Do not post Danny Trejo. My vote is barong.

Whatever is common with subsistence farmers. They use them for everything.

>>63958920 (OP)
Ontarios were the only machetes we used when I was land surveying because they were the only ones that would actually last. Don't know what to tell you now that they got sold out though. Most brands suck because they're made for mall ninjas and not working men.

>>63958920 (OP)
Alright, there's Machete and 'Machete'
Bot look like very long knives but are extremely different.
What you want is a worker's machete. The one M'Beke uses to slash sugar cane somewhere in the Caribbean.
>How do I recognize a worker's machete?
It's easy: Every last 'Machete' has an unnecessarily thick blade. So if you see a Machete whose blade is just as thick as the one on your Rambo knife, you know it's a 'Machete'. Worker's Machetes have much thinner blades. You can easily bend them with one hand on the handle and two fingers of the other one on the tip of the blade
>What's the difference?
Worker's Machetes are just heavy enough to strike hard enough. They are still light enough to be swung all day by M'Beke. Their thin blades also flex so to dampen the vibrations that go into your hands and wrists.
This also gives these blades more resistance against damage.
'Machetes' are usually made of 440 or some other boring-ass knife steel. Wrong steel, wrong thickness, wrong hardness grade, too heavy, not flexible enough.
Plus: Worker's Machetes are usually a lot cheaper than the 'Machetes'

>>63959559
Funny enough: The Cold Steel Latin machete checks all the boxes for a decent worker's machete. I don't know about other CS machetes tho.

Corona made pretty good ones, used to be made in Colombia. I have a few in my collection that I've put hard work on, will post if thread is still up tomorrow

>>63959559
Preach, it's annoying how much mall ninja crap there is in the machete space, I think it's proportionally more than any other tool or weapon market than I can think of off the top of my head. Sadly it can be hard to judge blade quality without getting hands-on.

But I was moreso interested in what blade style ppl like. I'm partial to barongs cuz you can poke shit with em a bit better than most. Plus south Asian stuff is cool.

>>63959597
Trve!
I'm into classic Nigger Machetes. The shit you still find all over Africa, South America and the Caribbean. Aside from those I'm into (classical) billhooks but that's a completely different blade class to be honest - where thickness ain't a bad thing at all.

>>63958920 (OP)
whatever the fuck this kinds called
you see the 3 lines and its an actual tool not a machete shaped object.
those 3 lines come in a variety of profiles but they fuckin work.

>>63959634
even the standard shaped ones are fine.
the important part is the lines are stamped in
cause they actually taper the machete.
there are shit ones where the lines are painted but every 3 line that was real just work.

>>63958920 (OP)
I'm partial to an 18" Imacasa Rozador myself.

I like my 24" Latin Tramontina. It's length and weight make it pretty choppy, I can lop limbs that a lighter or shorter machete wouldn't get through. It still can cut thin weedy things just fine to.

>>63958976
If you search specifically for "agricultural machete" then that cuts out most of the mall ninja results.

>>63958920 (OP)
I like parang.

>>63959597
>But I was moreso interested in what blade style ppl like.
honestly depends on what you're cutting, but at least for me I prefer parang or golok style.

>>63959559
The other problem with 'Machetes' is their grips are often terrible--uncomfortable, shit quality, or get slippery if your hands are sweaty.

>>63959597
>I think it's proportionally more than any other tool
Frankly a lot of tools that you would think would be very simple are actually difficult to find good examples of. Files and rasps are a great example. Anything you'd find at a typical hardware store or big box store is going to be shit. If you want one that cuts well and doesn't get dull in three seconds then you really have to look hard.

An awful lot of woodworking tools like saws, chisels, and planes are junk, and while "quality" brands do exist, you have to be careful with those too as a lot of brands sell expensive bling that doesn't actually perform worth a damn.

>>63958920 (OP)
Do you mean as a weapon or a tool?

>>63958920 (OP)
I've never found my perfect machete, which would be:
>carbon steel
>straight sheepsfoot blade
>full tang
>proper guard
>humped back
>slightly downward angled handle

>>63961351
dafuq are you using a machete for that you want a straight blade?

>>63958920 (OP)
The Spanish designed and produced machetes for their slaves to work the crops .Their handles were specifically designed to make them an inferior weapon.Lack of a curved handle and lack of a guard are definite trademarks of a agricultural implement.Are you sure you wouldn't like a weapon type blade which can be used as a tool because there is a difference in design and purpose and therefore effectiveness in various tasks

>>63961395
Anon, I...

>>63961564
Yes spergie, I can tell that was your austic way of saying you like seaxes. I want to know *why*

>>63961351
>carbon steel
>proper guard
You never will find these features in a production machete. You'd have to order a custom blade.

>>63958920 (OP)
>banned in australia

can we get theese banned in canada too?

>>63961395
typical bush and camp knife stuff
a straight carbon blade is easier for a nooblet like me to sharpen
some say a curved blade is better for chopping; maybe it's just my lousy form, but I've never found it much help, I'd rather just have a blade that is piss-easy to keep razor sharp

however I HAVE found, by using a few different kinds of machete, that the angled handle and added weight of a humped back are tiny changes that add significant power to a chop, so I want that
but not too much of an angle like a kukri or some gollocks, just a bit

>>63961788
ikr?
in any case my /out/ days are probably over so this is just fantasising

>>63961788
What are you on about most machetes are carbon steel 1045 1060 1085 just some form of 10xx. Stainless machetes are the ones that barely exist.

I want a very specific machete for chopping thin brush at the roots, any recommendations? Something along these lines, (ok so the drawing is probably a lot thinner than it would need to be so just think of it as an exaggerated example), basically just
>Small blade, big enough to chop into wood if you need to but it's not intended for chopping anything bigger than an inch around at most
>Long enough you can chop things at their roots without leaning over
>Absolutely as light as possible, anyone who's had to swing a machete for 8 hours a day in the sun knows this is essential
>"shaft" is springy steel or maybe fiberglass, so it can be swung back and forth at rather high speed and use the springiness to chop harder like a knife on the end of a whip
Obviously this is a very purpose-built tool and would be shit as a general purpose machete, even if the blade was extended down the rest of the way.

The Ontario 1-18 military machete is the best machete ever made. There’s still a lot of secondhand examples floating around so buy one of those. I use mine for literally everything. Even digging and stirring a campfire.

I like the All Terrain Chopper by Cold Steel.
It's heavy and has a two handed handle. Will do some damage.

I’m tired of all this “if machete is good for farmer in field, is good for soldier in war” bull. Bring back the fascine knife and billhook.

>>63962231
what you actually want is something like >>63959634
the thing you are describing simply wouldnt work
extremely springy but somehow capable of cutting at the tip? all its going to do is bend then spring back when you hit something. what you are asking for doesnt exist. you are describing a weedwhacker in machete form.

>>63962231
This thing from Cold Steel?

>>63962544
That thing is so awesome for clearing a small patch out. Sometimes ya don't wanna drag out the week Wacker string trimmer and this thing rocks. Nice to keep on the quad or mower for sure.

>take a machete
>extend the grip to 30 cm with mild steel and wood
>now you have a cheap and easy to replace Nagamaki-like sword with very good balance and broad blade

>>63961549
>>63962479
This is true which is why a machete should be treated as a tool first and a weapon second.

Fascine knives are pretty cool but I don't think they're for sale anywhere currently, save for antiques. I sure wouldn't mind having one just like that.

>>63958920 (OP)
unironically that bear grylls one has split like 1000 logs for me

>>63963024
Yeah, it's a damn shame. Sabers get all the reproduction love... I should really start saving to get me that Swiss 1848 cutlass one.

Then again, I can go for a modern day billhook for much, much less. Hell, I can go full Camp Crystal Lake/murder hillbilly style with this thing and still have enough money left over for some overalls and a burlap sack mask for Halloween.

>>63961351
Anon over here wanting a Count Dooku machete.

>>63958976
Interesting. USGI Ontarios are what got me (and some of my coworkers at the time) into kukris. They didn't hold an edge, the handles were absolute garbage, and they were too light for the saplings and heavy scotch broom that we were working with. Fuck the government for deciding that this was the cutting implement that they wanted and fuck Ontario for selling it to them.
>in a perfect world, himalayan imports should have been kicking ontario some money based on the sales that they drove their way

>>63958920 (OP)
The old school two-handed machete from Cold Steel was badass. It was light enough to be used with one hand if you choked up on it, you could drop small trees with it with two hands, and the steel was just right in terms of hardness. It was also very inexpensive, being a piece of thick sheet metal bolted to an injection molded handle. It looks like they discontinued it, which is not surprising because it's ugly and actually worked well. I loaned mine to a buddy to clear some trails 15 years ago and the faggot moved 3 hours away and makes excuses about a meetup. I'm seriously considering a drive down there to say hi, drink a couple of beers, catch up on things, and get my fucking machete back, even though I live in town now and don't really need it anymore.

>>63962231
Kama works good for cutting off saplings. You can do it while standing too and it goes quite fast. You want actual gardening tool, not some flimsy-overpriced martial-arts kama.

>>63962479
you do realise your pic is very obviously derived from a bush machete?

>>63963326
kek
if you've ever used the kukri or gollock, the downward-angled handle or blade feels awkward to begin with but you'll realise it gives you chopping power

>>63958920 (OP)
I just popped on a 18" Latin/bush machete by tramontina. I'd been thinking about it for a long time but this thread made me finally take the plunge.

>>63963763
It's a $24 machete anon, it's not that deep of a plunge lol. I reckon you'll like it though, a machete is one of those tools that you don't think about needing until you get one, then you want to use it for everything all the time. Like most machetes yours isn't stainless so be sure to keep it clean and dry after use, or else it'll rust.

Wood handle or plastic?

>>63963763
Tramonina makes quality stuff, though it often looks fairly rough. It's utilitarian. Their kitchen equipment is good value for money as well.

>>63962231
sounds a lot like a "weed whip"

>>63958920 (OP)
Entirely depends on what you are cutting and where.

>>63961935
This might solve your problems in a different way:

>>63961049
About the grips, some of the workers replace them with DIY wooden ones, often extend the lenght a foot aprox. it helps cutting lower to the ground. For tall grass they use the machete in combination with a wood hook on the left hand

to OP, Ciriri-Incolma N°31,

>>63958920 (OP)
Harbor freight

Anyone know if the Etsy choppas like in picrel are any good? They look nice but there's a bunch of different listings for what is obviously the same thing right down to using the same pictures so I figure they're being mass-produced in China and then dropshipped, which makes me wary

>>63963582
>the handles were absolute garbage
I agree there, they are absolute shit and loosen easily, but I've never had a problem with the edge on one, and that's with both an old military one from the 70s and a commercial one from the mid 2010s. I've cut down plenty of saplings and small 6"-10" trees too.
>himalayan imports
Not a fan whatsoever. Too thick and doesn't sharpen well. I had one for about a week before I went back to the Ontario. At least it looked cool.

>>63966596
I can't speak to those, but I have bought some wood carving tools from a couple different Ukranian sellers off Etsy and they've been great.

>>63963789
>It's a $24 machete anon, it's not that deep of a plunge lol.
Kek it's not so much the financial aspect as it is more of a "I've been deliberating for a while and this finally tipped the scales" sort of thing.
>Wood handle or plastic?
Plastic. I like the checkered scaly-looking texture, as well as the little projection (I think it's called the bolster or butt?) at the bottom of the handle that acts as a hand stop.
>>63964360
> though it often looks fairly rough. It's utilitarian.
Perfect.

>>63966684
>never had a problem with the edge on one
Again, interesting. These were military issue. The military sometimes gets shit that's inferior to the same product sold to civilians. I wonder if that wasn't a thing with the machetes. The issued ones were frustratingly bad. This was 2004-2005 to put things in context.

>doesn't sharpen well
A properly hardened one isn't going to sharpen on a file and most stones won't work with those curves. You've basically stuck with a belt sander if you want to do the job right and not have it take forever, although there were some workarounds for people whose time wasn't valuable to them.

The nice thing was when you got a properly hardened one and put a good polished convex edge on it, it basically held it forever unless you were chopping up metal. (Which I did one time, on a car from the '30's that we found in the woods at our range. The edge wasn't damaged, but it did dull a bit. It could still chop wood and clear brush afterwards.) Their biggest problem was the lack of QA. You have some guys in the third world eyeballing their heat treat and using steel of questionable provenance, you're going to get some good ones, some bad ones, and some in between ones. The good ones were (are) amazing.

>>63967796
>A properly hardened one isn't going to sharpen on a file and most stones won't work with those curves
a proper machete will 100% sharpen on a file unless its harbor freight garbage files.
machetes arent supposed to be hard as fuck cause hard as fuck means brittle, a normal machete should be soft enough that some guy can touch up the edge with a stone in the field.

>>63958920 (OP)
>The factory that made that old CS spear point machete burned down
>Condor no longer makes that barong
>That Aranyik machete is no longer available because the guy that was importing them had his life fall apart as soon as he expanded his business
>Ontario is dead
>Barteaux is dead
>Baryonyx had to downsize and no longer carries a lot of cool Yuro shit
>Covid killed MacheteSpecialists
:(
Anyways I'm super happy with my Junglas although I needed to come up with a mildly customized leg rig to carry it in a way that didn't feel awkward.

>>63967906
Care to expound on your leg rig fren? I'm curious.

>>63966016
IMHO wood grips--specifically ones that are not lacquered or varnished--are best for tools like this. Plastic and lacquered wood get slippery, textured plastic is worse because that's still slippery only now it causes blisters. Cheap wood with minimal finish is actually pretty good because it soon absorbs skin oil from your hand and the resulting 'finish' looks like ass but it doesn't slip. Best is bare wood treated with linseed oil or wax. It's waterproof but it's not slippery with sweaty hands.

I find myself making a lot of garden tool handles because I'm tall and the average handle is too short for me. I finish them all with "gunny paste"--a mix of turpentine, beeswax, and linseed oil. It withstands the weather well, it's easily repaired if necessary, and it's nice and grippy.

>>63967855
>a proper machete will 100% sharpen on a file
Agreed, but that wasn't what I was talking about. Read what I was replying to again.

A machete shaped even somewhat traditionally is easy as hell to sharpen. No recurves, no weird heat treating, no special tools required. You can do it with a rock if that's all you have handy.

Are Condor machetes any good?

>>63970995
yes and no, for general machete use horrible, for i want a sword or i want a blade that survives the apocalypse. ok.
some of their stuff is practical but most of it isnt.

>>63958920 (OP)
Billhook if its grass/branches, no contest
>VC won the war with them

>>63971008
Any clue how their British Golok is? Or should I just stick with trying to find a Martindale?

>>63961549
>Lack of a curved handle and lack of a guard are definite trademarks of a agricultural implement
A lot of swords used in combat across history have those exact traits.

>>63972647
Correct about straight handles, but I can't think of many sword types that didn't typically have a guard of some kind, even if diminutive i.e. gladius, xiphos, spatha, viking sword, katana, etc. Makes sense since you really don't want the other guy to just hit your sword hand when you block.

I think the lack of a sharp tip is a more obvious indicator for the typical machete's tool status. You're not going to chop brush by poking it but the thrust is super important in just about any fencing discipline, even used in more cut-centric forms such as sabre, falcion, cutlass, kenjutsu, and I'm sure others (this is admittedly not my wheelhouse, I'm somewhat familiar with HEMA academically but not an actual practitioner).

>>63972697
>Correct about straight handles, but I can't think of many sword types that didn't typically have a guard of some kind, even if diminutive i.e. gladius, xiphos, spatha, viking sword, katana, etc. Makes sense since you really don't want the other guy to just hit your sword hand when you block.
Many swords that lacked any real handguards would usually be paired with shields, but just as often (and even in the age of rapiers and basket hilts) you could still find swords that traded little to no handguard for comfort and ease of carry. Which makes sense for stuff you will mostly just be wearing/carrying a lot for extended periods of time instead of taking for a duel, and I guess by coincidence seems to also align with the kind of traits desirable for a machete. I think Scholagladiatoria had a good video on this (not regarding machetes, but the philosophy behind swords with small handguards/no handguards).
>I think the lack of a sharp tip is a more obvious indicator for the typical machete's tool status.
Agreed. A sharp tip is just going to be a liability for the kinds of things you'd use a machete for.

>>63970995
>>63971008
Condor makes some pretty good blades, it's just that most of them are way thicker than they need to be. You'll be hard pressed to find a machete from them under 3mm thick, and a lot of them are about 5-6mm. It also doesn't help that you can get 5 tramontinas for the price of one of condors latin style machetes

>>63973079
>Condor makes some pretty good blades
Yes. Yes, they do.

>>63971238
WHY ARE YOU TRIGGERING MY PTSD!!!

This thread highly interests me.
t. Krakow dweller

>>63968076
Varusteleka had pistolman's leg rigs on sale, I mostly bought it for the pouches but that left me with a MOLLE leg rig. The Junglas sheath comes with a MOLLE strap so I used that along with some extra attachments and cut some things off / taped some things down and now I have a very comfortable carry method that puts the knife right where my hand falls. I'm pretty dang happy with it. I might post a pic in the future but for now I'm cleaning my house and have no idea where I put the motherfucker.

>>63962231
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sling_blade

Why do you want light? Anyhow you can get light head ones or search swedish brush axe

I don't have any good pictures of it, somehow, but I bought this Thai machete at a Maryland gun show and it's genuinely the best I've ever used

>>63978640

>>63958920 (OP)
>What's the best machete?

Thread is TLDR so I'll just refer the US military jungle operations manual - there's plenty of different types of machetes in the world but what makes them different is the LOCAL VEGETATION.

Thick roots like mangrove etc. need a heavy machete to chop a bit while overgrown leafy vegetation is best sliced by a long, thin and light machete.

TLDR - own TWO machetes, a thick one and a thin one, and you can navigate most tropical areas of the world.

>>63967796
I know that Ontario used to have an economy line of machetes, so maybe that's what you were getting? I could see the military doing that.
>A properly hardened one isn't going to sharpen on a file
I guess I had a good one then because it definitely wouldn't. Didn't try a belt sander though, my grandpa was always against using them for that and passed that on to me.

>>63978640
>>63978649
yep, tropical gollocks are underrated

>>63978649
>>63977514
Was actually so pissed off by this fact that I went and took a nice picture first thing when I got through the door. It's a thick blade and fairly heavy but it bites about a centimeter into wood on each swing and makes cutting firewood into a joke.

>>63980855
my god they ruined it with that bottle opener cut out. if it ever snaps theres where it will happen. what a tourist grade pile of shit.

>>63958920 (OP)
My pre-GSM, made in SA, cold steel magnum kukri has never once failed me. I freaking love that thing.
It's a shame now that GSM moved production to chyna with worse steel. Not sure how well their new ones are but Joe x has a thing or two to say about that.
Tramontinas look decent too. I'll get picrel and the 24" latin eventually