What's the best blade for a tropical environment?

golok

golok

Joined
Oct 20, 2000
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I am inclined to say the golok because I have seen the natives carrying this particular blade all the time.

The tropical climate is merciless on most kinds of blades. The weather is humid, hot and frequently wet. So rust can set in pretty fast.

Most riverine folk or those staying on the fringes of the forest usually don't bother to sheath their knives because of the weather. Wet knives dry faster when they are just being carried in the hand or loosely wrapped in cloth.

I don't know about the jungles of south America. How do they treat their blades there? And what are the kinds of knives being commonly used in the jungles over in South America?

Anybody has any interesting experiences which would be of benefit to some of us?
 
My wife's from Costa Rica, so I've been there a bit including out in the country a lot since that's where her parents and other relatives live. It's a tropical rain forest with incredible corrosion rates. They use carbon steel machetes and (generally) long knives. They all rust, but they just live with red-brown knives. They have, and really use, a lot of knives and machetes. It's real common to see someone walking down the street of a small town or anywhere but the central city, with a machete in a handmade leather sheath on his belt. They are not really into super-edge holders like we are. They just...resharpen. And get a new one when it rusts completely away. They also like SAKs.
 
When in the Amazon I carry a Simonich Raven in S30V.S30V has withstood rain,mud and water crossings with very little corrosion probs.The high wear resistance,along with the corrosion resistance of this steel really protects the edge from losing its ability to stay shaving sharp.Corrosion is no problem on any knife anywhere except its edge.On one trip the steel in my Raven lasted a whole week of fileting, chopping,and even digging before I touched it up.I also must reiterate how long evrything stays wet in a tropical enviroment,basically all the time.The knife is constantly wet or even soaked.I am not a big fan of stainless type steels,but S30V is awesome stuff seriously.But on a funny side note all the machetes are carbon steel ,and receive no special care for weeks at a time and they seem to do just fine.
 
I can identify with Isstaipei's experiences. The local natives in my country carry similar blades like those he can shown. There is a slight variation in the shape of the machetes but basically the makeup is about the same.
 
The reason natives are generally not concerned about corrosion is because as Cougar has often noted, blades won't rust when you are using them. I have worked in heavy rain with spring steel blades for extended periods of time (hours) with no sign of rust. As long as the blade is getting constantly burnished through cutting corrosion isn't a factor. There are also lots of other benefits to non-stainless steels such as the *much* greater toughness, ductility and ease of machining plus they are usually much cheaper.

-Cliff
 
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