[Total Newbie] Good Machetes and How to Sharpen Them?

RDSharpe said:
Very interesting posts, HeavyHanded. Thank God we don't have that junk here yet, but you're right; the forests of our youth are gone. :( We have some type of green vine now with horrible thorns. It's like iron. It bunches up too, and gets around the horses' legs. Hard as heck to clear because its so tough yet so light. Farmers say it came from the South...

That ditch bank knife looks like a fantastic tool! Of course, I wouldn't want to use it in the saddle, but if I'm going out on foot, that might be a better weapon of choice than a machete. While wielding a ditch bank knife, I can even pretend I'm Death Dealer swinging my battleaxe. ;)

As for the full-fledged scythe? No freaking thanks, Forty! ;) I hate those unwieldy things. Makes me feel like a peasant working his master's field. :D My friend has one and I don't know how, but he can really clear grass down low with it like you say. So, yeah, they do their job, but not for me. Too much like real work.

Now, with that ditch bank knife, instead of going manual labor I'm slaying the horde by the masses! :D
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I did a little more homework re the scythe and apparently is used for eradication efforts by some vs swallow wort on two conditions - area must be open, not a lot of stumps, downed saplings etc and it must be used early in the Spring. By onset of Summer their experience was much like my own with a long handled grass sickle. The stuff tangles around it so much you spend more time clearing it off than cutting it down. The grass hook works well if you need to get it out from among desirable plants - just work it in behind the offenders and give it a quick pull. Problem was my trails were only a couple feet wide with all manner of stuff that a longer or lighter blade wouldn't want to hit hiding just beneath the weed cover. For walking the property and taking care of whatever I came across the ditch knife was the perfect solution, and I did feel like I was smiting my opponents the first couple times I used it. After that it just felt like hard work.:)

I love the idea that the hanger hole hisses for poor technique.
 
had to google 'ditch bank knife' because i had never heard of it. pictured a really big butcher knife. lol
i always heard it called a brush axe. ive used a couple brush axes and prefer a machete as i think a machete is more versatile. although im comparing a quality, well sharpened machete against what was likely a low quality, poorly maintained brush axe so... yeah.

ive never used any type of scythe but i knew a guy who used one to cut grass underneath apple trees in a 'u-pick-em' orchard. said it had a really thin blade and worked great for that application. he had it on a grim reaper sort of handle and would work at night when it wasnt as hot. dont know if he wore a black robe. lol

sharpe, please keep us posted and let us know what you think after some full-on work with that condor.
 
For reference the Condor EcoSurvivor is basically the same thing as the El Salvador but in thinner stock so it's a lighter blade. Also the blade is clear coated rather than black epoxy coat, the handle is orange rather than black, and the sheath is a thick (good quality) nylon canvas material. Same profile and molded handle, though. :)

Regarding scythes the American pattern with a short grass or weed blade does a very fine job in tight spaces but takes a while (about a month of fairly frequent playing) to get the hang of. Just go vintage, as the modern production ones have under-curved blades that snag and chatter through the cut and the snaths are poorly assembled of relatively good quality parts...but that poor assembly makes them pretty darn near useless.

Just spent 30 minutes clearing a large stretch of reedy grass, vetch, and horsetails around the back of a property a friend of mine manages. Would have eaten a whole spool of weed whacker cord and would have choked up a standard gas-powered push mower. Other than the black flies and the oppressively muggy weather this morning it wasn't bad work. :D
 
I'm sorry to resurrect this old thread, but since the OP was kind enough to post lots of links to sharpening information, I thought I'd ask my question here.

I've seen some videos of people sharpening knives on belts, and the belt is rotating from the back of the knife towards the edge, but I've seen videos of people sharpening machetes on stones and they are pushing the machete into the stone, so the stone is moving from the edge to the back of the knife - the opposite way that knives are shown to be sharpened on belts.

My question is this: why/is there a difference between knife and machete sharpening or belt and stone sharpening? Maybe a related question is this: I gather that a convex edge is desirable on a machete, and am not sure how one achieves that on a belt or a stone.

Thanks very much. I LOVE this forum.
 
I appreciate the reply and the link but would you mind (if you know the answer) addressing my question?

Thank you!
 
BB62 said:
I appreciate the reply and the link but would you mind (if you know the answer) addressing my question?

Thank you!
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Sorry, i didn't realize that you had necro'd the thread. I was replying to the OP.

I have sharpened blades both ways and there's no significant difference although when polishing an edge you want the belt moving from the spine to the edge so that you'll develop a good burr that can be polished off

The only time i've ever noticed it making a difference is when i'm trying to get a shaving sharp edge. For rougher work, i have no trouble using a belt moving either way
 
BePrepared said:
Sorry, i didn't realize that you had necro'd the thread. I was replying to the OP.

I have sharpened blades both ways and there's no significant difference although when polishing an edge you want the belt moving from the spine to the edge so that you'll develop a good burr that can be polished off

The only time i've ever noticed it making a difference is when i'm trying to get a shaving sharp edge. For rougher work, i have no trouble using a belt moving either way
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Very interesting! Under what circumstances does one polish an edge? I'm buying a machete, and I'd like it to be sharp and remain sharp for as long as it can while I'm hacking - honeysuckle and sticker bushes (thorned soft stalk stuff).

Thanks again.
 
IMHO polishing the edge on a machete is pointless. It requires a lot of extra work and all that work will disappear when you begin chopping trees with it.

Polishing an edge will (with the right kind of steel) keep a slicing knife sharper longer but it doesn't do anything much for impact tools like hawks and machetes
 
It's been two years since I last logged on here. I've spent a lot of time with the machete, but I'm still not prepared to write a review. It won't be all good.

However, I just wanted to say that this thing is a warrior. A few weeks ago, I cut through two logs bigger than my thigh. A tree had fallen across the trail in the wetlands and there was no stepping off on either side without swimming the horses. I couldn't move the branches as they were attached to the trunk. Of course, I had my Condor on my saddle so push came to shove, I knew this wasn't going to be an issue.

Well, one of the horses would not cross. It flat-out required jumping and there was no way the one woman was gong to do that. Not everyone I ride with is cattle drive material, if you know what I'm saying. My horse didn't even think for a split second; it just lunged right over as I knew it would. However, there were two logs, both just under waist high on a man, so that added an aspect that can be tricky for horses; it had to jump—but not too far—then immediately jump again.

My heart sank when I saw this. I wasn't going to force the issue, but we had just crossed a saddle-deep marsh in 95 degree weather with crazy humidity and the bugs were horrible. Oh, it was beautiful and we had a good ride, but there was no way we were turning back around.

I just hopped off an drew the Condor out of its sheath. Another walk in the park. Made quick work of the two logs, then got back on. I'd say I didn't break a sweat, but that would be a lie. I'm not in good shape any more, haven't been for years. However, just sitting in the saddle doing nothing and I was sweating. We're talking sweltering humidity and blazing sun here.

I wasn't sweating because this was hard work, to put it another way.

This is a direct quote of the first thing the woman said to me: "Sharpe, do you still lift weights?"

The answer was I haven't been on the bench since October, 2010, so no, I do not. At 200+ lbs. I look a lot smaller in every way but belt size than I did in 2008 at 180 lbs. doing five/five at 225 or so. However, this machete makes it appear as though I have the strength of the Terminator. It just does all the work.

To the masses who think I paid ten times too much for a stupid machete, just think if I had one of those Wal-Mart or Harbor Freight jobbies (for which I burned through two a year leaving the wreck you see picture above). Holy cow. I could have certainly done it, but it would have been one heck of a chore. It would have been done only out of absolute necessity and it would have taken four times as long. Everyone would have been sitting there boiling in the sun with bugs driving us all nuts.

That's all to say this Condor machete is my everyday carry. It's become an extension of my arm. I don't put foot in stirrup without buckling it to saddle first. The other day, I went clearing trails at a friend's house. I brought a chainsaw in the back of the truck and this machete riding shotgun. Here's what I'm laying down: I'll use someone else's horse and tack, but I won't leave home without my Condor! That's a strong statement.

Any machete will do what you force it to do, but this one comes to the job ready for work.

Two years, one machete.
 
Another route entirely to think about is the worksharp. I have the regular (non ken onion) edition and it makes sharpening my machete a snap. I don't use it on my knives but for utility edge on a machete I like it just fine. Machetes still make me cringe a little. A word of caution, put your hand in that lanyard loop so you can't drop it. I dropped mine and it clicked off the back of my heel. I knew I was in trouble immediately. Severed my achilles tendon halfway through just by dropping from waist level. Been a year and it's still not right although I can walk now. Couldn't for about 4 months. So anyway, be careful
 
Here's what I ordered (9/2/14) for my el-cheapo HF 1"x30" belt sander:

Blue Zirconia Belt
16mic/1400x Trizact Belt
45mic/400x Trizact Belt
80mic/240x Trizact Belt

Those were the closest grits that I saw to Forty Two Blade's two-year-old post (#5).

I'm using this 2009 video for instruction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eREokC4MPM0

Here are a couple more I have bookmarked:

Starts at like 8 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGk0kdbjzNQ (Really long and chatty. I've not watched it.)

Another: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0Mv31okbHQ (I liked this guy.)

Another: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wb7rOPnfjc (That guy waters his blade each pass?)

I noticed some hold the edge of the blade down and others hold the edge of the blade up. Not sure what the difference is.
 
Thirty miles of trails having to be cut twice a week? One word comes to mind.....Bushhog...lol
If you have a fairly well trained horse, you can use a ditch bank blade or what we call a bush hook. I've done it plenty of times. The long handle is convenient and Beats climbing up and down all the time.
 
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