Some Simple Tramontina Mods

[Guyon]

Took a little time this evening to modify an 18" Tramontina machete. I started by putting a patina on it. The blade still had its clear lacquer coat, so I took some rough sandpaper and evenly rouged up both sides, leaving some of the clear finish on the blade. Then I let mustard sit on the blade for about thirty minutes. The result was a light, streaked patina where the mustard could contact the carbon steel. I also filed the handle down flush with the tang, rounded off all the sharp corners, and put in some hillbilly checkering with a file. I finished it off by drilling a lanyard hole and coating the handle with some tung oil. Voilà.

I then took it to task on some privet hedge and vines in the back. Edge was dull so I touched it up with a file and then went back to work.

Finally, I tracked down some dinner.

 

[JOSH111]

I can't tell but the patina looks very light.
Kill the wabbit! kill the wabbit! with my mighty sword and magic helmet lol (Elmer Fudd).

 

[Guyon]

It is light. See how the blade has shiny streaks and darker streaks? It was all shiny when I started.
I might try stripping the remainder of the lacquer and applying some mango. Maybe I'll wrap the handles in bacon too!

That rabbit just laughed at me and literally high-tailed it out of there.

 

[The Warrior]

Nice mods Guyon. You did a great job keeping the lines even on the handle.

 

[Guyon]

Thanks. They're off a little in spots, but it's not bad for a quickie job. I was thinking it wouldn't be too hard to make a jig for keeping the spacing even and the lines parallel.

 

[Guyon]

I cut a lot more hedge and vine today.
Afterwards, I decided to mod the handle some more. Brazilian hands must be smaller than mine.
I "let out" the radius on the front and rear bottom of the handle. First with a belt sander, then smoothing by hand. Then more tung oil.
Don't know if you can see the difference between before and after (below), but I can feel it.

Before:

After:

Fits my hand much better:

 

[whetrock]

That looks great I think the checkering turned out very nicely.

 

[The Warrior]

I can definitely see a difference.

 

[Scottman]

cool! I've killed rabbits with my CS shovel, but never a tramontina

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Nice work! I like the subtlety of the patina!