Modified Ontario Machete

E

ezraa123

Joined
Mar 8, 2014
Messages
4
I wanted to share my budged BIG knife and ask any opinions or comments. I took a 12" Ontario military machete and got rid of the handle with the compression rivits that always seemed to fall out. The handle is polypropalene with brass pins coned on each side and the scales glued on. I made the hanger for the sheath and use a carbiner to hang it on my belt. This thing can take a beating and is often used to baton logs up to start the fires in my wood stove. So far I've done this with both 18" and 12" Ontario Machetes and been quite happy with the performance. Though, I like the 12" better. I actually kept this instead of my BK7. I know....bordering on blasphemy there.


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Thanks for the comments. I thought it worked pretty good. And ya, the clip point is a lot more versitile then the orignal one.
 
How did you achieve the clip point? Im looking at my 18in Ontario right now and she needs some mods lol. The most heavy duty metal removing tool i have is a bastard file.....
 
No worries about the supposed 'blasphemy'. The smaller Ontario is a great and sometimes overlooked tool. My favorite machete would be my now ancient Tru Temper that sports an 18 inch blade which has been honed and then touched up at least a million times. The 12 inch Ontario packs a great punch and is a bit easier to carry on hiking trips etc. I like the white handles...easy to spot if you put the knife down in the brush. Notable mention swings out to the Scrapyard 1111. This is a nice, strong chopper.

Had to review some of my old postings about machetes etc. I still stand by the 18 inch Ontario configuration as the all-round champion for chopping power and ultimate survival use. Mr. Hossom and I share similar views. Your are just not going to best a properly tuned machete as the perfect survival implement.

Balance and weight. It is a trick to get the right heft combined with a comfortable handle that does not stress the hand or wrist...and then meld these traits together with a blade shape that is stiff but not overly bulky. An ultra keen but tough edge makes cutting a dream! Sometimes too much of a good thing can get in the way of practical performance.
 
If only they actually just made it like that from the factory. The present handle scales totally defeat the point of injection molding--the idea is to NOT have to shape the scales after they come out of the mold. :D

Nice work, man.
 
ericzhao517 said:
How did you achieve the clip point? Im looking at my 18in Ontario right now and she needs some mods lol. The most heavy duty metal removing tool i have is a bastard file.....
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I just marked it with a pencil and hit the grinding wheel. If you do that, you have to dip it in the water often to cool it. You don't want it heating up and discoloring or it may mess up the temper. Basically, one or two light passes then dip. After that I hit it light on the sharp edges from the grind, used a file to round it, then sand paper to make it all smoothed out. It works pretty good and doesn't take that long. If you plan on doing much metal anything, I'd drop a few bucks on a decent grinding wheel. You can do it with a file but it would take WAY too long with the 1095 hardened steel to do this.
 
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