Coup Coup Machete

H

hollowdweller

Joined
Sep 22, 2003
Messages
13,182
Have you all ever seen one?

Not my picture but I have one at home I bought when I was 12 (1972)

At that time it was marked as a "Senegalese Machete" but from what I am reading it was used in Senegal but made in France.

The thing has a unusual blade for a machete in that it's 6mm thick! I used to use mine to cut trees down when I was a kid.

Anyway I eventually lost the handle on mine and my dad put a new one on it but he put slabs on it. The original is sort of weird as it had a groove cut in the back and top of the handle and then the blade and tang fit down in there so the part where your fingers curled is all wood.

I'd love to have some blademaker here put another handle on it like the original but it's a heavy duty thing!

Here's what mine originally looked like, second down from top. :

dscf3086.jpg


Anybody got one?
 
That thing is sick looking! I was actually just thinking about cutting down a 18 tramontina to look similar to that! That's just weird.
 
The original is sort of weird as it had a groove cut in the back and top of the handle and then the blade and tang fit down in there so the part where your fingers curled is all wood.
Click to expand...
The easiest way to make that kind of handle (if you don't have a table saw) is to make it in two parts, cut it away for the tang and glue it together.
 
i recently got one about a year ago, a neighbor knowing i was into blades and such came over and offered it to me as the original owner had just passed away. The late owner's wife was unloading his stuff i guess. i was curious to what it was thanks for the info :thumbup: , i have since cleaned it up and taken off the handle. micarta and corby bolts here we come. this blade is a beast :D very thick for a machete, but just right for a heavy duty chopper. any more info anyone has on history would be great.

larry002.jpg
 
Hi guys,

That blade is a part of history (mine, I'm french...:))

It was issued to the "tirailleurs sénégalais" (french colonial troops from Senegal) at the beginning of WWI.

I know three manufacturers (french ones):

DUMAS
CARRETIE & Cie Paris
SAUT DU TARN

WWI production is stamped with manufacturer and year as the one pictured below.
If not stamped, it should be a post war or WWII (was still issued in 1939 at the beginning of the war) production.
It makes sense, because french colonial troops fought with US GI's from 1942 to the end of the WWII.
One of your grand pa's could have brought it back to US when back home...

coupec10.jpg


Two period pics. The first one is posing, but you can see the coupe coupe on the belt of the first tirailleur, on the second picture.

tirailleurs.jpg


5.jpg


Official name was "sabre d'abbatis", and issued as a tool.
But it served well in trench warfare as a deadly CQB weapon.
I know of german reports, mainly during the Chemin des Dames battle (1917). German grunts feared these brave men and their charges.

The coupe coupe deadly uses were stamped in german soldiers memories, and tirailleurs sénégalais suffered some warcrimes during 1940 France campaign. Individuals and sometimes units were killed rather than captured, because of their coupe coupe.
If interrested, I can tell you more stories about that.

victor2image.jpg


Hope that helps.

Manu.
 
Thanks Ratfrog for the history behind the chopper...I really like to hear about how designs were developed and used. It does look like a mean chopper!

ROCK6
 
Cool thread, I love it when threads trurn into interesting history lessons.
 
good thread, hollowdweller.

great post, ratfrog186 !


the thickness and handle style reminded me of the British survival knife:

31jhbrg2relsl500aa300.jpg
 
Wow! Ratfrog! Great info! Yeah mine says something like A Dumas Acier fondu or something like that??

Disduster? Did you keep the old handle?

Cougar? I might have access to a table saw. I have a huge 2x4 of Black walnut I can use.


Thanks for all the tips and info. I can believe it was a wicked weapon. Given the weight it would strike and penetrate a lot like a khukuri.
 
hollowdweller said:
Disduster? Did you keep the old handle?
Click to expand...

no it was loose with a wicked rattle and a crack down the one side, hopefully i will be able to get around to rehandleing it this fall along with a couple other machetes

on a side note mine is unmarked, thanks forall the great info ratfrog186
cool pics :thumbup:

my ? is, issued as a tool, what is the envirovment like in senegal that you would need such a heavy duty tool.
i don't doubt that it would make a great weapon in the right hands and a great all around survival tool.
 
disduster said:
no it was loose with a wicked rattle and a crack down the one side, hopefully i will be able to get around to rehandleing it this fall along with a couple other machetes

on a side note mine is unmarked, thanks forall the great info ratfrog186
cool pics :thumbup:

my ? is, issued as a tool, what is the envirovment like in senegal that you would need such a heavy duty tool.
i don't doubt that it would make a great weapon in the right hands and a great all around survival tool.
Click to expand...

Yeah I hear you. Like I said I used mine to chop trees it's so heavy. I think Senegal as more lighter vegetation.
 
Thanks for the post and the history lesson...very interesting.

Looks like Bill Siegle has this one nailed.
IMG00192-20100926-0650.jpg
 
For a few years back in the 1970's they were very common in U.S surplus type stores. As I remember the price was around $3.00 but they weren't overly popular because they were so much thick and heavier than a conventional machete.
 
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