After completely fucking what i thought was going to be a "decent" machete last weekend trying to clear some tracks through gorse and manuka im on the hunt for a proper decent/quality machete. What are you guys using and what would you recommended?
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After completely fucking what i thought was going to be a "decent" machete last weekend trying to clear some tracks through gorse and manuka im on the hunt for a proper decent/quality machete. What are you guys using and what would you recommended?
A curved bladed slasher ; razot sharp.
There is only 1
Attachment 204529
Silky Yoki - a billhook style cutter.
https://www.hamillstaupo.co.nz/produ...-machete-270mm
Gerber? Expensive but I'm told they tend to keep their edge OK. Otherwise you could try what the Air Cav did in Vietnam and run a line of det cord down. Not exactly the most neighbour friendly approach but bloody quick.
I use a khukri for clearing hard to get in places. Have a generic one gifted by a friend. Tora blades does decent light ones, take a look. Will last a lifetime and more.
-Inder
100% same for south east Asia. I have two Malaysian parang (Machete) that my wife's dad gave me in Borneo. Absolutely brilliant and indestructible.
Watching my wife's uncle use one for everything from splitting wood to butchering chickens was and eye opener. All while wearing jandals to.
placemakers is where I found mine...fatter at the tip and a good shaped plastic handle...I do with they would put a boxguard on them like the old navel cutlass to keep the gorse away.
Had a martindale 18" for years and years till I reckon the feral neighbours pinched it from mums shed when I was in OZ.
Found them again at farmlands.
Cut the pointy front tip back a little and smoothed the handle a little bit. Had to redress the edge with judicial careful use of a flapper wheel on the grinder and a file to finish as the edge is albut 90 degrees from factory.
online search shows them about for 40-50 bucks but not at farmlands
A machete can be quite tiring ,specially on thicker stuff.
Sometime a good pair of secators or a Japanese carpenter saw at the end of a longer stick can be as efficient.
lopping shears..handles about 2 foot long are heaps easier than a machete..... but its all swings n roundabouts...for crown fern and skinny sticks a hookfern slasher is VERY hard to beat..the trick is to use it forwards,cutting upwards so blade enguages stems and pulls into them as going up,Vs swinging down,they bend and dont cut as well.
gorse is a barstard full stop....loppers beats a machete but nothing beats a chainsaw....
You would want a slasher with a long handle for gorse. I have one with about just over a meter wooden handle and a curve a bit like a sickle. Also one with a think blade ( about 6ish mm) but only 250mm long and 4 foot handle. Some gorse with thick trunks take a bit of chopping to get through and with 1 hand it can get a bit tiring after a while.
Parang or Kurkuri, get a good one and you can even use it for the heavy work breaking down a deer in the field.
Agree with Indy and Viper - prefer Parang - after years of possum lines with DOC especially Kaitaia- we had to cut tracks everywhere we went in that bloody jungle -once you have used a parang you will never go back to a machete - just a point parangs are right and left handed i.e sharpened on opposite angle for lefties or right handed- bit like a chisel to look at - but its the parangs action that will win you over -the shape pulls the brush into the curve and presto cut -machetes can tend to push the scrub away if not razor sharp - honest try one never look back -other wise go the XR 500 route -for a good track ya cant beat a stihl scrub bar and steel blade -young fit bugger to swing on it -we always used the 3 star shaped steel blades and turned them every tankfull and complete sharpen both sides every second tank -keeps the tri star balanced -have spents hundreds of hours swinging those on track work - get long shaft model easier on back
We have tried a lot, over the years at work.
The fiskars one is probably the best one available that I have found. All of the weight is in the blade as the handle is hollow.
https://www.fiskars.co.nz/products/g...ok-xa3-1003609
Get a wee hand saw with grunty teeth for the manuka, slasher for thinner broom, gorse etc
You need one of those chopper:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOjNR0QjdqI
Pun intended
Try this one, @XR500 - mine clearance done rapidly. Basically a sock of high explosive towed across a minefield by a rocket. What's not to love? :thumbsup:
https://youtu.be/zHszRV5-bd4
Svord machete is the best I’ve used. Smaller than most on the market but seems to be the perfect size for our bush. Make a decent sheath and it hangs off your belt just fine. The lightness of it makes the swing a lot faster and the blade steel is perfect, never put so much as a small chip in mine. Trust me, you’ll never go back to anything else, it happily slices through 2-3” Manuka like a dream. Even 4” with a bit of weight on the tree or branch. Because they stay so sharp it makes up for the lightness.
I like mine,
Buy a LASHER, they are made in South Africa for Africans. And if it holds up to the stuff Africans get up to with machetes "pangas over there its called" it should last in NZ haha.
I have one, i beat the shite out of it and it works, its cheap and nasty but it works. I got mine off H&F Hamilton some years ago, but you can propably find it online, just google, heaps come up. they are like $25
I believe that Lasher make some of the Cold Steel machetes. Can't beat Lasher cane knives - Africa tough is a high standard!
I scored one from the friendly local scrap metal dealer, it was sitting on the wall, been there for ages he said. Rusty and pitted but edge came up good and they don't make steel like that any more.
I see blade master has a few genuine looking parang. Pretty expensive compared to getting one in Borneo but if there built the same it will last you a lifetime.
https://www.blademaster.co.nz/shop/S...My+Parang.html
Attachment 205883
Find a truck spring, make one of these.
Australian sugar cane knife... brilliant.. heavier at the head so carries a bit of inertia for the heavier foliage.
I got one and love it.