A quick teaser pic of a new (machete related) project...

FortyTwoBlades

Baryonyx walkeri
Dealer / Materials Provider
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Here's a photograph of the Imacasa colima machete that I reviewed a while back--but with a new friction reducing coating applied.

As we all know well, if the blade encounters less friction as it passes through a material, less energy is lost and the blade is free to penetrate deeper--and with less exertion--during a cut.

Test slices on cardboard have so far revealed VERY positive results, and left the area of the blade that passed through the material with more of a silvery-gray look rather than the matte black that you see here. I buffed it firmly with a paper towel and it developed a look nearly like a shiny patina, though closer examination reveals that you're looking at the coating and not the metal underneath.

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Depending on the results of further testing I may apply this coating to a chopper project I'm working on that's destined for the exchange forum. It could be a nice finishing touch to something already unique! :cool::thumbup:
 
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UPDATE:

Took it outside to test out today and it held up great, as well as providing a noticeable degree of improvement penetrating during the cut. It was also easier to withdraw the blade after sinking it into the wood.

A close up shot of the coating. It's not a great photo, though--it's a bit more silvery in person.
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In hand--you can see the silver-gray color better here.
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BLAM! :D
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The blade after withdrawing it. The log was a little damp from the rain, so it got the blade wet where the strike occurred.
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Here's the impact zone with the water wiped away. The coating held up as well, even on the very edge.
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And again--but this time not into the end-grain of a dead log. This one was dead and dry. Excellent depth to the cut and it was quite effortless. ;)
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The cut with the machete removed. For some reason this picture makes the trunk look a bit smaller than it actually was, but it was the best one I got--it started raining pretty hard and I had to run inside!
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I also chopped up a bunch of other stuff that I didn't get on camera. The coating, again, held up great and did a wonderful job making my cuts deeper and my extractions easier. The coating on the actual live edge of the piece wore back a little, but that's to be expected of any coating and it continued to do its job admirably. I'm pretty excited about how this will look on my little secret project--I'm very nearly ready to put on the finishing touches, the coating being one of them. :cool:
 
I'll tell you guys once I'm done with my project--should be today if all goes well! I'll give you a hint though--It's NOT Gun-Kote :p
 
I'll tell you guys once I'm done with my project--should be today if all goes well! I'll give you a hint though--It's NOT Gun-Kote :p

I think I have a hunch as to what it may be...

Is it something like the "EZ-Slide" or "Slip Plate" Graphite paint?
 
I think it's backed on MolyKote like
MOLYKOTE 106 ANTI-FRICTION COATING
or
MOLYKOTE 3402C ANTI-FRICTION COATING

Yes i also played with that idea
 
I think I have a hunch as to what it may be...

Is it something like the "EZ-Slide" or "Slip Plate" Graphite paint?

Bingo! It's Slip-Plate. I'm hella impressed with it so far. :cool:

FYI I just posted this bad boy up in the exchange forum. It's a heavily modified Imacasa Rozador, and I think you'll like what I did to it.

Original:
yhst-29358752693524_2094_845010


Now:
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I have more pics up in the exchange thread, and will add more (better) ones as soon as I can.
 
Very interested in how the coating wears. Please keep us posted.

Where did you buy the slip-coat?

Thanks!
 
I got it at DrillSpot.com--it was the cheapest price I could find that wasn't from a sketchy website. Very fast shipping, too. The coating thus far has held up better than I expected, and it works great! :thumbup:
 
Oh, and here's the piece I chopped off the tip. It's good steel so I'm thinking of making a little key chain tool out of it! Here's one potential idea--bottle opener with wire stripper (based on the Victorinox style of course) flat head screwdriver on one end and a half-phillips on the other. The spine will be squared for use as a scraper. Thoughts? :)

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instead of the round notch wire stripper, I'd go with a sharpened V.
 
Nice, I caught this link over on the ESEE sub forum. Has the wheels spinning in my brain.

One question I have (after looking at the specs for that, and the specs on another similar product). What would be the implications on using it for any food prep?

I don't really ever use my CS Mag khukri machete for food prep (ok, I did the other day, just for plain old fun!).

I wonder how it would make the food taste? Like chewing up a graphite pencil? (not that I have done that a lot, OK, I admit I have chewed up many pencils in my day).

Also, that was a great looking Machete design. I am going to have to google that one.

That seems a bit thin. Mine is 2.75 thick. Do you have any problem with it feeling "flappy" when swung or impacting the target? Looks like a great design for actual jungle use, with the back swing being able to cut as well.
 
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Bear in mind that I modified the blade shape a little, so if you wanted to do one yourself just be prepared to do the same. :) No problem at ALL with flexion. It's actually quite a stiff machete (though it will flex as it should under impact).There's a nice taper to the blade, too, which makes it feel very "alive" in the hand.

I'm not too worried about the coating and food prep, mostly from the standpoint that I always have a smaller blade to work with. When I do modification jobs in the future I'll probably offer the coating as an optional thing, though, for folks who want to use theirs for food prep. That being said I don't think it would affect taste much--only the tiniest bit of graphite rubs off on a paper towel when I scrub the blade with it VERY firmly, and it would probably be a survival situation where I'd be stuck using a machete for that anyway, so what's a little graphite? :D
 
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In a word--yes! I JUST used my colima machete to baton through a crap ton of knotted wood to test the efficacy and durability further and it held up great. I only had a couple of tiny spots wear off and I didn't take much time prepping the blade surface on that one since it was mine personally and I was just giving it a quick and dirty test. I jammed the blade into curly wood that was all twisted and was bending the blade about 35 degrees as it went through, but it went through like butter! I'm seriously impressed with this stuff. :eek:

I'm uploading some photos to Photobucket right now--I'll post them as soon as they're done.
 
Well, I posted up a bunch of new pics of the modded machete over in its thread on the exchange forum. Here's just one sample from it.

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And as promised here are a bunch of pics of me beating the snot out of my Colima. :D

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I just redirected to this thread and can't believe I didn't see it before. Nice Job! The coatings are really fun to play with. Just wait until you get into mustard patina!
This is what is left of a machete that I completely stripped and then coated with truckbed liner in ultra fine coats to make sure that the texture was smooth. I used a belt sander and aircraft stripper to take the coat down to shiny metal, then used rubbing alcohol to treat it and clean it.

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Its held for about a year, and has done some rust prevention, but thats about it. As far as cutting better than a mirror polish...I'll have to see it to believe it. What else do they use the paint for?

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The Slip-Plate functions as a friction reducer by virtue of the graphite in it, not as a result of the surface finish it leaves. I can understand why truck bed liner wouldn't do a whole bunch besides corrosion resistance. From my tests so far it definitely works better than a mirror finish, though a mirror finish is of course more durable over time. :)

It's interesting--when the blade actually meets with resistance it feels almost like the sensation of slightly "sticky" ice (you know--that really smooth dry kind) under a slick boot as the blade moves. It's really hard to describe but it's almost liquid feeling. I managed to get the blade of the Colima stuck in a really nasty knot at one point and when I was bucking the blade up and down to adjust its position it would just give and slide. It's cool stuff!

That being said if you plan on using it for food prep or are looking for a finish you won't ever see wear off then a mirror finish is fantastic. It looks mega awesome too! :D
 
do you know where you can get the imacasa machetes in the u.s. not condor but the imacasa ones?
 
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