Machete Review Video: Gerber Jr, SOG Sogfari, Tramontina, United Cutlery

Nicely done! The fashionable costly stuff did not even come close to beating the 2 foot traditional! But of course who cares, except me.
 
300Six said:
Nicely done! The fashionable costly stuff did not even come close to beating the 2 foot traditional! But of course who cares, except me.
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Hey thanks. I was nervous about posting it here among a large number of experts.
 
Gear Dog said:
Hey thanks. I was nervous about posting it here among a large number of experts.
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I watched your video. There was no chest thumping propaganda! There really are very few bona fide 'striking tool' experts (ie long time experienced in their use) anymore but there are lots of folks that are enthusiastic, and opinionated. With regard to machetes, I'm not one of them. There was nothing biased about your testing. Obviously you were surprised too! I guess these 24" Tramontinas have been around for quite awhile because yours looks exactly like the inexpensive one I was counselled to buy via the owner of a small store alongside the Amazon River in Leticia, Colombia, in 1977, in advance of trying to boat upstream into the Peru rainforest to visit some native villages. I bought a file while I was at it and a local woman made a thick canvas sheath for it because I didn't particularly want to wander around all day long with that blade in my hands. Real jungle is different from 'movie' jungle in that a small sharp axe would have been a lot handier and lucky for most people no matter where you are there often are game, human or other beaten track trails that you can follow.
 
300Six said:
I watched your video. There was no chest thumping propaganda! There really are very few bona fide 'striking tool' experts (ie long time experienced in their use) anymore but there are lots of folks that are enthusiastic, and opinionated. With regard to machetes, I'm not one of them. There was nothing biased about your testing. Obviously you were surprised too! I guess these 24" Tramontinas have been around for quite awhile because yours looks exactly like the inexpensive one I was counselled to buy via the owner of a small store alongside the Amazon River in Leticia, Colombia, in 1977, in advance of trying to boat upstream into the Peru rainforest to visit some native villages. I bought a file while I was at it and a local woman made a thick canvas sheath for it because I didn't particularly want to wander around all day long with that blade in my hands. Real jungle is different from 'movie' jungle in that a small sharp axe would have been a lot handier and lucky for most people no matter where you are there often are game, human or other beaten track trails that you can follow.
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Well that's an impressive story! The other day I asked my daughter where she would like to visit, and she said a rain forest. If we go, I hope it is a colder time of year.
 
kuuto said:
It looked like the wood was breaking instead of cutting.
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In some cases it was some chopping followed by a break. But since you brought it up, when I get some time I am going to do the same test again and take a closer look at the leftover wood.
 
Gear Dog said:
Well that's an impressive story! The other day I asked my daughter where she would like to visit, and she said a rain forest. If we go, I hope it is a colder time of year.
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Day time jungle is one thing but if you really want to have the hair stand up on the back of your neck set up camp in one and listen to all the bizarre sounds at night. That and try tracking down some of the big eyes that appear in a flashlight beam. One large vivid set that impressed me, and actually tracked down, turned out to be a big tree frog. The village chief was quite impressed that we had an old beat up 16 gauge shotgun with us, and headlamps, and invited me along to hunt caimans out of a 10' dugout canoe at night in the flooded forest. The natives prefer not to kill critters outright because then they quickly spoil so they use string tied lances to gather up these thrashing 2-3 foot long reptiles. My invite was to use the gun to pot a large rodent or a monkey. We got one but in retrieving it a 1000 stinging ants leapt/jumped/fell out of an Acacia (?) tree they were defending and on to us.
"colder time of year". At the Equator the sun comes up at the crack of 6 every day, it gets unbearably hot by around 10, it pours rain for about 1/2 hour in mid afternoon and then the sun literally 'falls out of the sky' at 6. This happens every day; only seasonal difference is Amazon River high water and low water period. Even 1500 miles upstream that is one huge and impressive river and at least a mile across.
 
300Six said:
Nicely done! The fashionable costly stuff did not even come close to beating the 2 foot traditional! But of course who cares, except me.
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Plenty of folks. :)

And out of all of those depicted, the Tramontinas were the only pure-bred machetes. Gerber, SOG, and United Cutlery are all amateur machete makers trying to cash in on the current popularity of the tool. From a design standpoint they're pretty lacking and are designed to sell rather than designed to be used.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Plenty of folks. :)

And out of all of those depicted, the Tramontinas were the only pure-bred machetes. Gerber, SOG, and United Cutlery are all amateur machete makers trying to cash in on the current popularity of the tool. From a design standpoint they're pretty lacking and are designed to sell rather than designed to be used.
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Wow!!! And likely they are also the least expensive!
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Plenty of folks. :)

And out of all of those depicted, the Tramontinas were the only pure-bred machetes. Gerber, SOG, and United Cutlery are all amateur machete makers trying to cash in on the current popularity of the tool. From a design standpoint they're pretty lacking and are designed to sell rather than designed to be used.
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I agree completely with your assessment. A Tram or Imacasa is hard to beat for real world bush work. I own a few myself.



 
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I think Imacasa is head and shoulders above Tramontina. Distal taper makes a huge difference, and injection molded polymer handles are a big plus.
 
We picked up a project for clearing brush off a client's property...not my normal line of work by a long shot. However, who am I to say no. Since I had the excuse and I'd never owned one prior I purchased a Cold Steel Kukri...I found it to be less than worthless. I sharpened the blade to the point it was dangerous to sheath it in the Cordura CS sends with it and the tool still sucked for all intensive purposes. Truly more effort to wield than worth it.

I peeked over at the Imacasa website and was surprised (confused) at the variety available. The prices are awesome however and I'm wanting to pick one up. Would someone please offer advice as to which would serve well in the NorthEast where I work? I'm confident that 15" to 18" is the maximum I'm comfortable with but past that I know little of the designs that I'm seeing. Typical use is green climbing rose vines, green wild sand grass, etc...mostly vines of 3/4" or less but almost always green.

Thank you for any advice you offer...
 
Don't let the Tramontina website fool you--there are only a few patterns they export to the USA right now. Your options are only a handful of sizes of Latin patterns in wood or poly handles, a bolo, or a one- or two-handed cane knife.

The CS Kukri Machete isn't a bad piece of work IF tuned up properly. What trouble were you experiencing with it? It does sound like the wrong pattern for your uses, though--too short and too strongly skewed towards the woody targets end of the spectrum.

That being said, the general best starting point is an 18" Latin pattern and then when you figure out what you like/don't like about it that'll inform your selection of a more specific pattern. If I were in your shoes I'd probably be opting for an 18-22" "colima" pattern.
 
Thank you. The exact model was the CS Magnum Kukri which uses a 17" blade and poly handle assembly. I was careful to sharpen the blade quite literally to the point of shaving. During the course of the job I had plenty of chances to adjust my grip, my stance and particularly the motion of the swing. I really did want to like the Kukri as it's reputation is as a fine slicer.

My problem was consistent. Regardless of the diameter of the vine or brush the blade wanted to bludgeon the piece versus cleanly slice. Again and again, the machete would cut through about 90% (obviously a guess there) of the stalk. Then the stalk would fold over and make the 2nd strike a PIA as I had to hold the upper portion to get a clean shot to complete the cut.

Probably the most inefficient use of work time I've experienced. For comparison I took my Blind Horse Knife "Camp Nessmuk" and, holding the top portion that was about to be cut away, simply sliced thru the vine in one gentle motion. That Muk is a Scandi grind and despite being less than ideal sharpness was easily the winner compared to the Kukri.

I want to emphasize...the CS Machete was scary sharp. Off hand, I blame technique but I had all day to experiment with a variety of swing patterns. My 2nd guess is the CS blade is simply to thick for efficient Slicing.
 
It's not a problem of thickness so much as edge presentation and technique. With that model you'll want to be using the last 2" of the blade for that kind of work and make sure you're using the right kind of stroke. Trying to hack with it like it's a knife won't work so well. You need to keep the whole arm loose and whip-like and use a rolling snap of the wrist/fingers and extension of the arm to the target almost like you're casting a fishing rod. The handle should be pivoting between the forefinger and thumb. That being said, the angle of edge engagement isn't very good on that model for those tasks. Using that last 2" of the tip with good technique will help a lot though.

Also, hit up the handle with some 600 grit sandpaper to smooth down the checkering a little. It's too aggressive for extended use with the proper pivoting action. Blister central if you don't tone it down a little.
 
I scored a Tramontina bolo with a leather sheath for about $5, and it serves me pretty well. The steel is good, and with some ergonomically-minded rasping and sanding the handle is nice too.
 
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