I had a heavy duty cardboard tube that was once used hold a large roll of fabric and I decided to see how well some machetes would chop it. The tube consisted of strong ¼” thick walled cardboard with an outside diameter of 3 ½” (3” ID). Chopping was done with the tube positioned horizontally with the blades striking at about a 45 degree angle using shoulder swings.
First up was a Gerber Brush Thinner which sliced almost half way through the tube before coming to rest. The curved blade shape seemed to help the Brush Thinner's slicing power.
A CS Panga machete (with a modified handle), 12” Ontario and a CS Kukri Machete followed, all proved to be nearly as good as the Brush Thinner. I thought the CS Kukri machete did the best of the three, like the Brush Thinner, the curved blade seemed to help shear through. The Panga’s blade seemed to be curved the wrong way to bite into the tube which would explain way it didn’t do better considering that it has a fairly heavy 16” blade.
A Martindale No. 2 Golok did not do as well, stopping about ¼ through the tube; its blade seemed too thick to slice well. A 18” Barteaux Budget machete sliced well, but it felt like its light weight did not give it enough momentum to make it much more than ¼ of the way though the tube.
A 18” Ontario sailed through the tube on the first try leaving the end hanging by a small thread! This was impressive considering that I wasn’t getting past half way though the tube with the other machetes.
A CS 18” Latin machete was next, coming close to the heavier 18” Ontario getting about 7/8” through the diameter of the tube.
I expected my 18” Tramontina to perform similarly to the CS Latin, but it had trouble getting past the ¾ mark and I was getting some feed back through the handle. Although similar in shape to the CS Latin machete, the Tram’s blade stock is a bit thinner which would mean less momentum and the handle is shorter, which could mean that I was putting more power into the CS than the Tram….who knows?
None of this really proves anything, especially since the tube was reduced to scrap before I could get things sorted and not all of the blades were sharpened to the same level (all were sharp, but some were freshly sharpened and others had seen some use since they were sharpened), but it was fun and an interesting comparison.
- Frank
First up was a Gerber Brush Thinner which sliced almost half way through the tube before coming to rest. The curved blade shape seemed to help the Brush Thinner's slicing power.
A CS Panga machete (with a modified handle), 12” Ontario and a CS Kukri Machete followed, all proved to be nearly as good as the Brush Thinner. I thought the CS Kukri machete did the best of the three, like the Brush Thinner, the curved blade seemed to help shear through. The Panga’s blade seemed to be curved the wrong way to bite into the tube which would explain way it didn’t do better considering that it has a fairly heavy 16” blade.
A Martindale No. 2 Golok did not do as well, stopping about ¼ through the tube; its blade seemed too thick to slice well. A 18” Barteaux Budget machete sliced well, but it felt like its light weight did not give it enough momentum to make it much more than ¼ of the way though the tube.
A 18” Ontario sailed through the tube on the first try leaving the end hanging by a small thread! This was impressive considering that I wasn’t getting past half way though the tube with the other machetes.
A CS 18” Latin machete was next, coming close to the heavier 18” Ontario getting about 7/8” through the diameter of the tube.
I expected my 18” Tramontina to perform similarly to the CS Latin, but it had trouble getting past the ¾ mark and I was getting some feed back through the handle. Although similar in shape to the CS Latin machete, the Tram’s blade stock is a bit thinner which would mean less momentum and the handle is shorter, which could mean that I was putting more power into the CS than the Tram….who knows?
None of this really proves anything, especially since the tube was reduced to scrap before I could get things sorted and not all of the blades were sharpened to the same level (all were sharp, but some were freshly sharpened and others had seen some use since they were sharpened), but it was fun and an interesting comparison.
- Frank
