Serrated Machete

2

2jka

Joined
May 25, 2011
Messages
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Hay guys I just had a Great Idea (or a sucky one, but that's for you guys to decide)! What about a serrated machete? Serrations like to grab and cut fibrous things ... Machetes cut fibrous stuff ... makes some sense to me!
But seriously I was thinking that a machete, think grass machete or light and fast machetes, with serration from the sweet spot down to the handle. Now I am not talking about serrations like Jay Fisher's Canine teeth http://www.jayfisher.com/_borders/SerrationsCanine1.jpg but more like that of the Boker Plus Bat folder http://www.boker.de/us/pocket-knife/boker-plus/tactical-knife/01BO430.html. Convex the sweet spot to the tip or something like that for chopping. And all of this on a latin style machete.
Does anyone have any experience with stuff like this? Made a machete like this? Had the same idea? If so, pleas do tell. I would love to hear about it!
And, thanks for reading!
 
Serrations might be ok for grass, at least in theory I think. There are inexpensive Japanese hand sickles that have these weird, very aggressive small serrations that work ok for that kind of stuff. But for chopping harder materials, I don't think serrations, even wide shallow ones like on that Boker offer much advantage.
 
You need to wait for 42Blades to chime in here. He is a wealth of knowledge on machetes & blades in general.
 
How do you plan to sharpen it?

I sharpen SOG Primitive for a friend; steel aside, i think the serration on the spine is just not cutting it.
 
hmm... make it out of S7 steel, hardened to 60rc, with wide serrations, and a 15" blade... make it chisel ground, and .15" thick... That would make an excellent general survival tool if you could keep it sharp. Half saw, half machete. Of course serrations will vastly increase drag while chopping, and they're not ideal for sawing, so it would really be something that's just bad at both, but capable of either. It would make BRUTAL cuts in humans though

Personally i'd prefer to make it half serrated with very aggressive serrations just so you have half of the knife that's easy to sharpen with virtually any sharpener, and can bite deep when chopping, but can also saw well

Or get a saw and a machete.... you know... just cause
 
Field edge maintenance is one of the biggest advantages of a machete. Its very easy to use a piece of sandstone to smooth out any major damage. Since machete steel is soft, the serrations may not hold up to a lot of use between sharpenings.
 
Machete effectiveness has a lot to do with technique. My dad taught me a little; how to look at a branch/bush/sampling/ect and know which side to cut and at what kind of angle. That sort of thing. I'm decent with a machete, but watch any guy that uses one daily and you'll see that there's some skill to it. I have a friend who's dad owns a survey company. He grew up surveying and still does it occasionally. Those guys all use long machetes that are only sharpened from the tip to about 6-8" back and they can cut through a wall of brush like it's nothing. You don't want a machete to "bite into" what you're cutting but rather chop through cleanly. Serrations would cause drag.
 
When I was younger I did a lot of clearing with machetes. Honestly, I really don't think a serrated blade would be useful. A properly sharpened plain edge is very effective. I think a serrated edge would be like trying to clear with a saw - stuff would get stuck on the serrations instead of cut.
 
a lot ( not all by any means ) of machetes get sharpened in field with a file or coarser stone

it is not just because this gets dings out and gives a working edge faster , but it leaves a pretty coarse edge , toothy , if you will
for clearing grassy stuff , and whippy canes .. blackberry , willows etc , this is kinda very effective , its mini serrations

there is also technique . Just hacking at stuff is not near so effective as using a sabre cut .. drawing the blade thru the cut as you swing
think slicing vegetables by just pushing your knife straight down , vs drawing your knife thru the cut with a slicing motion... now apply that to your machete cutting .. and see the difference it makes

actual serrations tho machined into a machete blade would make sharpening in field a pain , take way too long in my opinion
 
shecky said:
Serrations might be ok for grass, at least in theory I think. There are inexpensive Japanese hand sickles that have these weird, very aggressive small serrations that work ok for that kind of stuff. But for chopping harder materials, I don't think serrations, even wide shallow ones like on that Boker offer much advantage.
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking. I have a grass cutter like the pic below. Works fine, but that's about the only specific use I can think of where serrations would really come in handy.

31T3FB5PXBL.jpg
 
Grass would be easier to cut with a straight edge wouldn't it? If the serrations aren't sharp, even if they are really, wouldn't it drag through instead of cut cleanly?
 
The one issue with the tool I showed above is that eventually the blade gets wet enough from the grass and weeds that stuff starts to stick to it, clogging up the serrations so it stops cutting and starts tearing. I just pull the gunk off and keep going. When the serrations are clear, though, it cuts very well. Larger serrations like 2jka suggested would likely be much better.
 
If i could weigh in ive always found, personally, serrations on anything with a knife edge are next to useless. Seems to me that a sharp back-end to something youd be swinging around wildly would be too fun either
 
Something like this? :D (yes--it's real)

s339.jpg



But seriously, though, it'd work just fine. What you'd want to do is establish a bevel on one side only and cut the serrations on the opposite side. If you're mostly making cuts from right to left you'll want the serrations on the left blade face so they'd be facing upwards when making the cut. When field sharpening, sharpen the beveled backside only, but occasionally reset the serrations with the tool you used to make them. A chainsaw file would do the job handily. An easy way to get them spaced uniformly is to mark out the lines where you want them (this is the obvious part--the following less so.) Use a triangular or knife-edge file to cut a small starting groove where you marked each line. This forms a channel that will keep the round chainsaw file from sliding off track while cutting the serration.

Serrated sickles were common in the Western world, actually--it's just we've forgotten a lot of the heritage of North American manual agricultural tools. The serrations were factory-cut and the backside given a very thin bevel. The backside was all you'd ever sharpen since the factory cut the serrations so the grooves ran almost all the way up to the spine. The more the back bevel was sharpened the edge would just travel up the grooves, so they'd never be sharpened away until the tool was basically used up.

If you do it, do it with a dedicated lush vegetation pattern like a sable or guarizama. The serrations technically won't keep you from chopping wood or anything, but they'll be more prone towards being damaged by lateral strain that can easily occur during wood chopping. Best to stick with a pattern that's only for vegetation. I'm actually pretty tempted to experiment with a guarizama now and see how it plays out.

I'd consider a scythe for serious vegetation clearing where it's an option, though. Those are REALLY fun. A machete would do fine for taking care of stuff that's surrounded by obstacles like stumps and the like ("spot targets" so to speak) but if working in a more open space it wouldn't be able to keep pace with a scythe. My two favorite tools, right there! Few things I enjoy more than getting in some good machete and scythe time. :cool:
 
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hay-knife.jpg


When the serrations get big enough you will reinvent the traditional hay knife.

n2s
 
G. Scott H. said:
That's what I was thinking. I have a grass cutter like the pic below. Works fine, but that's about the only specific use I can think of where serrations would really come in handy.

31T3FB5PXBL.jpg
Click to expand...

Agreed - I've used those, too, but it is a completely different sort of motion.
 
not2sharp said:
hay-knife.jpg


When the serrations get big enough you will reinvent the traditional hay knife.

n2s
Click to expand...

Ah, but hay knives are sharpened only on the forward face of the teeth, and the belly of the tip! Also, while it wasn't factory-done and I haven't seen many examples that had it added, I like to keep about 3" of the spine at the very tip sharpened as well, giving it a double-edged spearpoint. It makes it easier to thrust the blade point-first into the hay if you need to increase the depth of the cut.


Also, regarding the "weed cutter" I suggest avoiding those at all costs. They were mostly given to farmhands that were too rough and clumsy to use a scythe without breaking it. The scythe (yes--even the American pattern!) was and still is a tool of finesse, while weed cutters are tools of pure brawn.
 
I used a serrated sickle/short scythe a lot as a kid cutting light vegetation and briars. The sheet metal blade was stamped with ripples in it and a bevel was ground on one side. Soft veg. and skin were no match for it. Still have a few light scars.
 
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