new machete
- Thread starter jdupre'
- Start date
When Joey got his Tramontina machete it reminded me that I'd used them before , around that time I had been looking at Cold steel machetes but they were rather expensive here and I didn't like the styles available here [ we don't get them all ] so I started looking at the tramontinas again and the local camping shops stock them first I bought a 10" model for my day pack and it proved to do what was required well and it took a good edge and chopped through small saplings and such and when needing a shelter , clearing some brush and worked well for splitting hardwood for kindling when used with a big rock , it will stay in my day pack .
The 18" blade model was the next one and again the steel was good but the edge needed work , not much but some and it keeps a edge , for many things it's a better size to use than the 10" but doesn't fit in my pack so now lives in my recovery box in my Musso 4x4 .
The 26" model is a monster , the blade is bloody long and this is a good thing , gives it a good swing , I've chopped through 2" hard wood saplings many times with one swing and have choped through a 5" thick Iron bark tree several times , it's lighter and handier than my Friska axe and it the best axe I've used , I can chop stuff as I pile it on the fires and chop it at the same time and the little sort of hook on the handle it brilliant , it's by far the best machete I've used but because of the swing and weight you need to remember where the swing will finish , it's not like a broad sword that tends to feel alive in your hand because of the weight distribution , but it does it's job well , it holds the edge extremely well and for a test I cut through a 5" Iron bark log that had been dead for a lot of years , it was hard as the hobbs of hell and when I tested the hardness broke a 1/4" drill in it , it was hard going but I chopped through it about two minutes and the blade still put in a days work cutting green stuff before needing a quick sharpen , to give a idea of what I was chopping through here are some pictures of what I was chopping through and the machetes
What the place looked like before
I've used a Machete , Brushcutter and chainsaw in that order in length of time and I'm getting on top of it , still need to take out about half of what is left
David
The 18" blade model was the next one and again the steel was good but the edge needed work , not much but some and it keeps a edge , for many things it's a better size to use than the 10" but doesn't fit in my pack so now lives in my recovery box in my Musso 4x4 .
The 26" model is a monster , the blade is bloody long and this is a good thing , gives it a good swing , I've chopped through 2" hard wood saplings many times with one swing and have choped through a 5" thick Iron bark tree several times , it's lighter and handier than my Friska axe and it the best axe I've used , I can chop stuff as I pile it on the fires and chop it at the same time and the little sort of hook on the handle it brilliant , it's by far the best machete I've used but because of the swing and weight you need to remember where the swing will finish , it's not like a broad sword that tends to feel alive in your hand because of the weight distribution , but it does it's job well , it holds the edge extremely well and for a test I cut through a 5" Iron bark log that had been dead for a lot of years , it was hard as the hobbs of hell and when I tested the hardness broke a 1/4" drill in it , it was hard going but I chopped through it about two minutes and the blade still put in a days work cutting green stuff before needing a quick sharpen , to give a idea of what I was chopping through here are some pictures of what I was chopping through and the machetes
What the place looked like before
I've used a Machete , Brushcutter and chainsaw in that order in length of time and I'm getting on top of it , still need to take out about half of what is left
David