School me on machetes

[Northwoods]

I want a machete.  Or at least I think I do.  The area I want to try for deer is a kayak only access place, and could easily involve a lot of brush to hack through to get to the more open areas.  So I was looking at the 13" Sogfari and Gerber saw back machete of similar length.  But reviews are decidedly mixed.  Also not super sure about the shorter length.  Space is something of a premium, but super critical. 

[Boomhauer]

Take a look at Tramontina and Ontario, plus the Cold Steel Latin machetes aren't bad.

Any of those will be decent but maybe little rough out of the box. Perfect for working grade tools though.

[Regolith]

The style of machete you're going to want to get depends on the vegetation you have to deal with.

The longer and thinner a machete is, the easier it is to get through lighter materials like grasses and thinner brush. So if you're going to be dealing with a lot of grasses and lighter brushes, an 18" might be a good idea. It also gives a standoff distance for thorny bushes like blackberry, while still working well on thicker stuff (though if it's built too lightly it might have trouble getting through thicker branches).

For thicker brush and trees, a shorter machete would be fine, I think, so long as it's built fairly heavily. I have a Kabar kukri machete that chops almost as well as an axe; it's about 12" and fairly heavy. But it has some problems going through very thin stuff; not enough speed at the tip, and it ends up just knocking it aside.

A decent 18" machete actually doesn't weigh a whole lot or take up that much space. Unless your kayak is super small, I'd imagine you could find somewhere to stash it.

Take a look at Tramontina and Ontario, plus the Cold Steel Latin machetes aren't bad.

Any of those will be decent but maybe little rough out of the box. Perfect for working grade tools though.

Haven't heard of Tramontina, but I've heard lots of good things about Ontario machetes. Cold Steel machetes usually don't come sharpened from what I've heard, so while they're decent you have to put a bit more effort into them.

[Hawkmoon]

http://www.woodmanspal.com/

[bedlamite]

This thread needs a silly pic:

[Ben]

The Cold Steel Machetes aren't the best of the bunch, but they're inexpensive. For a guy that doesn't know if he wants or needs a machete, that might be the way to go to try one out. If you find it's what you need, you could relegate the Cold Steel to the garage for gardening duty (or zombie duty) and then get yourself a higher quality lightweight one for the hunting trips.

[mtnbkr]

Cold Steel isn't the best of any bunch.  They get the knife fanbois moist because the owner travels around shooting things and producing slick videos, and CS makes big knives.

I have yet to be impressed by any CS product I've picked up and the marketing nonsense turns me away from digging any deeper.  When I see CS, I think BudK. 

Chris

[Ben]

Well, BudK would be another place he could look. My point was that since he's not sure if he needs or wants one, why not just be out fifteen bucks or so to give the design a try, versus fifty bucks and finding out it's not what he wants?

They used to sell cheap machetes in sporting goods depts and at hardware stores, usually piled in a big old box or bin, but I don't know that I've seen any at either place in years.

[RevDisk]

What Regolith said.

Pick your machete for the job at hand. Long and thin is perfect for grass or other light plants, and you can cheap out. For small trees, heavier shrubs, etc you want something like a Woodman's Pal. You don't want to cheap out as much.

[tokugawa]

if you want to buy a machete, get one.  If you want to cut brush for access, get a pair of pruners with long handles. Way less effort, more selective, you can grab the prickly crap with them  and a lot safer. Plus no need for swing room.

[vaskidmark]

Whatever you do, do NOT think that a sawback means you can saw wood with it!  The grip is wrong, the width is wrong, the idea itsel is wrong.

There are all sorts of lightweight (as in packable) folding bowsaws out there that do not take up much space or weight.  Look for them.

What do other folks use to bust brush in the AO you have described?  (Surely there are at least two boards about gear in that area where you can get conflicting opinions.)

At about 1:46 you can get a good look at what Amazon jungle natives are carrying:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHGRrWyX_NA

stay safe.

[lee n. field]

http://www.amazon.com/Ontario-1-18-Military-Machete-6144/dp/B000I6IN6O

I bought one of these many years ago, back when an Army Surplus store actually had some surplus stuff.

and a corn knife would probably work almost as well.

No need to be tactical.

[brimic]

Haven't heard of Tramontina

They are made in a country where machetes are a necessary piece of equipment  

If you want something for heavier chopping, KA-bar makes a 'kukri' machete- very well made and solid- and expensive.

Cold Steel isn't the best of any bunch.  They get the knife fanbois moist because the owner travels around shooting things and producing slick videos, and CS makes big knives.

I have yet to be impressed by any CS product I've picked up and the marketing nonsense turns me away from digging any deeper.

That. Cold Steel might make some good stuff, but I'm turned off by their gimmicky marketing and mall ninja image.


Stay away from the Harbor freight crap. You might think you are getting a bargain by paying $5 for a machete, but even at that price, you are not getting your money's worth.

[Boomhauer]

Cold Steel isn't the best of any bunch.  They get the knife fanbois moist because the owner travels around shooting things and producing slick videos, and CS makes big knives.

I have yet to be impressed by any CS product I've picked up and the marketing nonsense turns me away from digging any deeper.  When I see CS, I think BudK. 

Chris

I'm not a knife fanboi, and generally I don't think much of all about Cold Steel, but the "Latin" machetes are pretty decent

Otherwise I stay away from CS in general, and yes, I agree their marketing is lame.

[Hawkmoon]

At about 1:46 you can get a good look at what Amazon jungle natives are carrying:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHGRrWyX_NA

Video only runs to 1:14. Best look is around 0:40 -- and that blade the "uncontacted" native is wearing looks rather sophisticated to have been made by any tribe that has had no contact with civilization.

[Perd Hapley]

I have one of the cheap, South African Cold Steel machetes. The blade might be OK, but I wouldn't know, because the handle is far too bulky to swing it for any length of time. My hands aren't small, by any means, but trying to grip that massive handle wore out my hand, when I tried to actually use it.

It's not this one, but that is the handle style I'm talking about.
http://www.coldsteel.com/Product/97HMS/HEAVY_MACHETE.aspx

It looks like most of their machetes have a different style of handle, these days.


Barteaux machetes got a very favorable review in Tactical Knives magazine a few years back, for what that's worth. My Barteaux has been pretty good. It even has a saw that works very well, so take that, Skidmark.    The funny part was that I had to cut off the "D" part of the handle, in order to use it. 

[Triphammer]

I've had & used the Tramontina and few other generic s. American brush knives & my favorite so far is the GI Ontario. The distal taper and 18" length makes the tip fast while the blade being heavier near the handle lets you chop some thicker stuff when needed.

[cordex]

Years ago my dad picked up a machete on an island in the Caribbean. The blade was much wider and stiffer than the blades of the $5 junk you see in sporting good stores here.  Holds an edge too.  The blade got damaged by some idiot kid (me) in a campfire so we ground it down to be a little shorter and that thing is a great chopper.

Edit: almost certain it was a Martindale machete. Now I want to buy another one.

[Regolith]

if you want to buy a machete, get one.  If you want to cut brush for access, get a pair of pruners with long handles. Way less effort, more selective, you can grab the prickly crap with them  and a lot safer. Plus no need for swing room.

Eh....depends on how much time you have. Pruners are slow. If I'm just trying to get from point A to point B, a machete is faster. You're not tidying things up, you're making a hole.

[RoadKingLarry]

http://www.amazon.com/Ontario-1-18-Military-Machete-6144/dp/B000I6IN6O

I bought one of these many years ago, back when an Army Surplus store actually had some surplus stuff.

and a corn knife would probably work almost as well.

No need to be tactical.

Looks just like the Ontario machete I got from my uncles estate. Mine is stamped US and 1945.

[Northwoods]

What do other folks use to bust brush in the AO you have described?  (Surely there are at least two boards about gear in that area where you can get conflicting opinions.)

I haven't found a record of anybody hunting that particular area in internet recorded history.  To access that area you either A) take a paddle craft to the vicinity, B) take a powerboat 85-90 miles through Canada (inc 50-60 miles of dirt roads) to access the only available boat launch, C) blaze your own trail through 10+ miles of 30-50% grades and thick-as-hell brush, or D) parachute into the area.

I have yet to find anyone else dumb enough to attempt to hunt that area.

From what I can tell, once I reach the spot I'd figured on getting out of the kayak, the reasonably shallow grade of 20-30% takes me up a creek bed to where it clears out into a field that I can glass and maybe have a chance of seeing a game animal.  Once I break out into the open it's more like 30-50% grades depending on exactly where you're looking.  Only good news in all that is that it's only 1/2-2/3 of a mile total from the water to the clearing.  So, while tough, it should be doable.

I'm expecting blackberries to be the worst of the vegetation trying to impede progress.

[Regolith]

I'm expecting blackberries to be the worst of the vegetation trying to impede progress.

18" sounds perfect for that then. Don't have to hike far, so you're not exactly cutting tags to lighten your load, so the weight saved going to a 12" wouldn't make any difference. But the extra reach helps a lot when dealing with blackberries.

I'd go for the Ontario suggested by lee n. field.

[tokugawa]

Eh....depends on how much time you have. Pruners are slow. If I'm just trying to get from point A to point B, a machete is faster. You're not tidying things up, you're making a hole.

 Disagree.

[tokugawa]

I'm expecting blackberries to be the worst of the vegetation trying to impede progress.

 Definitely get the pruners, get one with aluminum handles. Blackberries are a pain to cut with a machete- they are springy, grow in all sorts of directions so it hard to get a good angle cut on them with a knife edge, and you can grab the bastards with the pruners.  Way less energy expended.

[Scout26]

I haven't found a record of anybody hunting that particular area in internet recorded history.  To access that area you either A) take a paddle craft to the vicinity, B) take a powerboat 85-90 miles through Canada (inc 50-60 miles of dirt roads) to access the only available boat launch, C) blaze your own trail through 10+ miles of 30-50% grades and thick-as-hell brush, or D) parachute into the area.

I have yet to find anyone else dumb enough to attempt to hunt that area.

From what I can tell, once I reach the spot I'd figured on getting out of the kayak, the reasonably shallow grade of 20-30% takes me up a creek bed to where it clears out into a field that I can glass and maybe have a chance of seeing a game animal.  Once I break out into the open it's more like 30-50% grades depending on exactly where you're looking.  Only good news in all that is that it's only 1/2-2/3 of a mile total from the water to the clearing.  So, while tough, it should be doable.

I'm expecting blackberries to be the worst of the vegetation trying to impede progress.

Make sure you bring a knife and fork with you. 


That way you can eat anything you kill there, 'cause it sure sounds like getting a deer out is going to be a cast-iron female dog.