Custom Machete

N

Newbeliever

Joined
Jan 15, 2010
Messages
23
Hello Gentlemen, I'm looking for a purpose made custom Machete, a real one, not some cheap 60$ piece of crap. I have been looking for one for the last 2 years and have been only able to find "cut from mild blank steel" types and I want something stronger that can hold an edge longer than that. RCH needs to be be at least 60-61, I have a budget of 2,000$ that I can spend. I DONT want some wall hanger pretty thing piece of junk. I want something made for ACTUAL use, heavy use at that. If anyone has any ideas of who I could turn to it would be greatly appreciated. Thank guys for the time.:D

Also, anyone know how to contact Bill Siegle?
 
Welcome to BladeForums. :thumbup: You should give people a chance to respond to your other thread on the same topic.
 
Thanks for the welcome:D I know your right but I wish I would have posted it here first, more people viewing this forum than the other, sorry about that.;)
 
koyote made me one ,was the best i ever had.came with an awesome sheath,used it everyday was tough as nails,a real workhorse,sent it out to fix a ding in the blade an never saw it agian,man i miss that blade,give him a P.M,,,aloha
 
There are a LOT of outstanding knifemakers right here on the BF. Just look at the custom area ... at the makers' sub-forums.

It all depends on your style -- look at what folks like Horton, Fiddleback, Magnussen, etc. can do and then just ask. You have a great many choices and should be able to come away happy.

I know Fiddleback (Andy Roy) has been fiddling around with machetes recently.
 
OldPhysics said:
There are a LOT of outstanding knifemakers right here on the BF. Just look at the custom area ... at the makers' sub-forums.

It all depends on your style -- look at what folks like Horton, Fiddleback, Magnussen, etc. can do and then just ask. You have a great many choices and should be able to come away happy.

I know Fiddleback (Andy Roy) has been fiddling around with machetes recently.
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Believe me I have been doing that, not many want to make what I'm looking for. I have sent Bill Siegle, Murray Carter & Tai Goo emails and am waiting to hear from them now. I will keep looking in the makers forums but like I said, most arent looking to make somthing this big right now, keep hearing try back in 6-8 months. I dont mind waiting for something to be made, however, I dont want to wait for nothing. Anyone else have any suggestions?
 
kalama said:
koyote made me one ,was the best i ever had.came with an awesome sheath,used it everyday was tough as nails,a real workhorse,sent it out to fix a ding in the blade an never saw it agian,man i miss that blade,give him a P.M,,,aloha
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Thanks man, I will pm him!:thumbup:
 
anything hardened t 60-61RC will shatter, take a look at the bark river golok its hardened to 54-56 RC and a brutal chopper.
 
Bamboo Cutter, Mountain Bowie or Villager Tarwar may fit your bill and won't break the bank. Check them out in the Himalayan Imports Forum.
 
Newbeliever said:
Believe me I have been doing that, not many want to make what I'm looking for. I have sent Bill Siegle, Murray Carter & Tai Goo emails and am waiting to hear from them now. I will keep looking in the makers forums but like I said, most arent looking to make somthing this big right now, keep hearing try back in 6-8 months. I dont mind waiting for something to be made, however, I dont want to wait for nothing. Anyone else have any suggestions?
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You could as a option buy 100 $20 dollar machetes and have a life time supply. I am just pulling your leg. But seriously part of a machetes utility come from being a cheap throw away tool. They tend to get rusty, smashed into things, lost, tossed into the backs of trucks and used for genocide in Africa. Do you really want a 2000 Dollar hammer?
 
Google "Jerry Hossom"-I don't have his website offhand, in fact I don't even know if he's taking orders, but he makes some killer stuff:thumbup:
 
What length do you want it? Most of the custom knife builders top-out at 10-12" blades.

Are you sure you want a machete, or you want a heavy duty chopper? There is a difference.

For "machete" work, one of those $60 pieces of junk is all you will ever need -but you wouldn't need to pay even that much for one.
 
P.J. Tomes is known for making a mean custom machete. You can contact him here.

machete%20with%20sheath.jpg
 
Justabuyer said:
You could as a option buy 100 $20 dollar machetes and have a life time supply. I am just pulling your leg. But seriously part of a machetes utility come from being a cheap throw away tool. They tend to get rusty, smashed into things, lost, tossed into the backs of trucks and used for genocide in Africa. Do you really want a 2000 Dollar hammer?
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Well, its like this. I want something that I can count on. Do I want to spend 2,000 on it, of course not. However I'm a bit different, I come from the kitchen, I'm a Chef, meaning that I know the best knives are hand forged and hand hammered and not stamped. The blades are much stronger when produced in this fashion, however are very expensive but are worth every pennie in my eyes because they will last more than my lifetime if properly cared for. The thing is, I dont collect knives, I use them. No offense to the collectors out there. So, to answer your question directly, yes I want a 2,000 hammer:D
 
I am just shocked that you haven't been able to find a maker interested in a $2000 budget. Sheesh, is the recession not hitting knife makers? OK maybe some have never made a machete but still.
 
Newbeliever said:
Well, its like this. I want something that I can count on. Do I want to spend 2,000 on it, of course not. However I'm a bit different, I come from the kitchen, I'm a Chef, meaning that I know the best knives are hand forged and hand hammered and not stamped. The blades are much stronger when produced in this fashion, however are very expensive but are worth every pennie in my eyes because they will last more than my lifetime if properly cared for. The thing is, I dont collect knives, I use them. No offense to the collectors out there. So, to answer your question directly, yes I want a 2,000 hammer:D
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Not to be a stickler but the whole forged vs. stock removal thing has been pretty much debunked at this point. Stock removal knives can be every bit as strong as forged knives, and vice versa. 6 of one, a half-dozen of the other. ;):thumbup:

MassMatt said:
I am just shocked that you haven't been able to find a maker interested in a $2000 budget. Sheesh, is the recession not hitting knife makers? OK maybe some have never made a machete but still.
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A machete is longer than many makers are capable of working. It's not a matter of interest, but rather a matter of manufacturing capability. :o
 
theamazingdrew said:
anything hardened t 60-61RC will shatter, take a look at the bark river golok its hardened to 54-56 RC and a brutal chopper.
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Blue Steel #2, Cowry-x, ZDP-189, SG-2 all have the ability to hardend to high HRC's without shattering. Ranging from 62-67, these are highly specialized steels available to only a very small select group of smiths. I have only found 1 on here that uses Blue Steel #2, no one that uses any of the others. So yea, I want something that will last me into the next life. So, THOSE WHO ARE stop telling me to get some cheap piece of S**T that is worthless and going to break. I have broken more than my share a cut myself in the process. I'm not a collector, I'm a serious user and want a tool that is trust worthy.
 
What're you looking at the machete for? I find that for bush whacking, all I really need is one of those cheap machetes. Carbon steel, takes an absolute bashing up, down, left, right, used to baton with a steel mallet and it simply gets resharpened and keeps on cutting.

Maybe a Busse bushwacker Battle Mistress? On bussecombat.com now. 347 dollars.


On forging vs stamping, I read somewhere on here (in Maintenance IIRC, not sure who the poster was) that powder steels actually have all the advantages of hand forged steels, even when laser cut or stamped. I might be wrong of course. (wow, 3 replies already in the time I took to write this.)
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Not to be a stickler but the whole forged vs. stock removal thing has been pretty much debunked at this point. Stock removal knives can be every bit as strong as forged knives, and vice versa. 6 of one, a half-dozen of the other. ;):thumbup:

Yes, Its a close call, but we all prefer what we prefer:)


A machete is longer than many makers are capable of working. It's not a matter of interest, but rather a matter of manufacturing capability. :o
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This is the problem I'm running into. I'm still waiting to hear back from a few smiths, really wanting it from Murray Carter, I hope he will do it. I hear he is back logged a year.:thumbup:
 
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