In praise of the Harbor Freight Machete

$3? Are you sure that thing isn't likely to break into splinters and catch on fire as soon as you so much as touch it to a solid piece of vegetation?

If it's actually reasonable well built that sounds like a great deal.
 
AfterTFD said:
$3? Are you sure that thing isn't likely to break into splinters and catch on fire as soon as you so much as touch it to a solid piece of vegetation?

If it's actually reasonable well built that sounds like a great deal.
Click to expand...

It's not going to perform like a $100 machete, no... but I'll put it up against any of the other cheapo's like the coleman one at Walmart or whatever.
 
The blade on that one looks like the blade on the HF machete I bought a few years ago:

choppers.jpg


The blade came butterknife-dull. It's soft carbon steel so with the aide of a belt sander and then sandpaper taped down over a mouse pad, I put a convex edge on it. This $5 knife now cuts thing vegetation very well, and does a passable job on smaller woody stuff. The 12" Ontario shown next to the HF cheapy cuts wood better, having a thicker blade.

Mine has plain wood scales which were not comfortable, so I added the paracord wrap. The canvas sheath was about the crappiest I've seen. I covered it with a layer or two of duct tape, then another layer of camo duct tape which I'd found on clearance at WalMart for $1.
 
Dave_Markowitz said:
The blade on that one looks like the blade on the HF machete I bought a few years ago:

choppers.jpg


The blade came butterknife-dull. It's soft carbon steel so with the aide of a belt sander and then sandpaper taped down over a mouse pad, I put a convex edge on it. This $5 knife now cuts thing vegetation very well, and does a passable job on smaller woody stuff. The 12" Ontario shown next to the HF cheapy cuts wood better, having a thicker blade.

Mine has plain wood scales which were not comfortable, so I added the paracord wrap. The canvas sheath was about the crappiest I've seen. I covered it with a layer or two of duct tape, then another layer of camo duct tape which I'd found on clearance at WalMart for $1.
Click to expand...

I have like 4 of those and they are good for the money IMO. The wooden handles tend to loosen up and get a bit of play after a bit of use, for the price its not a bad blade though.
 
Ya the old ones had the wood handle.

My favorite part of the new ones is the comfort grip handle. It's pretty nice.

Again, a lot of people here use a machete for chopping and what not. This thing will explode if you try to chop wood with it. But for leafy vegitation, it does a nice job. I consider it the mora of machetes :)
 
Just discovered these, via a thread on a bargain deals forum, and ordered one along with a '4-Sided Diamond Hone Block'.... woo-hoo for cheap toys, er, tools! :o
 
It won't explode if you chop wood with it. The handle is pretty cheaply built, albeit fairly comfortable and the grind is downright pitiful. I took mine to the belt sander before chopping anything with it.
 
world wide, machetes are made of scrap steel, and cost little. That Harbor Freight would sell such a blade is no surprise.
 
Except some people would have to pay shipping on a tramontina, so that makes a big difference in price. Lots of folks have a Harbor Freight near by.
 
I zero convexed mine and it does a great job on the smaller brush (up to 1.5" or so) I like to cut with it. The handle is junky and it came from the store so dull it was practically a blank, lol. No edge damage though!

I say for $5 you can't go wrong! :D
 
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