How to effectively use a machete

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acwire_2125

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Mar 23, 2006
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Helo everyone! Wanted to know what is the effective way to use a machete in Jungle. How do I swing the machete and how to cut into the wood and all.
 
I've hardly ever used a machete before, but I would imagine that quick strokes would be the best method, especially against light vegetation. Safety wise, try to swing with the edge away from you in case you miss your target or go through it with momentum to spare. Practicing would be a good idea.

Bob
 
First, focus your chi into your stomach. Then, envision the tendrils of vegetation as vile aggressors, bent on your destruction. As you rear back your hand, make a motion like you're pouring a can of soda over your shoulder - the tip of the blade should dangle mere inches from your shoulder blade. Now, release your chi into your arm, and thus, into the machete, while swinging forward and sharply exhaling, rendering your leafy foes into tiny bits. You can add a "Keeeee-op!" or perhaps a "Neeeeee-wa!" at this point for added effect (shrubberies hate these sounds).

Shao
 
I concur with Big Bob. I just bought, and sharpened:mad: , a machete for overgrown weeds in a ditch alongside my property. It's no jungle, but it required careful swings to optimize the blade. After a few minutes, though, I was swinging kinda wild (bad). Probably looked like a Wu Shu practitioner on crack. Make sure that edge is angled away, and be prepared for possible hangups, or worse, a clean fast cut that brings the blade towards you. I'd guess any swing where you intend a 180 degree arc is potentially dangerous. A shorter swing is good. Not the expert advice you wanted, but my $.02.

Oh, it also seemed to me a slightly relaxed grip was more effective, and less tiring, than a death grip.
 
I have owned several machetes, and I am a bit disappointed with them. I wonder whether the types of vegetation I have to deal with in my part of the world are harder to chop with a machete compared to some of the luxuriant soft growth in the jungles where machetes get a lot of use.

There is no doubt that machetes can chop wood. But when I have to deal with brambles like blackberry vines.... or thin branches of the prickly gorse bush I find that the plants will often spring away from me and not cut readily. I am often more successful when I pull out a knife like a sharp Bushman and take a swing at a vine or a thin branch. The Bushman blade is relatively thin and has quite a fine edge compared to my machetes... perhaps there is a lesson in that.

If I have to clear a track in scrub, and it isn't practical to use a chainsaw, I will generally choose a light axe with a long handle... some folks might call this a half axe or a boy's axe.

Despite the difficulties, I still have a couple of machetes that I use on occasion. One is a short, commercially made one which I have found quite good for doing things like roughing out bow staves... although a hatchet does a great job of this as well. The other is one I cut from a saw blade... it has a bit of a khukuri shape. I occasionally carry this one with me when I set traps and a bit of scrub has to be cut.

It would be good to see an expert in action with a machete.
 
Well, it would definitiely be good, My Knive is the Becker BK1. Not sure if it is considered a Machete class, but I do use it to go Jungle bashing. I live in Singapore, so the Jungle here are Rainforest, so I have to deal with the undergrowth, tall grasses and their likeings. Hope this information can help you to help me! Thanks guys!
 
It all depends on what you have to cut your way through. Personally I would rather hike around much brush than hack my way through it. The number one rule is to be patient if you are hacking through really dense brush. You are not at war with the undergrowth, it's just in the way.
If you let yourself get frustrated you will hurt yourself.

With hanging vines and standing bamboo, I cut down at them at a 45 degree angle. In tall grasses, the kind that will cut you if you try to shove your way through, I just launch the blade at it and let it come to a stop where it does. If you constantly overpower the blade you will have to bring it to a stop with the muscles of your forearm and that will wear you out.

Often when walking through dense brush there will be thin vines that bunch up and hang you up. I put the blade down past my right leg and slice up and away from my body. Never hack down at vines that are hanging you up or you may hit yourself.

When traveling in a line of people through jungle I enforce a rule that only the first guy in line does the cutting. The trouble comes if the second guy is also cutting. The first guy may get tired or loose his balance and reach out to steady himself when the second guy has already started his swing. The sound of fingers falling to the jungle floor would be a terrible sound.:eek: Likewise the second guy has to keep his distance.

Be careful with thorn covered vines under tension. Sometimes you have to look first and cut them in away that they won't snap back and lacerate you. Also lots of jungle plants have irritating sap. If I have to move through heavy brush I make sure I have my sleeves down to protect my arms. Gloves are a great help as well.

One of the greatest dangers in really heavy brush is that you can get turned around and loose your way. Use your compass and mark trees if you have to. Don't rely on your chopping to mark your trail. Lots of times you will cut for a while then hit a clear patch and just walk, shove your way through, find an easier way, etc. Then you get down to where you were headed and find you have to backtrack. You might go a few hundred meters and discover you can't get through, ravine, cliff, whatever. At those times it is helpful to follow a marked trail back out. Mac
 
Sadly, shao is the only one who got it correctly. You others need to go back to the training hall and practice your basics and breathing.

On a sidenote, learning to relax and let the blade do the work is essential in all work concerning blade tools...you learn the hard way when you cant lift your arm the next day...but the work aint over:):)
 
For technique, on individual thick vegetation like saplings or limbs you try to cut them at an angle and for limbs you ideally cut from the base of the tree towards the top, not the other way around, but sometimes you have to as swinging up is way harder than down. Machetes are light generally and get their cutting power from the speed which means a lot of wrist action because you can rotate the blade far faster than you can actually swing your arm.

A common technique is to hold the blade in a relax grip and on the backswing you let it rotate in your hand until the blade runs parallel or even below your arm. As you start your swing you bring your wrist sharply forward as you are sweeping your arm out. This snaps the machete down hard and gives it a lot more speed. You can do the same thing with heavier blades depending on their length, weight and your wrist strength. You can see this technique demonstrated by Mears and company in his TV show.

coote said:
But when I have to deal with brambles like blackberry vines.... or thin branches of the prickly gorse bush I find that the plants will often spring away from me and not cut readily.
Click to expand...

The initial edges on machetes are way too obtuse and blunt. For light grasses and such you want it about ten degrees per side. It should also be *very* sharp. Depending on what you are cutting you may benefit from a coarse finish.

-Cliff
 
acwire_2125 said:
Helo everyone! Wanted to know what is the effective way to use a machete in Jungle. How do I swing the machete and how to cut into the wood and all.
Click to expand...

Well I've never found using a machete that hard, but if your hacking your way in the bush you just cut at the base of whatever branch your cutting.

One thing I will say, if your using it to cut thick branches or bamboo for shelters, fire, what-have-you, don't try to hack your way through from one side to the other. Make your first cut then rotate a little less than half a turn, cut, rotate again, and cut again. Then break.You should be able to chop some pretty nice wood without over doing it. I've seen one or two folks using a machete like an ax, chop, chop, chopping away. I was one of them,in the past :foot:. But once I learned how to do it right it made things a lot easier.:thumbup:
 
It's part of the culture down here... hard to explain how to do it properly, but you do get better with practice. A couple of tips I learned early on:

- don't pick a blade that's too long. 16-18" is usually enough. Anything longer and you'll kill your wrists.
- keep it well sharpened. Metal file is what field workers carry out here (not sharpening stones).
- When swinging, keep your weak hand close to your body. I prefer near my belly, but other people "hug" their backs with their arm.

Once you get the hang of it, you can try using a "helping hand". Any old stick will do, but when that has a hook at the end works best. Use it to push vegetation down onto a side before making the cut. This allows you to swing the machete freely and cut more effectively. In tall brush, I slash in an "X" pattern, starting above my eye level and working my way down.

...oh, yeah, watch your shins if you miss the first swing.
 
Didn't check the website, but thick bananna trees require good technique, I can't cut through more than about 8-9 in diameter trees in one swing with my tramontina. Any off hits get your machete stuck halfway through, and they're a bitch to pull out on a muddy incline :p :rolleyes:
 
Thanks guys! All your comments are really constructive! I recently just tried to cut through a small tree and found it quite hard, instead I could do it with the saw in my SAK. Any idea how do I cut donw small trees and some thich branches? Thanks!
 
Why exactly was it hard, what were the problems specifically? What was the type of wood? In any case, unless your machete is one of the really thin ones (1/16") it should cut through small saplings and boughs many times faster than the saw on a Swiss Army knife.

On small saplings you can often just cut right through them with one chop depending on the wood type and type of machete. First you need to clear off the limbs, after removing any surround brush which can hang up the blade. You start on the most open area where the blade isn't going to contact many limbs unless they are really light. You work the machete very close to the tree as the limbs are most rigid there. You are swinging fast but at a natural pace and controling the direction so it doesn't cut into you after going through the wood. If the tree is dead and the limbs are very hard then you can actually reverse the machete and just crack them off with the spine.

Once the limbs are cleared then you cut into the wood forcefully at about 45 taking care to note the path of the machete as it comes out of the wood and the way the tree will fall. If this doesn't go all the way through then you draw the blade out and clip off the waste wood with an up cut and the repeat the down cut to go through the tree. On larger trees then you will have to make a notch and in some cases more than one to work through the wood. It is easier if you work higher off the ground but more wasteful unless you are using the high stumps for construction purposes. If you have to work through a larger tree then there are a host of issues to deal with to make sure it doesn't fall on you or anyone else and that it doesn't kickback on you or you get brained by a widowmaker.

Once you have the trees down you remove the boughs by starting at the base of the tree and cutting towards the tip. Again focus your cuts on the areas of least crowded growth and gradually work into the tightly focused boughs. You will find that the blade cuts far easier cutting through the boughs from the underside than it did the other way.

-Cliff
 
I would like to ask another question after reading Cliff's post. Is there any use for the SPINE OF THE BLADE? This question I think is very important as many people here are posting regarding the blade and not the spine. I guess we can use the spine to do some work right?
 
The spine can be used as a club to remove dead branches, it can also cut sods and work in soft dirts. Depending on the thickness of the machete you can also use it as a general hammer. In general it is used as a grip point for draw knife work and as an impact point for baton work. Pick has also noted you can square it off and use it as a wood scraper.

-Cliff
 
I use the spine to knock aside horsetails when working in wetlands. Horestails cut easily but have a high silica content, so they tend to dull the blade pretty fast. They also work well for polishing crud off the blade.

Pat
 
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