new machete

[Myal]

just bragging

Got my long awaited Okapi #1 , had time to put a reasonable edge on it , hack up some of the weeds that are taking over my yard and get some branches for the goat to much on . cleaned it up and sliced up the steak for tea .. seriously I do mess around like that ... I guess I havent grown up completely yet

Im impressed , I have been totally besotted with the awesome punch the bigger blades pack , but this is no slouch either , I have a bit of a feeling Im going to be packing this one around a lot more than my 20 inch version now . The handle is comfortable , I had to wrap the plastic handle to get a comfortable grip , but this one is heaps better .

I have to do a bit more work on the edge , it came rough , like seriously seriously rough but it cleaned up easy enough too .

I do retract all the humbug I have made in the past about smaller machetes ( here and other forums ) cos I am kinda impressed with them know .. chinese slabs of mild steel aside .. if they came with a good edge out of the factory Id be really really really impressed with them but Im not gunna complain about that too much , it is a machete after all , and I guess that sucky grinds are part of that scene

 

[ajcz]

how big is it and is it suitable for spitting wood And COME ON MAN WRITE A REVIEW

 

[razcob]

Where did you buy it? Do you know a distributor in the U.S.?

 

[Myal]

review coming later , this is going to be fun

Its only 14 inch long , but its pretty cool for being so little , Im thinking about sheaths now .

 

[Myal]

Where did you buy it? Do you know a distributor in the U.S.?

I dont know of a US dealer , Im in Aus . Ragweedforge I believe does Okapi in the US , but finding folk who will import their bigger knives is a hard ask .

 

[AustinTXShooter]

I dont know of a US dealer , Im in Aus . Ragweedforge I believe does Okapi in the US , but finding folk who will import their bigger knives is a hard ask .

That sucks that there is no US distributor. I checked out the machetes offered by Okapi and Tramontina on their respective websites and I would love to have some of them. I love the Tramontina's I have already, but there are some really nice looking ones that are not available in the US.

 

[Myal]

That sucks that there is no US distributor. I checked out the machetes offered by Okapi and Tramontina on their respective websites and I would love to have some of them. I love the Tramontina's I have already, but there are some really nice looking ones that are not available in the US.

Im looking into it , I should have some info for you in the next couple days on who is the main importers where you are .

 

[Myal]

OK , here is a kinda review ...

This is a small machete , with only a 14 inch blade , Im really not used to a blade so small .
First some pictures of the knives while they are clean and pretty , to give an idea of relative size , this is next to a knife with about a 4 inch blade

and against a knife with about a 24 inch blade:

OK , enough looking at blades , time to play , I have a serious issue with my yard , during the summer , the grass all died , and I let the kids play with the scrap pile , as well I had a bunch of projects laying around 1/2 done , we had some rain and the weeds went berko and grew oer everything , I fractured T8 vertabrae at the same time and it put a bit of a dampner on what I can and cannot do easily so the yard got a bit neglected , its way over grown and full of all kinds of nasties that would buggar up the mower ,

great place to try out the machete for grass cutting
A bit of a look at how it began before I started grass cutting

I did some cutting and found some stuff I had seriously forgot where I had left it

I found these with the blade , as well as a few other bits n pieces

after whacking numerous bricks and bike wheels , a motorbike frame and my anvil , a water tank that is eventually going to be part of an oil cracking plant and a few other odds n sods , I had some interesting dents in the edge , and the curve had lost some of its original sharpness , it still cut OK , but definitely lost some of its aggressive edge it began with .

it sharpened up again in a couple minutes , and was as good as when we began , just drirtier .

I have still problem with my arm shoulder and back , and cant put a lot of power into cutting at the moment , the knife did very well for me tho , in that it basicly was slicing thru the weeds , from the mallow weed to thick woody thistle stems , not chopping thru them . The lack of weight that the bigger blades have was welcome , I was able to do a lot more work than I expected with it before my shoulder packed up again .

The blade is kinda thin , I wouldnt be using it to split iorn bark logs , I use my leaf spring choppers for that , I havent tried it out on branches more than an inch thick at the moment , it does good on them tho , later I will get pics of chopping heavier stuff than weeds .

I can tell you that using a slicing type cut instead of a straight out chopping action make a big difference , it urns a small knife into a formidable tool .

to be continued most likely ...

 

[Myal]

forgot this , the bit where it began , after its slashed up some ...