I think some of you need to brush up on your reading comprehension! I said the eco parang was £50, the cudeman bolo was £50 and the EKA machete was around £80. If you think that's insane the tops machete is going on for £150. There is little point trying to convert sterling into dollars. An ESEE 3 will cost over £100 in the UK. So £50 for a machete is reasonable compared to that. Same thickness and 4 times the length. I hope once we've exited the slavEU products from around the world will be cheaper for us in Britain.
So it sounds like you no longer want an inexpensive machete, you want a premium machete? What about the orange handle? Yes or no?
Read my first post, I gave the UK prices for what I'm looking at. In a later post I also wrote that if I wanted a machete that requires "fixing" I would buy a tramontina. Yes I want an orange handle, the Condor, Cudeman, EKA and Svord all come with orange handles. I aim to pair one of these with a Casstrom SFK 10 with orange G10 handle.
Well this is interesting! Will you be making these basic sheaths for the short bolo Tramontina? I love my little Tram and an inexpensive sheath would be awesome! To the original starter of the thread- If I was you, I would order a Tramontina from Baryonyx with the "special grade" refinement (I am sure if you order a bunch of stuff, then the overseas shipping would be more justifiable, so just stock up on everything you can think of), then spray some orange on the handle, and whack away! Bruce
Perhaps some of us do but we're still trying to help. At this point, the Cudeman seems like a good choice.
The Cudeman has got a leather sheath which looks better than the Condor nylon, which in turn looks better than the Svord sheath. The EKA comes with a kydex sheath, which has an open spine, not too sure about that because it has a saw back and it could tear up the inside of my rucksack over time. The Cudeman is MoVa steel rc54-56, I don't know how that will compare to the Condor 1075. Also I don't know which will be the heavier hitter between the Cudeman and Condor. Thanks for replying gents.
Yes, there'll be sheaths offered for just about anything that doesn't already come with one, actually! The simple sheath design is 4" wide strap cut from a larger roll, and it's just folded over on itself and riveted up the sides with a belt loop on it, so it actually fits both the bolo and the 14" Latin pattern. I do also have more form-fitted out-the-side patterns done up for all three models, but there's a little more labor involved with those.
Well I can at least thank you for the thread, because it made me buy the Marbles pictured in my quote. I couldn't resist for $12 US delivered to my door. The handle on this Marbles looks really ergonomic, it's a shame that it doesn't come ready "out of the box" and it might require 5 minutes on the belt grinder to get it razor sharp, or it might have been a good option for you. Quote from Marbles website "Primary grind established at factory but will require further sharpening for fine edge."
It's exactly because you have the chance to work with this particular long term supporter (who would hand finish the blade) and you seemed to be like - "well, I'm a price shopper".
International shipping for something machete-sized isn't exactly inexpensive. I think reluctance for making international purchases is perfectly justified.
Honestly I didn't mean to cause offence to anyone but price shopping is what I have to do. I've never bought anything from the USA so I don't know how much it costs. The eco parang is cheaper to buy from you but once I've factored in shipping to England and then paying tax, plus the wait time (and the inconvenience of having to try to make my order to arrive when I'm back home, I work away a lot and I'm only home for a short time) it makes it more difficult for me. For £57 I could buy the eco parang and have it delivered next day. Granted it won't have been hand inspected or the offer of been sharpened up expertly (which is awesome). Can you make a plastic sheath for it like you do your other machetes? Is it OK to ask how much one would cost? I had considered getting a kydex sheath for it, I believe Azwelk (spelling) sells one and it's a lot cheaper than anything of the same quality from the UK or EU. From memory it's about 80 dollars. I've been looking at the eco parang since it came out and trying to find as many reviews as possible. For years lack of available funds meant I couldn't justify spending even £50 on non essential things, I was lucky to earn £500 a month and any spare money went on food preps and to keep a small cash float. Now I earn that in a week but I still have to be sensible and want the "best" "quality" "cheap" working tool. I believe Condor machetes offer that and been a tart it comes with an orange handle. I want it for practicing bushcraft, weed whacking when I'm river fishing and to take to The Gambia, I want to fish from the estuary for tarpon, barracuda, jack's etc.. all the way 240km upstream into freshwater for tigerfish, so lots of camping chores would be done (I can take up to 3 months off work without having to retrain). Might sound daft but having a bright handle could look less Uruk Hai weapon like, plus it's easier to spot if I set it down.
HDPE is flexible, sort of like stiff leather, and sort of works like a halfway between leather and kydex. I could definitely make a sheath for it, with a variety of options for how you'd want it rigged up, and pricing would vary depending on the labor involved, but probably about $20. The factory sheath is pretty decent, though.
Man that's excellent value and money could be saved if I was buying everything from one place instead of having to pay two shipping costs and parcels coming in at different times. Would it be possible to somehow attach a large pouch to the sheath with paracord or something? Practicality and durability is what I'm after, with a baldric rig.
I can put grommets on it, but depending on the quantity of them it might affect the pricing compared to rivets. I can also put pivoting loops on it that could be used with split rings for attaching a baldric or straps running across the sheath face that could be used for lashing a pouch on. All depends on what you'd need done. Obviously the more labor that's involved, the greater the cost.
