Baryonyx Tramontina Machete

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Sep 2, 2004
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I ordered and received an 18" Tramontina machete from Baryonyx Knife Company. Its a great bargain. With the "special" grind it was only $16.50. Shipping took it to $25 which is still a good deal.

Anyone who has had a Tramontina machete knows that the factory "edge" leaves something to be desired. Here, they sharpened the edge to a really sharp toothy edge and shaped the point into a real point. They also flattened the back edge. I particularly like how they tuned up the handle to be flush with the tang to avoid "hot spots" in your grip. They did a better job than I ever could doing all that and even if I was good at it the work was well worth more that the $6 over the basic cost.

I haven't had much of a chance to use it so I can't say how the edge will hold off but I think its going to be great for light wood and weedy grasses.

(and no zombie would stand a chance--if you have a problem with zombies wandering around near you).

Not only does Baryonyx have a wide selection, the special grades are available on a lot of products and seem to be well worth the very reasonable added cost.
 
I've purchased from him too. Great resource for a lot of working blades. He gets lots of interesting Imports too.
 
I bought a 14" Tramontina with the Special Grade work from Baryonyx a few months ago. They did a great job on it. I have an 18" Tramontina I bought with no special treatment. I did a lot of work to it, but my work was nowhere near as fine as what I saw done by Baryonyx on that 14" machete. Sadly, I bought the 14" as a present for my brother so I did not get to keep it. But my brother loves it!
 
Was the result something like this?






I did this one myself (not having Baryonyx to buy it from in my country). The spine was very rough, to the point of possibly hurting yourself with it. The edge was rudimentary, as usual. I gave it a convex grind and also sharpened the top of the bolo swell into a swedge, at more axe-like angle for chopping out roots etc. near to the ground without damaging the main edge. Flushed the handle with the spine, rounded off all angles, gave it a more pronounced belly with finger grooves and added a lanyard hole. Took off the varnish (had to while sanding it all down anyway) and then treated it with linseed oil. I can now swing this thing for hours without the slightest blister or hotspot on my bare hand. The blade goes through an inch of green ash or hazel in a single blow if you hit at the correct angle. :) It takes some work (I used an old belt sander to set the new grind on the blade, not a dedicated blade grinder, then used a stone and a strop, and a rotating sander for the handle - I happen to have a good choice of woodworking tools so the handle was fairly easy), but it is very satisfying to turn a cheap, rough tool into a great one with some elbow grease.
 
Was the result something like this?






I did this one myself (not having Baryonyx to buy it from in my country). The spine was very rough, to the point of possibly hurting yourself with it. The edge was rudimentary, as usual. I gave it a convex grind and also sharpened the top of the bolo swell into a swedge, at more axe-like angle for chopping out roots etc. near to the ground without damaging the main edge. Flushed the handle with the spine, rounded off all angles, gave it a more pronounced belly with finger grooves and added a lanyard hole. Took off the varnish (had to while sanding it all down anyway) and then treated it with linseed oil. I can now swing this thing for hours without the slightest blister or hotspot on my bare hand. The blade goes through an inch of green ash or hazel in a single blow if you hit at the correct angle. :) It takes some work (I used an old belt sander to set the new grind on the blade, not a dedicated blade grinder, then used a stone and a strop, and a rotating sander for the handle - I happen to have a good choice of woodworking tools so the handle was fairly easy), but it is very satisfying to turn a cheap, rough tool into a great one with some elbow grease.
Very nice mods.
 
Was the result something like this?






I did this one myself (not having Baryonyx to buy it from in my country). The spine was very rough, to the point of possibly hurting yourself with it. The edge was rudimentary, as usual. I gave it a convex grind and also sharpened the top of the bolo swell into a swedge, at more axe-like angle for chopping out roots etc. near to the ground without damaging the main edge. Flushed the handle with the spine, rounded off all angles, gave it a more pronounced belly with finger grooves and added a lanyard hole. Took off the varnish (had to while sanding it all down anyway) and then treated it with linseed oil. I can now swing this thing for hours without the slightest blister or hotspot on my bare hand. The blade goes through an inch of green ash or hazel in a single blow if you hit at the correct angle. :) It takes some work (I used an old belt sander to set the new grind on the blade, not a dedicated blade grinder, then used a stone and a strop, and a rotating sander for the handle - I happen to have a good choice of woodworking tools so the handle was fairly easy), but it is very satisfying to turn a cheap, rough tool into a great one with some elbow grease.


Really nice. I don't have mine in front of me to compare, but he flushed the handle with the spine and gave it a really sharp toothy edge. He didn't do the extra work on the handle like you did with the finger groove and lanyard hole and linseed oil but it is comfortable.
 
Commenting on an old thread, I know, but a good old thread.

I really like to use a lanyard with any knife I swing hard. So, for strength, I decided the lanyard hole I would put in my 18" Latin Tramontina should go through the wood AND the blade. I knew it was a knife, so it would be "pretty good" steel. But it is a cheap machete people say you can sharpen with a river rock if needed, people seem to need to sharpen them relatively often, and I haven't heard much about them snapping in two, so how hard a steel could it be, right? Nope, wrong.

I was going for 3/16", so I started with a 1/8" pilot hole. It laughed at a regular "high speed" bit, so out came the Milwaukee Cobalt "hard steel" bits. The 1/8" hole wasn't too bad, and I figured I was good to go now that I had a pilot hole. But the cobalt 3/16" dulled up long before it got through that thin Tramontina blade. I had to finish it off with a small grinding point in a Dremel, and it pretty well destroyed that grinding point as well. So that lanyard hole tooling cost was a good percentage of the cost of the machete. I think I can probably sharpen the drill bit, so there is that.

If anyone knows something I could have done to make the process easier, any advice is appreciated!
 
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