question re: Cold Steel Kukri Machete

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uncleknife

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May 25, 2000
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I know asking about a 17 dollar Cold Steel Kukri Machete will probably get a reponse like "you get what you pay for", but I have heard great reviews about the cold steel bushman - cheap, crappy sheath, but overall a good beater of a knife.

Is the 17 dollar Cold Steel Kukri Machete in the same ballpark, or is this just junk.

I am not looking for a 100 dollar plus kukri, or I would be looking at a HI Ang Khola

Any one have one?

Thanks for your time in advance.
 
I don't know if this will help ya at all...I have a CS Bolo machete, think it's made out of the same steel, but I could be wrong. It's a little soft. It's the 'ol "better a rolled edge than a chipped edge."
 
All the CS machetes are tough and good choppers. It helps a lot if you can put a good edge on one. I put a convex edge on my CS Magnum Kukri and it chops hardwood and clears vegetation well. It would have taken a long time by hand. I used a belt sander. The steel is hard enough for its intended use. Just keep a steel or ceramic rod handy for touchups. It is not the same steel as the higher priced and thicker Gurkha kukri, though. The polypropelene handle is not as comfy as kraton, but its not bad. I'd say it is well worth the price, but don't expect it to come with the finish or edge of the CS Gurkha.
 
The Cold Steel machetes are made here in South Africa by a company that has been making good quality gardening tools for ages. So the steel is OK, same as the pangas we use for chopping reeds, sugarcane, clearing brush and bamboo etc. Not top quality stuff, but something that is good for the job and cheap enough that you don't care if it gets lost in the bush.
 
They aren't too bad at all. I have handled a couple, and I think that they would handle any machete duties thrown at them without much problem. The steel seems a bit soft (like machetes tend to be), but it will handle the job of bush whacking easily.

In all actuality, this machete only has a khukuri shape. It won't give you the same performance of even the lightest well made khuks today. It's not a bad blade by any means, but I wouldn't buy it expecting it to handle a real khuk's work. You can get a good blem khuk for under 50 or 60 bucks if you keep your eyes open. It would compliment the machete very nicely, IMHO.:thumbup:
 
lohengrin said:
The Cold Steel machetes are made here in South Africa by a company that has been making good quality gardening tools for ages. So the steel is OK, same as the pangas we use for chopping reeds, sugarcane, clearing brush and bamboo etc. Not top quality stuff, but something that is good for the job and cheap enough that you don't care if it gets lost in the bush.
Click to expand...

That is some excellent info from someone where Cold Steel has some of its knives made. Thanks for your input, sir!

I own and have used quite a few of Cold Steel's products, mostly their edged tools, but some others, as well. I like their knives and tomahawks, though I have not tried any of their more recently produced knives from mainland China so I can't comment on those. Mostly I own fixed blade knives made with their older Carbon V steel that is no longer available because the old US company (Camillus) that made those blades closed its doors. I have tried some of Cold Steel's low priced kukris made in South Africa and I find them to be perfectly acceptable choppers ... after you first put a decent edge on them with a file, but that's to be expected of other machetes and similar implements.

A decent machete should not cost much in my opinion. The older Collins machetes were fine, fine tools, and back in the 1970s I sold scores, if not hundreds, of them for $4.50 retail. If I had only known they would go out of business I would have put away a truck load of them to sell later. As it is, I still prize the ones I've kept and used since that time.
 
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