Machetes for bushcraft

psy-ops

psy-ops

Joined
Sep 27, 1999
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I have been prepping materials for friction fire making. When I say materials I am talking about hearth boards and drills. This summer, I have prepped 10 hearth boards and 10 drills. I tried 2 customs bush crafters, Fallkniven F-1, SAK fieldmaster, Leatherman ST, and my Martindale Golok.

Hand downs the Golok is the all around most efficient woodcraft tool I own. A close second is the F-1 which is an excellent carver and batoning. Where the golok excels in in hacking. Short controlled hacking really eats wood efficiently. I find there is less torque on my wrists and forearm muscles plus it gets the job done faster.

Making the hearthboards was a snap with a machete. I even made a few drills with one and that went well.

Anyone else carve with a machete?
 
Machetes like the Ontario's when they have a conves or a Tramontina are perfect for whittling wood or green branches.
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I couldn't agree more. As I've said before here there isn't much you can't do with a Mora and a Machete. If you upgrade the simple Mora to a more robust scandi like the SBT all the better. Mac

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I was banging around the woodlot today with my new combo. It consists of a Bark River Bravo 1, a Bark River PSK, a custom firesteel and a Bark River Golok all in natural canvas micarta.
I still think a hatchet or small axe is needed in winter but under most other conditions these tools will do it all.

Starting at about 5:45 Am I started cutting wood and built a small shade shelter, a fire place rack and wove a fishtrap from willow and cattail rushes, all by lunch.
The golok was perfect for cutting green limbs and vines, the Bravo 1 excelled at woodwork and notching and the PSK worked well for fish prep.
I set the fishtrap in the current of a large stream where we have piled rocks to funnel the current to the center. I laid down under the shelter for a nap and by 3:00 PM I had a medium catfish and four brim. I kept the catfish and roasted fillets for afternoon meal and released the brim.

Roasted catfish fillets with black berries and cattail hearts sitting on my creekbank with my Barkies..........life is good.

:D
 
I think the Martindale Golok is one of the most under rated machetes available. Mine has been carefully convexed with a belt grinder and the typically poor wood-to-metal fit in the handle has been smoothed over. I love the way this blade handles and would not trade it for anything.

The new BRKT golok might offer some competition to the Martindale, albeit at a much higher price. I've got one of each but have not done a direct comparison yet. Both feel great in the hand and I would not part with either.
 
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riddleofsteel said:
Starting at about 5:45 Am I started cutting wood and built a small shade shelter, a fire place rack and wove a fishtrap from willow and cattail rushes, all by lunch.
The golok was perfect for cutting green limbs and vines, the Bravo 1 excelled at woodwork and notching and the PSK worked well for fish prep.
I set the fishtrap in the current of a large stream where we have piled rocks to funnel the current to the center. I laid down under the shelter for a nap and by 3:00 PM I had a medium catfish and four brim. I kept the catfish and roasted fillets for afternoon meal and released the brim. :D
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Hey ROS,

Any chance you have a picture(s) of your fishtrap?

Doc
 
i've been experiementing with a machete, but i find that i really prefer a kukri-style machete like the cold steel LTC that i have...a little more efficient for chopping hardwoods, and it packs a bit more power into a swing than a straight machete. despite this, i have been pretty happy so far with a small straight machete:
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The one I used today is on the scrap heap of our bushcrafting left overs in the next county. I will make another soon and photograph it.

It was basically two funnels made of willow branches and interwoven with cattail leaves. The larger funnel is tied together on the end and the smaller has an open end. The smaller funnel is inserted in the top of the larger funnel.
You interweave vines, twigs, rushes or cordage to regulate how big a fish you want to catch. I make real small ones to catch crawfish although I am just as likely to use a couple of 3 liter soda bottles for my crawfish traps.

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my fish trap was similar to a trap like some of these.

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What really makes a trap like these work is the modification to the stream bed. In my area of NC there are hundreds of prehistoric fish trap sites all over the Piedmont. You can recognize them because they are V shaped wing dams in the creek bed of piled stones.

fish_trap.jpg


The stones force a swimming fish into the center of the V and the trap made to fit the opening. The same effect can be accomplished with driven stakes or even woven mats anchored and suspened in the current.

Fishtrap_drawing.jpg


In the end result fishing for food with a hook and line is probably less effort but a trap fishes all the time while you are not even there and you can get ALL the materials from the immediate environment.
 
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Thanks for the reply, ROS. I've made fish traps, I just wanted to see your version. I have never used Cattail leaves for interweaving, though - excellent idea.

Doc
 
Normally I interweave with split willow branches, kudzu, or wysteria vines. They are stronger and easier to build a big trap with. On this day I had harvested cattail hearts (which I am partial to) and had a pile of leaves on hand so I tried it. Also it is dry around here and the creek was down so I wasn't fighting much current.
Cattail leaves make excellent baskets and I have seen folks weave a basket out of just them. However, I am less skilled and somewaht lazy so I make a frame out of split wood and fill it in with leaves. Some of the baskets I have seen from cattail leaves are tight enough to berries or sand.
 
psy-ops, my apologies. I just realized I hijacked your thread.

Back to machetes - I use machetes every canoe trip, and this is in Northern and Central Ontario where there is no sugar cane. I have an article somewhere showing a lady gutting a fish with a machete.

They are inexpensive, highly functional tools that can find a use in pretty well any location. I imagine they would make great snow knives for cutting blocks for making an igloo.

I have also used one for roughing out bow staves, although usually I use the Machax which is basically a glorified machete. I believe Ethan Becker called it that because it was a composite of a machete and an ax, at least in his opinion.

Doc
 
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Ohh Duhh

Excuse me as well. I estimate 90% or the raw materials I gathered this weekend were with a golok. Probably 50% of the material prep was also done by golok. Only the fine work was delegated to the Bravo 1. In a pinch the golok could have done it all including cleaning the fish.
 
I have also cleaned trout with a (modded) 18" Tram after my folder went 'swimming'. Piece of cake so long as it's sharp

A short back edge will make it stupidly easy to drill out the socket for a bow drill. One hand putting pressure on top of the handle and twist with the other. The hole looks like it was made with a 3/4" countersink.

For drawing the blade, take a green stick and whip about an inch of one end. Slit almost all the way to the whipping from the other end, then slide the split stick over the tip of the machete. Now you have a handle on the tip that will allow you to vary the angle that the edge 'sees' the wood - helpful when switching from debarking to slicing. I'm debating drilling a hole near the tip on one of the Trams because I do that often enough and it would let me use cord...
 
deadeyelefty-very useful tip on making a handle for a machete! i will certainly use that soon now that i know it! thanks.
 
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