I need a good one, the cheap POS I bought at wallyworld finally died this weekend. Recomend your favorite.
I think we should lobby Valkman to make some. Every one that I've tried over the last 20 years has been too light weight to use effectively.
Well I use the cheap one that Cold Steel makes. However their edges are never the same grand on both sides and the handle actually hurts your hands. Id vote for makeing your own with an old leaf spring.
Yup, I hould have to say either make your own or go to auctions and farm sales and such and find an old tobaco or corn knife, basicly od machetes that were generaly hand made but made for real use. I dont think I have seen one new that was worth its weight.
I don't know much about them, but it's hard to make anything that'd be cheap. Maybe some 3" or 4" wide 1/8" O1 tool steel and heat treated by me with a simple handle. Hmmmm. Edit - here's a bunch on this page. Man these prices are hard to compete with when they can just stamp 'em out all day. http://www.888knivesrus.com/category/.machete_s/
Well, I'd use it for light chopping, clearing a path, ect. I have always thought a good machete was a good all purpose blade, though not great for any one thing. Yeah, if a custom maker made one I might jump if it was really that much better than an Ontario, Martindale, or what have you. If I had a forge I would probably try to make one out of a leaf spring. Hell they make khukuris out of them. Though it would be a heavy mother. Ideally it would be light, but tough. About 14-16" long blade. Perhaps a blade thickness of about 1/8"? Tempered to keep an edge but not to hard. Hell, we may just be on to something here. I know, the custom survival monkey machete. It slices, it dices, it will take down a small tree, it will dismember an assilant in an emergency, and it will not break easily. There is your marketing.
Well even without a forge just an angle grinder to cut out a blank and a belt sander and you drill for the holes to mount the handle and you could make one in the garage pretty easy from a leaf spring.
Well the angle grinders (cut off wheel) can be had at the hardware store for like $20...the garage may be a bit more of a problem especialy since the Mrs isnt likely to approve if you tried to do it in the livingroom.
i have a WWII kurkri had to grind the factory bevel down to a useable sharp edge and make a new sheath out of pig skin. works great and is much much sturdier than the "reproductions" out there. the guy i paid $40.00 too said it has never been out of it's sheath and should not be sharpened to save it's collectability.....naahhh. and it has the 2 small eating knies with it. as to valkman competing price wise to a stamped product. there is no competing between a handmade product and a production model.
OK, then. I just recently bought an Ontario Knife 18" machete with a saw back edge. So far, I've used it to whack a "path" thru some weeds and brush on the downhill slope on my property (too steep and rocky for a brush hog.) It has the right heft to carry thru heavy weeds and light saplings without difficulty. Looks to be about 3/16ths stock, will measure if anyone really cares. Cutlass handle is nice with gloves. Sawback is useless, the teeth are not set, nor angled to clear chips, and it binds up readily on branches. I took a file to the cutting edge after the first use whacking, and that materially improved the level of effort needed for weed whacking. I'm thinking to find a way to set the saw teeth and see if that improves things for sawing. www.ontarioknife.com similar to OKC 18" (8514) but has a sawback edge
For the last couple years,I've been using one of the Cold Steel Two-Handed machetes.Gave about $15, I think.Took it to a friend who runs a commercial sharpening shop; he changed it to a usable bevel that can be touched up quickly with a file or stone.It's been used & abused, without noticeable damage.Instead of the factory blackened blade,it's been painted Hunter Orange end-to-end. Worth the $, IMHO. My all-time favorite was made from a chop blade out of a paper machine.Made of tool steel;only one side was beveled.Homemade handle, made from a piece if 1" PVC conduit, heated & flattened in a vise.Homemade sheath, made from heated,flattened black plastic pipe like we useta use on well pumps. Wasn't smart enough to spray-paint it with Hunter Orange; lost it about 20 years ago,somewhere in CottonMouth Swamp after cutting shooting lanes. ----Gnarly
Martindale.... http://www.cutleryscience.com/reviews/martindale_machetes.html I buy them whenever I can find them locally.... $19... Replace the handle.... easy to do... Make yourself a good sheath... good weekend project....
