Whats the difference?

L

lobodelanoche

Joined
Feb 7, 2012
Messages
424
It's probably have a stupid question, but what is the difference between a large knife and a machete? Is it the heat treat? Thickness? Style? I'm not trying to make a mountain out of a molehill, I was just wondering if there are any hard and fast rules or is it to each his own?
 
No "rules"....but machetes were originally designed as light, thinner knives used to cut light tropical foliage. Waving a 1/4 inch thick 9 inch blade around in the rainforest all day just to chop small green vines and branches isn't going to be pleasant.
 
No i don't think it is the heat treat. Knives are heat treated as well. Thickness, yes & no. Most machetes are thin/er than large knives because they are usually meant & expected to chop vegetation. Think fast & quick vs slow & heavy. All that being said, it IS possible to use a small/er machete as a large knife, as long as you use your common sense. I have a 12" Ontario that i modified myself into a kinda large knife. It is MUCH more versatile now than it was. I added a Bowie tip, 2 finger choil, jimping for thumb grip & modified the handle (it was a D-handle).

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Look closely at the tip of the machete in that piece of wood, see how much it is bent to the left ? Well, it went right back to perfectly straight after it was batoned all the way through that nasty, twisted up, knotted up piece of black walnut. It did that because of the excellent heat treat & the thinness of the blade. (NOTE: THAT IS CONSIDERED ABUSE BY MOST PEOPLES STANDARDS !!!) A thick/er blade may or may not have broke doing that, it would probably not flex as much as a thinner one.

It is easier to make a large blade do smaller tasks well, than it is to make a small blade do larger tasks well. Hope this helped you.
 
marcinek said:
No "rules"....but machetes were originally designed as light, thinner knives used to cut light tropical foliage. Waving a 1/4 inch thick 9 inch blade around in the rainforest all day just to chop small green vines and branches isn't going to be pleasant.
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Exactly. :)

And Machetes are usually low HRC to increase toughness and flexibility and thin and light.
 
In general a machete is at least as long as a man's forearm, has a handle that favors blade retention (i.e. not straight and flat) and is made of relatively thin springy steel. This makes it lightweight, easy to hold in the hand while chopping, easy to sharpen and perfect for cutting live vegetation.

In parts of the world where machetes are common, they are used for everything from clearing brush to cutting the lawn. Yes the lawn. You might be able to clear brush with a knife, but not cut the lawn :)
 
Personally, my biggest consideration in machete vs. knife is how they cut. Blades that I think of as machetes primarily use momentum and acceleration to cut, knives focus more on a fine edge and proper geometry. The edge on a lot of working machetes is an afterthought at best, dull, uneven and just plain ugly.
 
A machete is just a sub-category of large knives, that's about the only real difference. All machetes are large knives but not all large knives are machetes.

Machetes are specialized tools adapted for brushwork, farming, etc. That's it.
 
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