BMC Chopra Machete - a new British-made Machete brand, introducing our flagship blade

[BMC - British Machete Co]

Hi Everyone,

Ian here, happy to post our first post introducing our new Chopra blade! (Happy to move the thread if it's in the wrong place...)



The BMC Chopra has been in the works for almost 3 years. It's a 100% Made in Britain Machete.

As a launch promo - we are offering it at almost half price... They are in production, but ordering one now gets a low serial no., and option with more accessories and that lower price.

Details Here.

Specs:

• Steel: CS80 Carbon Spring Steel
• Blade style: Chopper / Bolo
• Handles: CNC machined Richlite
• Grind: Sabre
• Blade Coating: Tumbled (OD-T) or Satin (OD-S)
• Hardness: 56~58 HRC
• Tang: Full (skeletonised)
• Overall Length: 505mm / 19.9in
• Blade Length: 360mm / 14.17in
• Blade Thickness: 5mm / 3/16in
• NW: 785g / 1.73lbs
• GW: 995g / 2.19lbs (inc sheath)
• Sheath: Kydex dangler

Pricing:
As we are launching this on a rather convoluted website known as Kickstarter, discounted pricing is available for various 'Options' or 'Rewards'. You can Pre-Order / Buy from our website, but the discounts are better on Kickstarter until 10th July 2023.

• BMC Supporters Pack £25 / $32 - 2 items included (24% Saving)
• BMC Everything But The Girl £69 / $88 - 3 items included (34% Saving)
• BMC Chopra Machete OD (No Sheath) £165 / $210 USD - 3 items included (44% Saving)
• BMC Chopra Machete OD with Kydex Sheath £210 / $267 USD - 3 items included (40% Saving)
• BMC Chopra Machete OD Sheath EXPLORER £265 / $338 USD - 6 items included (33% Saving)
• BMC Chopra Machete OD Sheath SHARP Set + £295 / $378USD 9 items included (37.5% Saving)

Please ask if you have any questions!

Cheers, Ian
BMC Founder

 

[Smiticus]

Please post the price in the listing.

 

[DK94044]

There are different levels of purchase, basic blade with no sheath is $210.

 

[Smiticus]

There are different levels of purchase, basic blade with no sheath is $210.

I looked at the Kickstarter page as well. But the rules require that the original post list the price.

 

[BMC - British Machete Co]

I looked at the Kickstarter page as well. But the rules require that the original post list the price.

Thank you for pointing that out - i'm sorry I didn't know that rule. It is an important one to know the price!

 

[Smiticus]

Thank you for pointing that out - i'm sorry I didn't know that rule. It is an important one to know the price!

Thank you for adding the prices.

 

[Henry Beige]

At that price, I will not be a customer.

 

[abcdef]

Best of luck.

 

[BMC - British Machete Co]

Best of luck.

Thank you!

 

[BMC - British Machete Co]

We've hit our goal of getting the blades funded and happy customers with a very healthy discount.

New backers are welcome! 11 days remain on the campaign, after which lead time extends to September and pricing returns to RRP / MSRP.

 

[BMC - British Machete Co]

The BMC Chopra Machete (Bolo/Parang Hybrid) 100% Made in UK - Blade Length: 360mm / 14.17in, Blade Thickness: 5mm / 3/16in.

Just 5 days remain on our launch campaign! The blades will be available afterwards while stocks last, but we can't say when they'll be priced so low again.

If you're interested in picking one up, now's the time.

$210 blade only (MSRP: $355)
$267 with kydex dangler sheath (MSRP: $440)

Shipping in August 2023.
Place your order 'pledge' here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/britishmacheteco/bmc-chopra-machete-a-high-quality-heavyweight-chopping-tool

Home | British Machete Co.

Here at the British Machete Company, we design, test and produce British Machetes in the UK. A BMC Machete is a high quality instrument designed and built to last a lifetime. The best materials are used to suit the nature of the tools future life.

www.britishmacheteco.com

 

[BMC - British Machete Co]

11/07/2023 Update:

Our BMC Chopra Funding Campaign was fully funded as of yesterday. Thanks to all those who supported! (or reserved any negative judgements). Brand new first run Chopras will be winging their ways to new homes later next month!

I was delighted to see there is an appetite for this niche of high quality from a new market entrant. Great to see some like-minded fans.

We have this week signed off on our new pattern designs for our interpretation of a British Army Golok. It is going to be a feature packed, high quality upgrade with superb ergonomics over current options.

Forget varnish dipping, forget half tang 1055, forget poorly fitting scales. There is a place for rough'n'ready cheap-quality tools, but not from BMC.

 

[BMC - British Machete Co]

At that price, I will not be a customer.

Hi Henry, that is quite the pronouncement. Thanks for that feedback. You must be intimately familiar with the cost of manufacturing a run of Sheffield made machete blades in 2023, hand finished in-house? You probably appreciate that each major component is being produced by a separate industry expert, the minor component count exceeds 40, all custom made or specified with 11 different craftsmens input, months of development and several hundred hours of design, testing, sourcing, meetings production and assembly.

Of course, cheaper machetes are available on the market. Having visited hundreds of Chinese hand tool factories in my 13 years spent running a product sourcing company in Shanghai, I am INTIMATELY aware of how inexpensive we could offer these. I do not however, want to do this.

I want to promote Western made. I personally prefer to use a £300 crafted blade than something churned out of an LCC (Low cost country). Hence I established BMC. We make and offer what I would want to use and purchase.

Sadly being British made, the COST of producing a Chopra is likely outside of your acceptable "Price". Real shame. I'll give a shout if we ever go down the cheap route.

 

[Henry Beige]

Thanks for your condescension. I haven't tried any Chinese machetes. I have a few American, British and Salvadoran choppers. The best of them, the Condor Golok and Bushcraft Parang, asre under a hundred bucks. Not what I would call cheap, but reasonably priced. I haven’t heard of anything at any price that chops significantly better.
My British-made Martindale military golok feels good in the hand, doesn’t chop particularly well, but does show that the Brits don’t have to charge $250 for a chopper.

 

[BMC - British Machete Co]

Thanks for your condescension. I haven't tried any Chinese machetes. I have a few American, British and Salvadoran choppers. The best of them, the Condor Golok and Bushcraft Parang, asre under a hundred bucks. Not what I would call cheap, but reasonably priced. I haven’t heard of anything at any price that chops significantly better.
My British-made Martindale military golok feels good in the hand, doesn’t chop particularly well, but does show that the Brits don’t have to charge $250 for a chopper.

Admittedly I should avoid condescension, but in return I would ask for reserving public negative judgement until you have handled a BMC blade. Only then can your price vs quality verdict be valid. Otherwise people might believe that you have actually owned and handled one of our blades, which you have not.

I have, however handled and in fact own blades from the companies you mention. I only talk about what I know to be true.

Terminology:

Low-Cost-Countries (LCC) is a recognised term to include most of the developing world economies which are characterised by cheap labour. This point is relevant when looking at the pricing of any manufactured product. Our blades are made in the West, where labour and electricity rates are regrettably very high.

There is nothing wrong with an LCC producing goods. But they will be cheaper, whilst giving bigger profit margins to the Western brand selling them.

Other machete producers mentioned:

Condor make amazing mid-level machetes. I love them. I own several. They are made in Santa Ana, El Salvador (LCC).

USA-made vary. The ones that are truly made in the USA (not all) have good fit and finish and the production capacity to enjoy decent economies of scale. Many are equally priced to our blades. Dare I predict it is those that are genuinely USA made.

Italian and German made also vary. The majority of course from Maniago. You get what you pay for. The best are equal or far more expensive than a BMC Chopra.

Martindale are NOT made in the UK. I’m surprised and a bit frustrated that I am breaking this news. I don’t like bringing up other companies, but this is only in answer to your inaccurate claim.

Martindale is a “British” company, but their only manufacturing sites are in Thailand (LCC) and Nigeria and Ghana (LCC). Check their own website. They also do not tell us the steel except for saying “British Steel”. My guess is 1040, 1050 / 50Mn or similar. Whatever it is, it doesn’t hold its edge well in my testing.

I own one of their Goloks and handled a few more. It does cut OK (x5 times slower than our Chopra - video on our website) and I like the balance, but the finishing is awful. I do not enjoy using it.

The British Army for some inexplicable reason issue the Martindale cane machete to our military vehicles. The handles are held together with two wooden pins which crack along with the handles. A low-end piece of equipment. Satisfactory in an emergency.

Summary:

Our blades are priced as inexpensively as they can be for where and how they are made. They are indeed a premium offering. The hand finishing alone on each blade/handle exceeds three hours. The Chopra is made from CS80 HT to 56~58HRC in a Barium Chloride salt bath to 1190 degrees centigrade. The Chopras 3 axis CNC’d handle scales are made from premium phenolic resin / paper composite hand sanded and hafted to each individual blade for comfort, ergonomics and high level finish.

Some people won't care about any of this and just want cheap price / cheap quality. That's fine!

I do need to present some facts in the defence of my company.