machetes

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The Count

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I always take my sawback 12" ontario with me; I would take my parang Condor made but it is way to heavy.

long time no see a machete discussion.
:hmm3grin2orange:
 
It took a few years for my arm and shoulder to get back to normal after swinging one a few years doing road profiles on the Oregon Coast. Owie.
Salmonberry is easy to cut, vine maple no.
 
For small stuff up to 1" in diameter, this little guy can't be beat:

Clearing%20Ax.jpg


For 1"-5", you want one of these:

ES2283-Surveyors-Bush-Hook-813010-md.jpg


Machetes are too long and too light to be useful in woody material. They bounce easily and offer too much opportunity for injury.
 
Good tool. I don't know how many companies make them or if Sandvik was even the first, but out on the Olympic Peninsula we just said "Sandvik" and everyone knew exactly what tool you were talking about.
 
I have a couple of the Gerbers that see heavy trail cutting use, I purchased both at the same time but I find one seems to hold an edge better than the other.
 
best machete i ever owned was a cheap o from a miltary surplus store. you cant dull its edge if you wanted to. I have got a gerber with serrated saw blade on the back its a pretty heavy hitter for 20 bucks
 
if money and space were no problemo, machetes would have been the first thing I would start to collect (and knives in general)
 
gerber or fiskars

I've used many, many brands, sizes, and types of machetes over the years, but a friend gave me one of the Gerber bush hook type knives shown on the following link, and it is by far the best I've ever used.


Gerber Knives: Gerber Axes and Folding Shovel


I just looked at the link and dang if those gerbers don't look exactly like fiskars. I wonder if they are really the same tools just branded differently? I have the fiskars super splitter, and all the way to the handle carrying case it looks identical, at least in the picture.
 
I just looked at the link and dang if those gerbers don't look exactly like fiskars. I wonder if they are really the same tools just branded differently? I have the fiskars super splitter, and all the way to the handle carrying case it looks identical, at least in the picture.

The first time I used the Gerber was helping a surveyor friend of mine. I was the brush cutter, and I tackled a large vine that was hanging near a tree. Rather than try to cut it off in midair, I decided to press it against the tree and used the trunk as a chopping block. I repeatedly struck it time and time again with the back of the blade before realizing that side isn't sharpened, but I figured it out when I put my glasses back on :laugh: The cutting side really works well, and I'll leave my other machetes in the truck in favor of the Gerber from now on.
 
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