lets talk about machete's

[Scibaer]

i've been doing some online research about machetes, uses in survival situations and looking into what are bad, good and better machetes
 so far, i have watched some youtube vids and looked at machetes online.
 the cold steel and ontario makes are high on my list ..
 what say you ?

[Almtnman]

I had an Ontario Knife Works machete, the type that the military uses and lost it. It was one of the best machetes that I had ever owned. I bought a replacement, but got the Ontario Kurki and it works good also. The Ontario Kurki costs more than others like it on the market, but Ontario makes very good machetes.

[Lurker]

I had an Ontario Knife Works machete, the type that the military uses and lost it. It was one of the best machetes that I had ever owned. I bought a replacement, but got the Ontario Kurki and it works good also. The Ontario Kurki costs more than others like it on the market, but Ontario makes very good machetes.

You are very right in your evaluation of Ontario Knife works products...

Bill

[efremtags]

The best machete I ever owned was hand made in italy. It had a curved front like a cycle so i really cut well on small brush when you pull it toward you. The closest I have seen to this style is the gerber and the woodsman pal. The Pal is a little heavy. The gerber is nice, long polymer handle is very comfortable.

[myronman3]

i bought a $18 gerber about 2 months back.  for 18 bucks i can not complain.   it works great on foliage, but limbs it leaves something to be desired.  of course, i am doing light brushing with it and it works ok on box elder and soft woods, but harder woods raise hell with it.   i also learned that wearing a light set of leather gloves helps save your hands from thorns and such while using said machete.  

[Scibaer]

well,  from i have gathered ( from the internet )  , the ontario machete is about tops, so ...
 i ordered the 18  inch military model from bud k for $22.
 http://budk.com/Knives/Ontario-18-Military-Machete
the you tube videos and independent evaluations of the ontario sold me on its quailty.
it seems to be the tool of choice, for the guy from dual survival, Dave  .. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQhwbR2a2X4&feature=related

 
 

[Victor3]

 I've been looking for a good one too.

 My only experience using machetes has been with a few cheesy ones. Only one I've kept is one made by Stanley that I bought about 25 years ago. It's got a somewhat flimsy 1/16" thick x 24" long blade that's not ideal for much other than light tree/shrub trimming.

 A few months back a guy at work brought one of these in to show me...

http://www.machetespecialists.com/coelsama18in.html

 I was impressed with the quality of both knife and sheath (really well done heavy leather). Blade was pretty thick, but not overly so. Nice bead-blasted finish and solid, nice feeling handle. One of only a few reasonably priced stainless machetes I've ever seen. Seemed a good value at the $50 he said he paid for it (sheath included).

 Condor makes a variety of carbon and stainless machetes at reasonable prices. I notice that their carbon steel models are 3mm (~1/8") thick as opposed to 2.2mm (~3/32") on their stainless ones.

http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_detail.html?s=CN2020HC

[teamnelson]

I brought a pongo home from Kenya; paid like $2 US for it. Daily carry weapon for thousands of Africans, and for good reason. My son picked up a short 18" "coronet" machete while in Costa Rica, came with a tooled leather sheath. That's a sweet little chopper for $10. I also would gladly carry a commercial kitchen grade large knife ... some of them are 24" or longer, with a heavy duty handle, and good steel. Designed for daily abuse in a butcher shop or cafeteria. I see them in chinatown at the chinese restaraunt supply for $10.

[Scibaer]

after this discussion,
 i ordered the 18 inch Ontario machete, not the light weight discounted one, but the heavy duty military spec'd one.
 the blade is 3 mm thick  of 1095 carbon steel and fairly stiff spined, but does have some flex.
 the edge was sharp enough to cut my thumb pretty good, opps  
 the spine will need to be filed flat, and the point was a bit rounded. i will dress that up some too. and i think i will wrap the handle, its some shatter proof plastic material , that didnt pass the slip test.  so some sports wrap may be in order ... but for $22 and its apparent stout for hell construction, i think its a keeper.
sorry no pics , i dont have that technology for now ..
but you can see it here  http://www.machetespecialists.com/onmijuma.html

[Almtnman]

Good choice! It looks just like the one I used to have but lost. Mine had a canvas holster, but I never did care for the holster, so I bought one of the hard plastic or composite type holsters for mine and liked it much better. I kept mine strapped to my four wheeler with a bungee cord and spent many hours clearing out logging roads at the hunting club.  

BTW Scibaer, that profile pic of yours looks exactly like some of the 405 grain hardcast loads that I used to load up for the Marlin 45-70 that I used to have.

[Scibaer]

yeah, i didnt get mine with a sheath at all , but i can get one online with no problems, i just need to decide what kind i want, nylon or nylon and canvas, or just canvas or one of the kydex style , each has advantages like anything else.
 i did take my new chopper out into the bush yesterday and whacked a few bushes and small green and dead tree branches and other flora to see how it works out.. its a beast ! lol but i do need to work on the edge some more . the machete is shout though and should do whatever i ask it too .
  now it has me thinking that other Ontario products may be worth a look too.
 
yeah, those are 405 grain cast, Tim ( quick ) sent me some , so i could work up a load for a bison hunt and i didnt have the ability to get some myself at the time. i cant say exactly what weight i ended up with but they are loaded strong, and the recoil from my BC was all  i could take lol ..
 i use a simmons scope at 4x and i was shooting a real nice group but about 2 inch high at 100 yards.
but the loads i worked up were teeth rattlers.
the 5 or 6 rounds in the pic were polished up real nice those are the ones that went with me as buffalo fodder.