My arm is falling off

J

Javelin

Joined
Dec 19, 2008
Messages
320
I was so excited today when I bought my first ontario machete! 12" cutlass, more for general work and camping than clearing paths. I didnt really inspect it till i got to my place though. I was pretty surprised to see it was about twice as thick as a normal machete, really hefty. I was also surprised to see the edge was about as thick as the spine on most machetes! It took me 2 hours of grinding on a coarse stone to get an edge on this beast! Just for future reference, that 57 hrc 1095 is not the simple breeze to sharpen like I thought it'd be.

Other than that I gotta say I love this thing. Tested it out on a couple 6" tree limbs, made fairly short work of them. Fuzz sticks were made of course, and some cold cuts sliced. I was worried that I had the edge too thin at about 15-20 degrees but there's been no rolling or blunting yet. All in all, for my purposes of general big knife/small machete this Ontario fits the bill, even if it was a major PITA to get sharp.



BTW what do you guys think of my knife set up for going out:
1 12" Ontario machete
1 Imperial Stockman


thinkin about packing a SAK just in case I lose my stockman but other than that this should serve me well. maybe a filet knife you think?
 
When I read your thread title, on a knife forum, you could imagine how I thought that you nearly lopped your arm off lol.
 
Slidetechnik said:
When I read your thread title, on a knife forum, you could imagine how I thought that you nearly lopped your arm off lol.
Click to expand...
Me too, I saw "machete" and started cringing and expecting pictures of an arm hanging on by some skin and tendons.
 
I thought you had so much fun you couldn't lift you arm.

Depending on your location, season, and planned activities, seems you stockman and machete should have it covered. Although I like a 3-4" belt knife over a folder.

Mabye a filet knife if you fish a ton, definitely a folding saw if you are going to do path clearing or firewood.
 
I'd say pick up a folding saw and you'll be all set. I like to carry a Large Knife like a RTAKII, or short machete, like a Cold Steel 12", a one handed folder, like a JYDII or Blur a Vic Farmer and a small belt/neck knife like the Izula or BHK Patch knife. And sometimes I also have a small axe on hand. But I'm a weirdo freak so YMMV :)
 
I'm not a huge fan of the Ontarios myself (just not my style machete-wise), but there's certainly nothing wrong with them! :D

Jeff Randall over on the ESEE subforum has long said he could get through life
with nothing more than a cheap machete and an Old Timer pocket knife. I'm rather inclined to agree with him. :cool:
 
Several years ago, my better half and I went on a Costa Rica rain forest tour. For 5 days we hiked, camped, and canoed. Each night, the guides set up camp, cooked dinner, and did all thier work with a 12 inch machete. Each guide had one in a very nice leather sheath on thier belt, and they did everything with them. Only the guy leading each day, carried a longer one out front as we hiked to different places.

The last night in the rain forest, they did a pig roast, and a machete did the serving up of some very nice roasted pork, the other white meat.

In addition to the 12 inch machete, each guide had a nylon and velcro pouch on his belt that had a sak in it.

Short machete's and saks seem to get it done in the jungle in Costa Rica.
 
A nice combo for sure! And I too thought you chopped your own arm, lol! I'm happy I was wrong.
 
haha, I didn't even notice that the title was misleading till now.

Good to hear that my combo is a well-proven good mix. I was trying to think of what I'd need anything else (besides maybe that saw) for, like a small fixed blade, but couldn't come up with anything accept that for cleaning fish and skinning larger game it'd be nice to have something with more length and easier to clean than my stockman.
 
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