Bushcraft Machete

[Pict]

YouTube - Bushcraft Machete

Machetes come in all shapes and sizes and can be very specialized tools. In the bush, where I have to clear trail, clear camp, harvest and shape natural materials, as well as prepare foods, cut water vines and clean game, (just to name a few) I like a machete that is a jack of all trades. By making a few simple modifications to the blade I get a variety of edge types located in the right places to optimize their usefulness and application to a wide range of tasks. This is what I call a "Bushcraft Machete". It is a machete that is not just the right choice for one task but rather a blade that finds it's way into just about everything I do in the bush.

This video covers some of the uses and applications of the scandi edge I place at the base of my blade as well as the squared spine I use for making shavings. These various edges have wider application than what is shown in the video.

If you would like to put some of these mods on your machete then feel free. I even have a tutorial up that shows you how with simple hand tools. Their application, or how you use them is up to you. If your machete is intended exclusively for clearing land or cutting trail then I recommend a full length convex. If your machete is much longer than 16 inches you will probably find using the scandi base awkward. For a bushcraft machete that will ride on your belt and touch on everything you do in the tropics this size blade with these mods has been working for me for many years. It just might work for you too.

Mac

[crashdive123]

Another great video. Thanks.

[Batch]

Mac,

After seeing your video on this modification and another guys. I ordered 3 Ontario 12" Machetes with sheaths. They are still listed as back ordered and I ordered them on December 7th!

I don't have a local distributor. Is there some site you have ordered them from or did you have a local place.

Also why do you prefer a 12" in the states and a 16" in Brazil?

Thanks for the videos.

[Pict]

Smoky Mountain Knife Works has good prices on Tramontina machetes. I bought my 12 inch ontario in their show room.

In the US I prefer the 12 inch Ontario. Here in Brazil I prefer the 16 inch Tramontina. They are very different machetes. The 16 gives me reach in a machete that is relatively light weight and doesn't wear my arm out in light stuff like grass and ferns. The 12 inch Ontario is like a hatchet, very good in green hardwoods found in the jungles of summertime Pennsylvania. In PA I never have to hack through clogged trails like I do here so the machete is used more for clearing camp than clearing trail. I've been using a short heavy machete in PA since the early 80's. Here I use Tramontinas in 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20 inches. I carry a 12 in the mountains and a 16 everywhere else, but use the 20's when I have to clear vacant lots of head-high tall grass. Mac

[Batch]

Ok, so the thickness of blades isn't critical. I tend to crawl game trails more than I chop my way through them. So my machete spends most of its time in the truck or on the quad.

But, your videos expanded on its capabilities for me and since my current machete is that 16" Gerber saw back machete. I don't figure the thing lends itself so well to the ideas you express in your videos.

Even though I am in much denser stuff than your US trappings. i think I'll stick to a shorter machete for comforts sake when I am crawling.

This last video just added to my desire to play with a machete and baton more. Keep up the good work!

[Mtnman Mike]

I think they need more machetes in Haiti. Nevermind.....

[Pict]

It is unfortunate that the machete gets a bad rap in times of turmoil in the third world. The fact is that they are universal, low cost, absolutely necessary for everyone in the tropics to own, and inflict terrible damage on humans. If these cultures all played baseball the bat would get the same rap. Mac

[finallyME]

great video Mac. I enjoyed the demo.

[OGsBF]

i love me a big knife! so useful and in many way superior to an axe for relatively light work. http://www.ratcutlery.com/junglas_machete.htm

i wouldnt buy that .13 thick chete that you use. at the very least id use the .16 thick and excelent kabar kukri

[your_comforting_company]

Purchased a new Corona (made in china) machete last week instead of the Coleman (made in Taiwan). I'm hoping to get a nice Ontario for christmas, but we'll see.

I hope to make a few of these modifications this week and post pics in use. I'd like to try it on this junk one before I (hopefully) get a nice one. Thanks for the great tips Mac!!

[crashdive123]

Purchased a new Corona (made in china) machete last week instead of the Coleman (made in Taiwan). I'm hoping to get a nice Ontario for christmas, but we'll see.

I hope to make a few of these modifications this week and post pics in use. I'd like to try it on this junk one before I (hopefully) get a nice one. Thanks for the great tips Mac!!

I've got a Corona (and a bunch of others) that I like.

[paulie.4x]

Say Heah Boys and Girls, I use a Machete in my Summer Bushcraft I have a O. K. C. Heavy Duty 22" D-Ring Blackie Collins Machere, I also have the 18" Military Issue, a Condor Jungle Saber Machete in 420HC to make blinds. A Cold Steel 16" Double Edge Machere, a Woodsman Pall, a Bark River Golok, a Fox Hiram Golok a Johnson Adventure Parangatang, my Case Jungle Machete Knife my Machaxe BK-4, Oh yeah my Rodent Rucki, and I just pulled the trigger on a Battle Horse Mad Hatter Machete which will match handles as a set with my new B H Attitude Survival Knife, It's a 5 1/4" blade, But it's every bit as tough as my BK-2 but a better slicer and chops great for its size, Oh I also have a no name machete that's so hard to put a edge on, So I just beat on it. Yeah, I take the brambles seriously and besides, I like to Bushwack.

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

[kyratshooter]

Wow!

13 different names dropped in one paragraph.

Is that a new record?


And what does the man from Brazil that won the race prefer? The $5 Tramontia!

[Rick]

I tend to walk around stuff.

[hunter63]

I just can't get used to a machete.....only time I used one is clearing brush......and does work for that.
AS far as the walking along cutting a trail....usually isn't necessary or done on a woodland scenario and apposed to jungle.

There is usually room to pass thru or a slight detour for space for walking along and mostly able to find a clearing for other activities....camping, cooking or what ever you need to do.

Big knife or small hatchet have served my needs so far....although I carry a US military style machete in the truck(s).

My preference is to just pass thru with a little evidence as possible.

[crashdive123]

Wow!

13 different names dropped in one paragraph.

Is that a new record?


And what does the man from Brazil that won the race prefer? The $5 Tramontia!

Heck, that was one sentence.

[finallyME]

Out here in the west, I found that a machete does a pretty good job of cutting up sage brush. Of course, you don't to cut it up to walk through the stuff, just walk around. And you don't need to cut it to burn it. The dry, dead stuff just breaks. A pair of leather gloves is all you need to cut up sage brush. Machetes are also good when you are laying sod. They trim the odd pieces really fast. Buy a cheap $5 one and you can even sharpen them on the curb.

[Faiaoga]

It is unfortunate that the machete gets a bad rap in times of turmoil in the third world. The fact is that they are universal, low cost, absolutely necessary for everyone in the tropics to own, and inflict terrible damage on humans. If these cultures all played baseball the bat would get the same rap. Mac

Good comments on the incredibly useful and very much needed machete, which should be thought of as a necessary tool rather than as a weapon. I have lived and worked where a machete or "bush knife" is a household tool and where people think nothing of seeing machetes used around the family home. Unfortunately, Hollywood films and video games often make people consider the machete as a badge of being tough and cool and macho in a way that hurts the cultures where the the machete was originally a useful and needed implement. Very sad.

[kyratshooter]

Why the defensive posture regarding an item no one here has proposed as anything more than a agricultural and recreational tool ?

But now that you mention it do you realize how many times the machete has been drafted into military use or has been the primary weapon of various 3rd world insurrections world wide? Angola even has a machete on their revolutionary flag.

In every country where machetes are common they have been used in insurrections as weapons of mass destruction and opposition to the government. The common sense connection between the presence of machetes and revolutions can not be ignored.

We even developed the 1911 pistol in .45acp because of the combination of hashish and machetes and immediately coined the term "bringing a knife to a gunfight".

Why just last week some terrorist in Europe used a machete to chop up a bunch of people, so it remains a suspicious device needing the attention of TPTB. That is especially true since they can be purchased on the internet or bought at Walmart without a thorough background check as to ones criminal or mental health state.

How can anyone justify the presence of such a device when they neither live in the jungle nor a sugar cane plantation and have no coconuts to split open? It defies logic and requires some "common sense controls".

There are reports of fainting and PTSD triggered by the accidental finding of a machete in the tool sheds of British, French and German homes and many reports of people in the U.S. going into manic killing sprees upon finding a machete in grandad's war chest packed under the Purple Heart from WW2.

Every machete taken off the streets is a machete that can not be used to commit a crime or overthrow the government!

Perhaps we should all call our congressmen and have them reevaluate the national stand on machete control. It only makes sense.

[hunter63]

Well,.... You take your bush clearing tool, and you Little League bat......Viola .....A Bat-Chete!



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Bazinga.......posted for humor value only.....Do not try this at home.....