The Beginner's Guide to the Machete

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The blades Sam made me buy got here on Monday. Got around to sharpening today...

Top to bottom:

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Sam was right, this sticker is pretty priceless. Too bad they didn't engrave that on the blade.

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The cane machete is really nicely ground and finished (well, for $7 at least). Too bad it has screws and nuts sticking out of the handle, makes it hard to grip with one hand. I really like the reach on this vs the single handed one I have, it makes the hook on the back even more useful. Not sure I like the two-handed aspect yet. Blade thickness clocks in at .075". I had to sand the handle smooth and rubbed some olive oil on it until I run across some spare tung oil or what not.

The panga is nice but much more tip heavy than I was expecting. Blade thickness is more than expected as well... .095" on the back towards the handle, down to .075" at the business end. Wasn't sure whether the curved end was supposed to be sharp or not so went ahead and sharpened it. I think the 18" version would have been a better choice but they only had it in "stainless" and I wasn't so sure about stainless steel machetes. If I don't end up liking this one as-is I can always cut the end off and have a nice bush machete.

The 28" latin-style "Termineitor" is... well obviously, it's long. Less obvious: super floppy. It bends significantly from side to side under its own weight. I haven't tried whacking anything with it yet. I hope the force of being swung keeps the blade straight. Gentle swings in the garage suggest otherwise. Seems like it would not hit exactly where you were aiming, which is a problem.

Overall I'm surprised at how nice these are. The fact that they're all tapered differently suggests some design (or at least tradition) went into these. At this price point that's really amazing.

Any thoughts on stainless steel? I know machetes are supposed to be soft so they don't shatter/chip... but... eh, I'm a steel snob, what can I say.
 
zhyla said:
Too bad they didn't engrave that on the blade.
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I'd have paid extra for that. ;)


zhyla said:
The cane machete is really nicely ground and finished (well, for $7 at least). Too bad it has screws and nuts sticking out of the handle, makes it hard to grip with one hand. *snip edit* Not sure I like the two-handed aspect yet
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Grip it lower. See post 8. It isn't "2 handed" so much as it as "extended reach".

http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=9038865&postcount=8

zhyla said:
Wasn't sure whether the curved end was supposed to be sharp or not so went ahead and sharpened it.
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Either way is common.

zhyla said:
I think the 18" version would have been a better choice but they only had it in "stainless" and I wasn't so sure about stainless steel machetes. *snip-edit* Any thoughts on stainless steel? I know machetes are supposed to be soft so they don't shatter/chip... but... eh, I'm a steel snob, what can I say.
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IMACASA uses 420HC in their machetes and it is excellent for the purpose. I've never seen one fail.

That said, SKMW seems have some difficulty differentiating between polished, clearcoated carbon steel and stainless steel on the IMACASAs they offer.



zhyla said:
The 28" latin-style "Termineitor" is...
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The longest machetes are very hard to use correctly, more susceptible to damage and won't cut as well as a shorter blade for most folks due to reduced tip velocity.
It might be wise to hang this one up for a while till you get your technique down.
 
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zhyla said:
If I don't end up liking this one as-is I can always cut the end off and have a nice bush machete.
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I've dehorned and rehandled few pangas and made long "bolos" out of them for folks.

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//commercial member ;)
I could knock one of these together for pretty reasonable. PM me if interested.
//commercial member
 

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zhyla....

you got my machete. That 28 was in my shopping cart for a week and a half while I waited for my brother to decide if he wanted a machete or not. I go to order last night and after all the hassle they give me a "temporarily out of stock" notice. You're a sneaky one. I guess the 24 latin will have to suffice as my long one for now. I also got one of those 22 panga machetes ordered. I came close to ordering one of those cane machetes, but decided against it after reading Sam's comment. I ordered five blades in all.

John
 
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Ha! Honestly, now that I've got all these longer and heavier machetes I think the 18" latin machete I've had for years is just about right for me for non-chopping exercises. So far I'd trade the 28" for a shorter one. But it is worth having just for the novelty.
 
Thinking about machetes reminds me of a WW II book that said that Marines on Guadalcanal often had their machete blades snap after heavy use and had to employ bayonets to clear foliage. I think this was in Richard Tregaski's, "Guadalcanal Diary."

I respected him as an author. He was a journalist, not military, but scrounged a .45 auto to carry defensively. Today's journalists would shriek in horror at the idea of actually being armed against an enemy of the United States and would probably try to interview the enemy and demoralize the US populace and troops.

My first exposure to the panga was in the late Robert C. Ruark's book, "Something of Value." It is a novel, but included very vivid background material about the Mau-Mau terrorism in Kenya in the 1950's. It is not a pleasant thing to read in some places, but Ruark was the sole US journalist who seemed to understand African politics and was honest in his findings. If you can locate a copy, it is an excellent read. He also mentions the native sword, called a simi.

As a very young boy, I read his articles in, "Life", where I saw these weapons long before I was old enough to read the book. The movie based on it is pretty good, if badly miscast and somewhat PC, even in the 1950's. Rock Hudson played the white settler hero and Sidney Potier was, I think, his primary adversary.

My parents weren't about to buy me a machete, let alone a panga or a simi. I did use a hammer to make a sort of mini-simi from a long nail. No one but me was impressed. None of my friends even cared about what was happening in Africa. Their only obsession was football.
 
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The next entry in the series is eminent and deals primarily with the current military issue machete the 18" OKC 6145 1-18 machete. The OKC is, more or less, functionally identical of the WWII vintage M1942 machete.
In doing the background research for the article I stumbled across a little gem. A report on an attempt to develop a "better" machete. Since it doesn't fit in with the article itself I'll share it here.

TECHNICAL REPORT NO. 68-10
TRAIL CUTTING MACHETE
FINAL REPORT
by
Frederick M. Drake Environment and Survival Branch
June 1968
U. S. ARMY LIMITED WAR LABORATORY
Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland 21005
TECHNICAL REPORT NO. 68-10

Full article in the attachment.


Other machete design types were considered such as the Kukri used by the
Gurkhas, but were rejected because of the specialized training required.
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:eek:
 

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The box o' goodies from smoky mountain knife works arrived yesterday. Here's mine. Top to bottom: my Tramonita 18 inch that's I've been using all year, 22 imacasa panga, 24 imacasa latin, 14 Marbles/imacasa latin with sheath.
machetes.jpg

The tram I've had for quite awhile and have cleared a lot of brush and saplings. The handle is the same as it came from the factory. My hands are rougher than most peoples and I use a loose grip, so using it for hours didn't bother me. I'm sure that it would tear up some people. It has a good balance and length, but I found it a bit short for use with briars. The edge came halfway usable and the machete cost $11 at a local hardware store.

The 22 imacasa panga is a beast. The tip heavy blade really powered through some brush. The extra weight, however, feels like it would tire you out in not much time. I bought it planning on cutting a hook into the back to help pull out cut material, so that will lighten it some and hopefully prolong the amount of time I can use it. The handle wood is softer than the Tram's, but the shape is more comfortable. It will have to be flushed to the tang and smoothed. The blade came with no edge.

The 24 imacasa latin feels good. There's a bit of flex to the blade, but not enough be a problem and the balance feels nice. It's not much heavier feeling that the shorter Tram. The plastic handle just needed a few seconds of sanding to even out the seam and fits me rather well. For clearing briars and weedy vegetation, this thing works well. I see this machete getting a lot of use in the future. It had no edge.

The 14 inch marbles was disappointing. It was advertised as being 1/8" thick, but it is much thinner. I thought that it would make a good blade to take camping, but the thinner than advertised blade simply lacks the weight to do the things I intended. The wood handles have a finish applied, but the scales need to be fitted making the finishing of the wood pointless. It came with a decent sheath and a cheap sharpening stone. Although blade was sharpened and was slightly convexed, it still needed a finer edge applied to meet my requirements for sharpness. I guess I'll work over the scales and just give it to the wife. Two others were purchased in the order and will probably be sent back because of not being what was advertised.

John
 
Sam, as a hatchet & knife guy who's never ventured into machetes I've thoroughly enjoyed the first several installments of your series on machetes.
 
Well - I'm more of a machete guy who just got his first hatchet last year, and I still appreciate the articles just the same. I have learned a lot from the installments (didn't say I was an expert; just a machete guy).


Sam - I thank you as well.
 
I thought the installment presented the Ontario as solid and serviceable - which is fair.

I have an older 18" 'Blackie Collins' model with a D-handle. No complaints. The older I get, the more consistently I use gloves with any significant machete work. That takes care of a lot as far as sub-par handles in my experience (any make; not picking on OKC).


I'm not surprised that it's not presented with glowing praise. It's not an authentic HI khukuri... but it doesn't cost like one either. I could get 6 or 7 OKC specimens for the price of one HI.

Besides - I'm sure the OKC is MUCH lighter and I don't anticipate needing to chop up any steel drums anytime soon. :D
 
zhyla said:
Nice article. Not very flattering on the 1-18 but good to know :).
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:D

It is a mystery to me why OKC continues to put such imperfect handles on such an outstanding blade. :scrutiny:
...especially when the molded plastic grips on a sub-$10 GAVILAN or IMACASA are so good.

To quote TECHNICAL REPORT NO. 68-10:

Balance is only fair and poor handle design results in chaffing of the hand after prolonged use.
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Sam, what are your thoughts on Cold Steel's Latin style machetes? I'll exclude the ethnic machetes since they make such a wide range of them.
 
ugaarguy said:
Sam, what are your thoughts on Cold Steel's Latin style machetes?
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I'm ambivalent. QA is often very spotty on the Lasher stuff.The HT runs to the gummy but tough end of the spectrum which is perfectly fine provided that it is done correctly.

The Latins specifically?
The polypro grip is well formed but is aggressive in texture.

No distal taper so the longer blades tend to be floppy, inefficient and dead in the hand.

They aren't bad machetes per se, especially the shorter ones, but given a choice I'd rather have a sub $10 latin pattern from, well, Latin America. ;)



ugaarguy said:
I'll exclude the ethnic machetes since they make such a wide range of them.
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They are a mixed bag for sure.


http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=723023&highlight=barong


The kukri machetes usually aren't half bad.
The next machete specific review I do at Shootin' Reviews will be of the just released Royal Kukri machete.
CS97KMIGS.jpg
 
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