- Joined
- Feb 28, 2007
- Messages
- 9,786
Well, after some help from you folks I decided on ordering the 12" Bolo Machete from our good friend 42Blades. This thing came in the mail lickety split, passing through Canada customs without an eyebrow and no taxes/duties charged (Awesome).
My initial impressions are that the good folks did not let me down on this blade recommendation. Quite hefty it exactly fulfills the niche in blade that I wanted. Below is a shot of the Condor bolo along with my ESEE-lite machete and my 10" Koyote leukuchete.
You can see the clear size and mass difference between the big leuku and the bolo. The bolo is also quite a bit thicker and heavier in weight then the 18" light machete.
Handle is as others have warned on the wide side. Not too bad with the big beak at the back the keeps it secure in your hands, but the plastic handle is a tad slick and wide. I might rough this up a bit and am wondering if I can easily sand down an 1/8" per side or so without running into a hollow part of the handle (does anybody know it the handle is solid?). I tend to prefer the thickness of my ESEE machete handle more for comfort.
Still, given the price point of this blade, I have no real complaints on the plastic handle. It is clearly well formed and sealed and looks almost bulletproof.
Just a little bit of play with some downed maple in my yard before I lost the light. This 2.5" diameter piece is about the size that I actually bought the bolo for. Notice the good size bite with a single chop. No complaints on this performance. The mass of this thing compensates for its short length. This is exactly what I wanted it to do.
Chop #2 from the other side and it was in two pieces.
Batoning works great, but would you expect any differently? The swedge could get in the way I suppose, but at 12" there is plenty of length where you don't feel like you are running out of spine to hit your baton onto.
Then I got a little more ambitious. This is bigger then wrist size and about 4" diameter.
Again solid first bite....
Took about 5 chops to get through this piece, but not at all bad. The balance of the bolo feels nice and there was no real learning curve to swinging it.
I also need to comment about how excellent the sheath is that came with it. It far exceeded my expectations in quality down to the details such as the swinging belt loop.
So far I am very pleased with this blade and I think it will work well on my Florida survival class I have with George Hedgepeth next month. I can see that swedge and rounded tip also being useful for digging applications. I'm off camping tomorrow night and will be sure to pack this blade to test it out a bit more and will return with more impressions on Sunday. So far....Very pleased
My initial impressions are that the good folks did not let me down on this blade recommendation. Quite hefty it exactly fulfills the niche in blade that I wanted. Below is a shot of the Condor bolo along with my ESEE-lite machete and my 10" Koyote leukuchete.
You can see the clear size and mass difference between the big leuku and the bolo. The bolo is also quite a bit thicker and heavier in weight then the 18" light machete.
Handle is as others have warned on the wide side. Not too bad with the big beak at the back the keeps it secure in your hands, but the plastic handle is a tad slick and wide. I might rough this up a bit and am wondering if I can easily sand down an 1/8" per side or so without running into a hollow part of the handle (does anybody know it the handle is solid?). I tend to prefer the thickness of my ESEE machete handle more for comfort.
Still, given the price point of this blade, I have no real complaints on the plastic handle. It is clearly well formed and sealed and looks almost bulletproof.
Just a little bit of play with some downed maple in my yard before I lost the light. This 2.5" diameter piece is about the size that I actually bought the bolo for. Notice the good size bite with a single chop. No complaints on this performance. The mass of this thing compensates for its short length. This is exactly what I wanted it to do.
Chop #2 from the other side and it was in two pieces.
Batoning works great, but would you expect any differently? The swedge could get in the way I suppose, but at 12" there is plenty of length where you don't feel like you are running out of spine to hit your baton onto.
Then I got a little more ambitious. This is bigger then wrist size and about 4" diameter.
Again solid first bite....
Took about 5 chops to get through this piece, but not at all bad. The balance of the bolo feels nice and there was no real learning curve to swinging it.
I also need to comment about how excellent the sheath is that came with it. It far exceeded my expectations in quality down to the details such as the swinging belt loop.
So far I am very pleased with this blade and I think it will work well on my Florida survival class I have with George Hedgepeth next month. I can see that swedge and rounded tip also being useful for digging applications. I'm off camping tomorrow night and will be sure to pack this blade to test it out a bit more and will return with more impressions on Sunday. So far....Very pleased
