Show Your Machetes

yeah I can do that with latigo lace pretty easily. I was thinking a cross-wrap of .5-.75 inch thick 3-4 oz leather, possibly dyed forest green or navy blue. At that point I'd make a sheath out of the same stock, with 2 2 inch thick sections of epoxied, dyed jute wrap to match, wrapped around a vaseline-coated piece of cardboard-it'd give the sheath some structure and support while doubling as belt loops for a baldric or MOLLE mounts.
 
I have not seen any really good looking ones capable of taking some SERIOUS abuse. Mine are 6150 steel and are as pretty as they are tough.

Duku Chandong
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Golok
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Spine
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Handle
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PayetteRucker said:
Nipsip, those are both beautiful specimens. Blade profiles are fantastic!
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Thank you. Glad you like them. Next will be a billhook, common in the UK unheard of in the USA. Here are a couple of 150 year old designs that will similar to mine.

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there are a couple of fellas on here that swear by the billhook. We can get the Fiskars and Condors here commercially. I hear they do a really good job of ripping nobles off their horses-the Bonnie Prince sure made the most of em.
 
nipsip said:
Thank you. Glad you like them. Next will be a billhook, common in the UK unheard of in the USA.
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Actually, like PayetteRucker said, they ARE heard of here in the 'states. I'm one of the folk on here by swear by them. They just aren't widely commercially available here yet. Gerber/Fiskars has a widely distributed single-edged one and Condor puts out a nice double-edge piece. Can't wait to see your rendition--your work looks quite nice.

That being said, with all due respect, I rather think we HAVE seen plenty of machetes capable of serious abuse. ;)
 
I once saw a man cutting nails in half with a tomahawk made from 6150 steel with no damage to the blade. I was sold then. As far as the billhook, I should have said, unknown to the average person. In the UK they are very common.
 
nipsip said:
I once saw a man cutting nails in half with a tomahawk made from 6150 steel with no damage to the blade. I was sold then. As far as the billhook, I should have said, unknown to the average person. In the UK they are very common.
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Out of curiosity, do you really mean 6150 or do you mean 5160? 5160 is very common in the knife and tool industry. If you do mean 6150 I'd be interested in your observations of its performance characteristics. Looks like it has a little less carbon and a little more chromium.
 
5160 is dynamite blade steel, I doubt you'll find anyone that will disagree with that. Best part is it's easy to work with, and it's cheap.
 
PayetteRucker said:
5160 is dynamite blade steel, I doubt you'll find anyone that will disagree with that. Best part is it's easy to work with, and it's cheap.
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Agreed. I'm a big fan of 5160--even was before it saw its recent upswing in popularity. I'm glad it's finally getting the respect that it deserves (and used to have!) :cool::thumbup:
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Out of curiosity, do you really mean 6150 or do you mean 5160? 5160 is very common in the knife and tool industry. If you do mean 6150 I'd be interested in your observations of its performance characteristics. Looks like it has a little less carbon and a little more chromium.
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I mean 6150.

Similar to 5160 but it has Vanadium. 6 series are chrome Vanadium steel. 6150 should better 5160 in all regards by a small margin... same or better edge holding, a bit better grain structure, greater impact hardness, so IMO a better choice for a blade that is going to be beat to death in hostile environments.
 
Cool beans--figured I'd check, since one is common in knives and the other is not!
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
That being said, with all due respect, I rather think we HAVE seen plenty of machetes capable of serious abuse. ;)
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this. nipsip you have some nice blades a bit thick to be considered machetes IMO but nice none the less. however there are tons and tons of machetes posted that have and will continue to take anything you can throw at them. and I suppose good looking is in the eye of the beholder but to me it doesn't look much like yours have touched the first bit of wood. not a scratch on them for something that can take such abuse :)
 
grunt soldier said:
this. nipsip you have some nice blades a bit thick to be considered machetes IMO but nice none the less. however there are tons and tons of machetes posted that have and will continue to take anything you can throw at them. and I suppose good looking is in the eye of the beholder but to me it doesn't look much like yours have touched the first bit of wood. not a scratch on them for something that can take such abuse :)
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These are freshly made and brand new and never been used, so you can understand why they look the way they do.
 
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PayetteRucker said:
there are a couple of fellas on here that swear by the billhook. We can get the Fiskars and Condors here commercially. I hear they do a really good job of ripping nobles off their horses-the Bonnie Prince sure made the most of em.
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Which ones. I am thinking to go with this double edge billhook, so I would like to hear from those that like them what they do with them. I'm thinking overall blade length around 11", around 6" for the straight blade and a 6" handle. Not sure how the shape of the butt end of the handle should be since there are two sides that will be used.
 
Check out this for some good double-edged patterns.

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nipsip said:
Which ones. I am thinking to go with this double edge billhook, so I would like to hear from those that like them what they do with them. I'm thinking overall blade length around 11", around 6" for the straight blade and a 6" handle. Not sure how the shape of the butt end of the handle should be since there are two sides that will be used.
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Fiskars makes a Billhook commercially that's sold in most home and garden stores, hardware stores, etc. Condor makes a very well known survival tool with a Billhook, and the Woodsman's Pal is a very traditional US-original tool design that utilizes a billhook. Gerber's premium machete has a billhook.

http://www.traditionalwoodworker.com/Machete-German-Pattern/productinfo/598-0500/
The german machete seen here appears on most woodworking and military surplus sites.

Bellotto makes a commonly available gardening billhook-actually a couple of them. There are a few cane machetes with a billhook as well, I believe Imacasa and Gavilan make a cane machete with a billhook.

Opinel makes a folding billhook.

Martindale makes a billhook.

There are others as well but these are the main ones I've seen floating around.
 
I wouldn't consider the Opinel and Martindale pieces billhooks, personally. Really more of a pruning knife and a hooked "cuma" machete respectively. It's something of a fine line in definition, but there's a matter of proportion and intended function to be considered. It's sort of the same blurry line between a big knife and a short sword, or if a straight-bladed sword is a saber or not...but that's the side of it I fall on. :)
 
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