Thread: Machete

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

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

Originally Posted by muzza

Machetes are for indigenous folk in the Amazon jungle. Kiwi blokes use a slasher

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....

Originally Posted by csmiffy

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

that is pretty much exactly what i had, did the handle nice and redone the blade nice and sharp but it just folded the edge within 5mins hitting the manuka branches

Originally Posted by No.3

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 need to get my hands on some det cord!

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.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

but nothing beats a chainsaw....

Oh yes it can: Stihl 55cc scrub bar with circular saw blade fitted. But have to take the guard off it so you can waggle it in the air and chop up all the hanging supple jack and tree ferns in your path