ordered my first machete

woody d

woody d

BANNED
Joined
Jan 29, 2010
Messages
1,695
i just placed an order for an 18" Condor El Salvador with the stainless blade and the leather sheath, and i must admit i based my purchase on alotta hearsay. ive needed a nice machete for a few years now, and have just made due with the old "beaters" around the farm. i tend to do most of my camping every year way off the beaten path, so i broke down and decided i was gonna get me a good one. pros/cons?
i realize i probably should have asked you all here before i just jumped right in, but i figured what the heck, i'll give it a shot. so NOW i ask, what do you all think of the Condor products?
 
Great stuff! I give them an A+ as a company except for their quality control which is a D (below average.) About 1 in every 10 seems to have at least a cosmetic issue wrong with it--at least in the wooden handled versions. They're actively working on improving things, though, and have been improving steadily over the past several years. Their polypropylene handled models are generally more consistent than their other models simply due to the lack of fasteners and no need for shaping.

They perform WELL above their price point and represent a fantastic value. If anything happens to go wrong with you new toy Condor's customer service in phenomenal, too, and they'll take good care of you. :):thumbup:
 
thanks FortyTwoBlades, that makes me feel alot better. LOL
im looking forward to getting it out to the campsite to put it to use when the weather warms up.
 
It is my favorite machete when I have to do a lot of ground level work on things like briars, vines, and bushes. It will not tire you out from excess weight or wear your back out because of being too short. If you try to stretch the application of a machete by cutting bigger wood or do a lot of cutting well off the ground I like something a bit heavier and with a blade shape more like a kukri.
 
They're my absolute favorite for a good reason! As long as you know what to potentially expect you'll be very pleased. They aren't like a lot of US or European knife companies and I'd say it's best to view them in the same light as agricultural tool makers. There's a reason why while most companies are "______ Knife & Tool" Condor is "Tool & Knife." They come a little rougher than what most knife nuts are used to, but a hell of a lot better than most machetes do! They're no-nonsense tools, for the most part, with a couple of "fun" models thrown in for good measure. :D
 
thanks you all so much for the feedback...now all i gotta face is the woman when she sees what i ordered and asks "why did you order a sword for a camping trip?" LOL
 
I haven't use a machete much in the past 20 years. Back then, I just picked up a cheap-o model from the local HW store. Simple, basic - but couldn't hold an edge to save a life. Probably stamped out of a rusted leaf spring from a 1985 Honda... :rolleyes:

I've been eyeing a Condor to supplement my camping kit this summer. All the ones I've handled look like solid, well-made tools. Ideally, I'd like to spring for a Junglas, but a Condor for 75% less is a great deal.

TedP
 
phillipsted said:
I haven't use a machete much in the past 20 years. Back then, I just picked up a cheap-o model from the local HW store. Simple, basic - but couldn't hold an edge to save a life. Probably stamped out of a rusted leaf spring from a 1985 Honda... :rolleyes:

I've been eyeing a Condor to supplement my camping kit this summer. All the ones I've handled look like solid, well-made tools. Ideally, I'd like to spring for a Junglas, but a Condor for 75% less is a great deal.

TedP
Click to expand...

Even ask Jeff Randall--a true machete will out-chop the Junglas any day of the week. :D
 
woody d said:
thanks you all so much for the feedback...now all i gotta face is the woman when she sees what i ordered and asks "why did you order a sword for a camping trip?" LOL
Click to expand...
Just tell her you never know when the zombies will be out having an "eat the father and son" or "eat the husband and wife" weekend in the woods. If the weekend is a zombie no show you can still do lots of camp chores with it.
 
the big brown truck delivered my Condor today and i am very impressed. very sharp right out of the box, and the leather it came with was a big suprise. looks to be top quality stuff. now im gonna have to get it out in the fields to see what this thing is capable of.
 
this might seem like a silly question, but could anyone tell me what the oval cutout towards the tip of the blade is for?
 
It's just sort of their brand mark. But it allows it to be hung by a (thin) nail and if listening to it closely during the cut you can hear your edge alignment. It makes a whooshing noise if your edge alignment is off but a very faint whistling if your alignment is true.
 
i got out in the garden this morning, and cleared out the sweet corn patch from last year, so i could till it up in the next couple days. the extremely sharp 18" El Salvador made EASY work of everything i put it up against, and stayed sharp. im VERY pleased with this machete (as well as the leather sheath), and i would have NO problem recommending one to anyone who asked.
 
being a knife nut for 30+ years now(started as a youngin), i cant believe i knew nothing about them until now. is that due to a lack of marketing, or what?
 
Condor was launched as a premium sub-brand of Imacasa back in 2004. So that's probably why. They mostly market to the online camping/bushcraft/survival community so a lot of it is word of mouth. Honestly most folks weren't familiar with the brand until Joe Flowers (Joezilla) and myself drove up interest in them (and machetes in general!) This was both before I owned a knife shop and before he landed his designing gig with them. We were both early adopters and helped get the word out. Up until then the usual phrase was "a machete in the jungle but an axe anywhere else" and while the attitude is still held by many there are a lot more machete fans in temperate zones today than there were a few years ago. It's been nice seeing the market sector take off and get the respect it deserves. The machete is a heck of a tool!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top