Ontario 22 inch heavy duty machete received (cleaning questions with pics)

S

smodtactical

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Feb 11, 2012
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Hey all well I got my 22 inch heavy duty machete by Ontario. First issue after taking it out of the pack was that it looks quite dirty like dusty with some white powder like material on the black coating. There is also what looks like some crusted on dirt or possible rust on the blade edge, I'm not sure which it is even when looking close. I took some webcam pics which aren't great but just to give you a general idea.

http://www.imgplace.com/viewimg252/2692/11machete1.jpg

http://www.imgplace.com/viewimg542/1247/26machete2.jpg

http://www.imgplace.com/viewimg821/6122/62machete3.jpg

http://www.imgplace.com/viewimg535/1114/55machete4.jpg

I noticed a couple things. First the edge doesn't extend to the handle and I thought it did. It means the cutting length is obviously a lot less than 22 inches and this makes me happy that I bought this machete as oppose to 18 inches. Is this typical for Machetes?

The D Ring handle feels good but it feels like the Machete has no full tang. Maybe its just top heavy in the blade thats why the handle feels so light. Its full tang right?

How should I clean the white dust like material. Just wiping it with a paper towel doesn't work. Can I use water? Also can I use water to clean off the dirt or material on the edge and then dry it all after? I plan to use my diamond file after cleaning it to get the edge a bit sharper but the edge is already surprisingly fairly fast.

Thanks!
 
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It has a good solid tang, so no worries there. You generally want the mass forward on a machete, and the way that the profile is with that one combines with the length to increase this affect. The edge not extending all the way to the base of the blade is typical, and the shorter the machete the closer the edge usually comes to the hilt. This is both for cost reasons as well as to allow you to choke up on the blade if you need to use it for knife-like tasks. The edge is likely present, but too thick and will result in poor target penetration and a predisposition for glancing blows. The dust won't come off the blade easily, as the factory coating is quite coarse until smoothed through use, so rinsing it with water and patting (not wiping) it dry with a clean cloth is likely the best way to remove it.
 
Sorry to bring up this old thread, just wanted to mention that I was able to get the rust/garbage off the edge with water but that powder on the black epoxy coating will not come off with water. Its ok I guess I'll just leave it. What I would like to do is put a better edge on this blade. It seems the actual bevel is minimally deep (very thin cutting edge) I would like to bring it out more so it can cut more deeply, so I will work on that.
 
Did you try giving it a blast of WD40 or something like that.Thats what I clean my machete blade with when I'am done with it.I'am sure there is something better but it works.Takes the sap and dirt right off.
 
I like to thin out the edge so significantly that the double bevel geometry is converted to single bevel. Cuts like a laser then and the steel holds up fine.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
I like to thin out the edge so significantly that the double bevel geometry is converted to single bevel. Cuts like a laser then and the steel holds up fine.
Click to expand...


This ^^^^^^ Nothing wrong with a scary sharp edge on a machete. I used my 18" Ontario to cut a 10-12" dia tree that had fallen across the atv trail we were on. It took a while but it did it. The Parkerized finish ROCKS !!!
 
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