Condor and anything else on the market is like night and day.
Click to expand...
I could be wrong but aren't those Marble machetes rebranded Condors?
 
tholiver said:
I could be wrong but aren't those Marble machetes rebranded Condors?
Click to expand...

Yup. I don't have any experience with those particular machetes, but I'ves heard that they're nice. They look to me more like the standard (non-export) line of Condor's parent company, Imacasa. Condors are tarted up Imacasas for us Yankees. The Marbles don't look to be as finely finished as the Condors, but they should be solid. :thumbup:

I've been meaning to pick one of those Marbles up myself, but I keep forgetting. They probably won't be around long, as Marbles is out of business.
 
moonwilson said:
Yup. I don't have any experience with those particular machetes, but I'ves heard that they're nice. They look to me more like the standard (non-export) line of Condor's parent company, Imacasa. Condors are tarted up Imacasas for us Yankees. The Marbles don't look to be as finely finished as the Condors, but they should be solid. :thumbup:

I've been meaning to pick one of those Marbles up myself, but I keep forgetting. They probably won't be around long, as Marbles is out of business.
Click to expand...
Excellent! I bought two Marbles on ebay a few days ago.
Marbles is gone out of business? Dang! I know they are mostly imports now but they still have a few nice designs.
I Have one of their slipjoint whittlers, a small double bit and a Trailmaker.
The Trailmaker is a very nice knife.
 
:thumbup:My modded/convexed 12" Ontario outchopped my CS Trailmaster and Becker Brute in a very fair comparison. All freshly sharpened by Siguy of this forum and chopping the same log. I believe its one of the best choppers for your money.--KV
 
Get a Condor if you are looking for something more refined but go ahead and order a 12" and straight 14" Tram while you are at it. They are only about $6 each and well worth getting.No need to later spend $10 shipping on a $12 order.
 
I agree, once the edge is re-profiled and convexed properly the Ontario 12" Machete out chops and out cuts everything I own except decent size hatchets or axes. My machete started off weighing 19 oz when I took it out of the box, it now weighs 15.5 oz with handle and blade re-profiling. There is no knife I have seen that weighs 15.5 oz that chops like this.

It would be interesting to see what the condor would do if the same modifications were done. Has anyone done this to both brands? There was about 3 hours of work put into the Ontario.

Geoff
 
g123 said:
It would be interesting to see what the condor would do if the same modifications were done. Has anyone done this to both brands? There was about 3 hours of work put into the Ontario.

Geoff
Click to expand...

The coolest thing about Condors is that you don't need to fiddle with them at all. They come right out of the box ready to rock. I would imagine that if you could find a comparably sized and shaped Condor, it would hold its own against your modified Ontario. Bark River did a run of modified 18" Ontarios that are supposedly awesome. But they're $100+, and heavily modified. Condors are +/- $40, and come with gorgeous, shaving sharp convex edges. Even the spines are rounded off smooth, and they come with great sheaths. They really are "pimp daddy" machetes. There is no comparison between stock Ontarios and Condors. Ontarios are good tools, but they're roughly made, uncomfortable to use, and require a good deal of work to work optimally.
 
I can't say enough good things about Tramontina. I've had the 14" bolo for years. It came with pretty good wood to metal fit & decent grind lines. Very usable right out of the box. For $6 it's frakkin' amazing. It would be a good value at three times the cost.

I wouldn't recommend a Martindale unless you have a belt sander. For $30-$40 you get a good thick blade with a nice distal taper. You also get the worst metal to wood fit and some of the most uneven grind lines I've ever seen. Neither of mine were usable, at all, right out of the box.

Condor is on my list of things to try.

Frank
 
moonwilson said:
The coolest thing about Condors is that you don't need to fiddle with them at all. They come right out of the box ready to rock. I would imagine that if you could find a comparably sized and shaped Condor, it would hold its own against your modified Ontario. Bark River did a run of modified 18" Ontarios that are supposedly awesome. But they're $100+, and heavily modified. Condors are +/- $40, and come with gorgeous, shaving sharp convex edges. Even the spines are rounded off smooth, and they come with great sheaths. They really are "pimp daddy" machetes. There is no comparison between stock Ontarios and Condors. Ontarios are good tools, but they're roughly made, uncomfortable to use, and require a good deal of work to work optimally.
Click to expand...

You are quite right. A lot of hand work goes into Condor machetes. I have reprofiled and convexed my Ontarios, and they cut and chop much better than they did, but no better than an out of the box Condor. Even the Bark River doesn't chop any better. My convexed Collins 14" does very well, too.

OKC12016.jpg

Bolos047.jpg

Collins015.jpg
 
moonwilson said:
The coolest thing about Condors is that you don't need to fiddle with them at all. They come right out of the box ready to rock. I would imagine that if you could find a comparably sized and shaped Condor, it would hold its own against your modified Ontario. Bark River did a run of modified 18" Ontarios that are supposedly awesome. But they're $100+, and heavily modified. Condors are +/- $40, and come with gorgeous, shaving sharp convex edges. Even the spines are rounded off smooth, and they come with great sheaths. They really are "pimp daddy" machetes. There is no comparison between stock Ontarios and Condors. Ontarios are good tools, but they're roughly made, uncomfortable to use, and require a good deal of work to work optimally.
Click to expand...

:thumbup::thumbup: This is why I'm always singing Condor's praises! They also tackle off-the-wall yet functional designs that no one else is producing. I've had the opportunity to play with a lot of machetes (and own a fair number as well!) and noting else really stacks up, especially when you look at what you get for the money. :)
 
I personally own two trams and the 12 inch Ontario Camp Machete. Both came from the factory finished like shit, basically little more than spraypainted blanks. I completely redid the edges starting with 220 grit sandpaper and finishing with 1000 grit wet-and-dry. The Ontario machete comes from very solid stock, it is very solid and holds a good sharp edge. Haven't beat the trams yet, though they are very thin. Still worth the 7 dollars I paid for them I'm sure, for now they are in my closet. The Ontario has been my go-to machete and I completely trust it. 12 inches is plenty of size for sufficient chopping and rough use work. RAT is coming out with a machete soonly, my guess is you can expect the same quality RAT edge and scales but the steel comes from typical imacasa south american blanks (nothing wrong with that) It may be worth the wait.
 
sounds like Condor needs to give away a few machetes on this forum!
 
They're like a disease! Once you catch the bug you can't help but spread it around a little! :p
 
PayetteRucker said:
I personally own two trams and the 12 inch Ontario Camp Machete. Both came from the factory finished like shit, basically little more than spraypainted blanks. I completely redid the edges starting with 220 grit sandpaper and finishing with 1000 grit wet-and-dry. The Ontario machete comes from very solid stock, it is very solid and holds a good sharp edge. Haven't beat the trams yet, though they are very thin. Still worth the 7 dollars I paid for them I'm sure, for now they are in my closet. The Ontario has been my go-to machete and I completely trust it. 12 inches is plenty of size for sufficient chopping and rough use work. RAT is coming out with a machete soonly, my guess is you can expect the same quality RAT edge and scales but the steel comes from typical imacasa south american blanks (nothing wrong with that) It may be worth the wait.
Click to expand...

Correct me if I'm wrong but it's my understanding that the RAT machete will be sporting the same convex edge as the Condor blades. :thumbup::thumbup:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top