Question for machete people...

Minnesota

Minnesota

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For those of you who perfer a machete for an axe or a chopper, how do you split your wood? I imagine you could use the machete but wouldn't it be too thin? I'd think that would bend or or even break if you were to baton with it. I know some people up north perfer machetes over axes and choppers. I've only used machetes in yard work, i.e. weeds, brush and ocassional small tree. Just wanted to know.
 
there is a very wide variety of machete designs and thicknesses, but I've battoned with everything from paper thin tramontinas to ontario camp machetes to Condors (which have THICK blades.) Watch out for knots and you won't have any trouble, no problemo. There are machetes spacifically designed for heavier woodwork, such as khukris and Goloks that are traditionally thicker. Drop the 6 bucks on a tram and 20 on a Condor Bolo and you will see just how much quality blade you can get for 25 bucks...
 
Depends on the machete.

I have an awful lot of 3/32 thick bush knives floating around batoning the heck out of things- up to and including knotty oak and maple.

You can go two ways with the stresses of baton splitting- flexion or massive rigidity. Call it the "taoist" versus the "Nugent" approach.

Both work. and I like both.

The flex approach relies on being able to see what's going on and learning a bit about how far you can push the blade. With a convex grind all the pressure comes off the edge and onto the shoulders, with the whole width of the "slab sided" broad blade to work with the tension. you can do a lot that way.

The Nugentizing of wood has more raw oomph, and you can do things a bit differently with a 1/4 inch spined full convex grind- it's more like an axe in the use. But you lose a lot of the visual cues on stress and if you manage somehow to actually overstress the blade, you may find a break before you even see a flex.
 
I am actually not what could be considered a machete person now, mainly due to environment. I have them, and always have had one around just seldom use them here other than in yard work. However the first knife I ever batoned was a short machete that was made in Mexico, long before I knew the term batoning. It handled the task of batoning fatwood and kindling just fine, it did fine on the splitting part...it was the chopping of hardwood where I had issues with it.
 
I split all my wood by batoning. I usually use the Condor Bolo as far as machetes go. But my Ontario has done just fine as well. However, I am not splitting tree trunks. If I have to break up a large piece I just take sections off the sides until its gradually all broken down. My machetes tend to be a little on the thick side as I like the ones designed for chopping wood. No problems yet. I just got a Martindale Golok #2 and that is one thick blade and has held up just fine and probably will out last me. :D
 
Distal taper.

I have it convexed to a more acute angle where it is thinnest at the tip and much more obtuse where the stock is full thickness. That gives me the best of both worlds, thin cutting on the swipe and much more robust for use as a wedge where it is strongest.
 
THere are some good answers here.... I've owned and excused 12 inch trams and ontarios exclusively.....My curent fave is a customized convex 1 inch tram modded by Brian Andrews. I've battoned them all in all conditions with out fail... it's not been a real issue....
I'm Looking into Goloks now..Possibly a condor or preferably a martindale i I can find one
 
Sometimes "flexible" is good. My thin Tramontina and to bend to follow the grain when splitting this wood.

Machetes017.jpg
 
All in all I use an axe or hatchet in environments with hard, dense, or frozen wood. I have a Bark River Golok and a Bark River modified KSF machete that I have tried and successfully used for chopping and splitting all around here in NC. My impression is that a short axe/hatchet, stout knife and smaller sharp cutting blade (ala Nesmuck) is the best all around combo.
Recently I have been packing a Bark River Kephart, a Wildlife Hatchet by Gransfors Bruks, and a Buck Stockman when camping and woods bumming. Take note I am not saying a long straight blade will not do the job. But personally, I use my golok and my machete more to cut bamboo for construction or to clear trails than anything else.
 
Machetes can baton fine. I have batoned Trams and Condors with success, and nothing happens to them.
 
Hard to tell from the pic because it went manky after I did the original grind, but it is ground higher than the shiny bit makes it appear. That's from just a touch up. Anyway, the stock is 4mm by my measure and tapers to 2mm. I know some people prefer to dub on a scandi edge up close to the handle but I can't get with that 'cos I'd rather use a proper knife. I tend the other way and despite the relief I have given at that end the actual cutting edge is about 60 degrees inclusive. That'll crack any bits of wood the size I want for most of the year without fuss. At the fine pokey end I figure the actual cutting edge is about 30 degrees inclusive. By the time brambles, thorns, nettles and all that have realized they've been cut the blade is through and away because there is very little drag. That's why I like these compared to other impact tools. They do two very different things for me, both rather well. Less than 1lb in weight and a shade over 10” actual edge they make me happy.

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Well. Occasionally I'll baton as a quickie but generally grab an axe.
I carry an Estwing in my kit.
I also believe in saws. It's too damned hot in the jungle to dick around with logs and inferior equipment.
I mean. Ya wanna play around for 5 minutes with a chopper or machete or carry another 3/4 lb saw that will do it in 15 seconds.
 
The golok is mainly for vegetation. I'm loathed to chop anything, period, it's a PIA. And certainly no cross grain chopping of wood. I've got better things to do with my time. Saws are for cross grain stuff. I too use an ax in winter but look at the bit of wood that golok is in. It would be a very rare day I wanted anything thicker than that and usually much thinner. When I sunk that tool in there for the photo I got the distinct feeling no club would be required. I tapped it in just for the photo and it sunk that deep. I've no idea how much further if I'd put power down. I strongly suspect that if I'd lifted the blade with the wood jammed on it and smacked it down hard it would have split first time. In contrast my ax weighs more than twice what that blade does and is only good as a wedge. I keep that for winter 'cos it's the least effort.
 
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This is my main blade currently. I made it from a longer Tramontina. The handle originally had a wire wrap in an inlet portion of the wood. I filled that area with a seamless micarta wrap. The blade is 14 inches. I was going for a profile like the Martindale. This blade really chops well in hardwoods. I've used it so far for clearing a few hundred meters of trail in very dense brush, splitting wood, clearing campsites, making tinder, cutting water vines etc. It just handles really well for all the tasks I rely on my machete for.

I have had no problems splitting wood with any of my machetes. It isn't an essential task most of the time but the times I have HAD to split wood for fire starting the machete has never let me down. Then again I live in a tropical climate and don't have to produce a massive amount of firewood to keep from freezing at night. In a northern winter climate give me an axe any day. Mac
 
pict said:
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Click to expand...
Awesome! I did almost the same mod last spring to a Tramontina.
Used it all summer to de-limb some pine trees i had to cut down on my parents property.
Love the Tramontinas! Might try to do your combo grind on that one or one of my other machetes.
:)
 
It's nice to see North American dwellers starting to realize what most third world dwellers have known about machete style blades all along.
 
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