Thailand machetes

Here's my Thai E-Nep.








I'd classify it more like a Kukri then a Machete, but it does do the work of both.


These jungle people know how to recylce their steel,

...my E-Nep was a truck spring in a previous life.




Big Mike
 
Intresting video, Bob (He sounds like a Bob) is pretty serious about things

Though the difficult time I have with the design is the joint between blade and handle, I would think this would be critical and also problematic (Think Thai quality control)

Either way, thanks for the video
 
Short handled versions (socket, tang or scale) are usually referered to as billhooks, long handles ones (usually sockets or straps rivetted around the handle) as slashers - but other names apply both in the UK (staff hook, hedging bill) and the USA, South Africa and Australasia (brush hook, bush hook, bank knife). Most countries in Europe and Asia have regional variations in blade shape - some are convex, some straight, and some concave (and some compound e.g. convex and concave sections). Many are available in a wide range of sizes.....

Tribe people selling billhooks at the market (Mèo Vac, Vietnam).

Although often made with a socket handle, the socket is most often the handle - if a wooden handle is used to extend the billhook into a slasher it must be drilled through and a rivet passed through to prevent the blade flying off the handle in use... Most are sold without any hole, as they are intended to be used as bought...
 
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in reponse to Bills comment:

Actually the sickles don't need to be drilled through, because the handle is folded and tapered. I usually cut my own handles from local hardwoods to extend the handles up to 3 feet. I have never had to drill through, and I think the compression of the wood makes a better fit. Similar to the physics in an axe.
 
Consider yourself lucky, then! Whenever I try mounting something with a socket I need to use a set screw or nail to keep it from loosening up and flying off after the first swing or two. There's a reason why retention screws/rivets are considered a standard feature of socketed tools!
 
I wonder if anyone has ever tried notching the socket end of the handle similar to the way an axe is notched? Just pound on a few wedges and you should be good for a long time.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Consider yourself lucky, then! Whenever I try mounting something with a socket I need to use a set screw or nail to keep it from loosening up and flying off after the first swing or two. There's a reason why retention screws/rivets are considered a standard feature of socketed tools!
Click to expand...

Next time try cutting your own wood, store bought poles are not high enough grade for compression. This may be the problem. However the best option for long range poles up to 3" has to be steel pipe spot welded. Small sickles can be screwed onto bamboo for tree trimming, but large hand sickles are better off welded or getting wood "shaped" and matched to the taper of the blade. Here is an example of some different types of 'billhooks' and their handles as mentioned by the op.
_DSC1253.jpg
 
I did cut my own shaft for the pieces in question. Flew off anyhow. ;)
 
handle.jpg
Yep tends to happen at least once during the first setting, as the wood will expand and contract with temperature. Some tricks of the trade are.. never go over 12", taper by hand, hammer in slowly to achieve compression without destruction, or just do a corking with a drilled hole for wrapping.

I have been working on this 2 pound chopper lately. It has a handle like described.. red gum yuka wood, I recently drilled the cork and I am going to wrap with leather bolo cord.
 
It didn't happen due to temperature/moisture changes--it happened because during the first strike it caused enough shock that the head loosened. Good idea about a drilled hole for wrapping, as that would be a decent field-expedient way to attach a socketed head to a shaft without needing a screw or nail. The handle on one such piece was made of carefully shaped teak, and the socket was folded but not welded closed, allowing it to flex during the strike. A couple of others had welded sockets, but also would somehow loosen after just a couple of firm whacks. They were carefully shaped. Guess I just don't have the magic touch. :D
 
Loosening of the fold can happen if you hammer in wood that does not fit. As you can see in the video, red gum yuka is just stuck in the guys sickles, and he is hammering away on that wood there. I prefer the weld cuz I am 6'2, and those 3" yuka poles don't cut it for me. However from the hand sickles I made before, once those pieces go in, their is not a way to even get them out without drilling. Hell, one of my closed 'socketed' tangs still has fragments that I am still lazy to try and take out.

Their is definitely alot to be said about open socketed designs, but they are definitely not for everyone.

One solution for you next time is to try beeswax and wrapping it. Beeswax can help the wood from drying out and/or getting wet, and the wrapping can increase the bond between the socket and wood by a reasonable amount. U can wrap from the socket/handle up into the open cavity of the wrapped tang and just contact cement it in.
 
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