Smatchet use

[Robert H]

Anyone ever use a Smatchet for anything? I've been using mine lately for chopping small kindling, hacking brush, opening boxes etc. What a great blade! I think besides a tomahawk, this would be a great survival/combat tool. I built a crossdraw sheath for it after studying the techniuqes on gutterfighting.org. This thing hearkens back to the days of the arena. Excellent blade.

 

[PipeyCain]

Robert: I like the Smatchet. I am impressed with the history of the blade and I am looking for accounts of whenthe blde was used to dispatch the enemy. I still asert for all practical reasons that a Gurkha Kukri (a real one) is more useful as a tool and a weapon. I carry a 15 in kukri with me and it does the job just fine when Im down range..no actual combat experience with the kukri though. Cheers!

 

[Bill Siegle]

I have an EDMF Smatchet that has seen some serious use. Very usable blade. Mine has the handle that resembles the Colonel's model. Not the knuckle handle Dale also offers. Mine is also single edged with a sharpened false edge similar to the original WWII models. I like this configuration as I can use the back of the blade for light hammering and still have back cut capabilities. I have done some custom smatchets myself but they were all for orders and I didn't get to beat em up. Maybe later this Summer I'll try one out for myself.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

The only practical advantage to the double sided blade is the ability to optomize the edges for different tasks. If both are ground identically then all you have is an edge retention advantage, and that isn't significant when compared to the loss of using the blade as a drawknife, splitting tool, and the simple increased danger in carrying and usage.

However, by being able to use one side for just the lighter work, like slicing in general, and chopping only on clear woods, you can really slim the edge down and sharpen at an acute angle. This will allow many to one performance gains over a single edge knife which you don't want to fall apart if you have to cut through a knot. Make sure to get it wide (~3") if you do get one, as essentially they are sabre ground.

I don't currently own a smatchet, but awhile ago converted a Jungle Knife to a dual edged design based on the same principle :

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=203614

-Cliff

 

[Elwin]

I havent posted on this forum before, but I am a smatchete fan, so I'll put in my .02. My impression of the smatchete design was that it is a weapon that can also do field chores. Keeping that in mind, one would be hard pressed to find a modern design that would make as big a wound channel, with the advantages of a double edge. That said, since the use of knives in the field is overwhelmingly biased toward chores, not direct combat, specializing the 2 edges as Cliff mentions is a good idea, and wouldnt detract from the combat ability.

 

[PipeyCain]

Specializing which edge to use sounds great for chores only but in combat when the adrenalin is pouring through your body you'd use the first edge on the smatchet you could nail an enemy with and not check if you had the correct edge.
As for wound channels, Ive seen plenty in real life by other knives etc and I would agree that it would be a very nasty wound inflicted from a Smatchet. Im still looking for accounts of Smatchet use in WWII. Cheers!

 

[Robert H]

I think it would be tremendous in a close fight, much like the tomahawk. This is my favorite picture from the Get Tough! book.

 

[GREENJACKET]

Last weekend I handle an original smatchet. Issued but as the soldier didn't like it he had put it into a drawer where it had stayed ever since! Much lighter than some of the modern interpretations. An intresting double convex grind giving a lower sharpened edge which was relatively fine; and the upper false edge with only the front portion being a true false edge. The whole thing was "business like". What really got me was that it was liveley in the hand, unlike an Al Mar version that I once handled which seemed dull in comparison. The Al Mar I felt could be used to chop logs and stuff. Not the original, more for lighter vegetation and green bamboo. Quite an eye opener

Export knives often were sent double edged as they were popular with the natives. One side was kept very sharp the other used for more robust taskes, so saving the keen side from undue damage.