What’s a good steel for a machete?

Richard Coyle

Richard Coyle

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I have a friend that wants me to make him a machete to replace one he lost and I’m trying to decide what steel to use. The one he had was 2.2mm 1075, and I’m thinking of 3v for the new one. A problem I’m running into is finding 3v that thin. The thinnest 3v I can find is .101/.113 as opposed to the 2.2 mm which is .087.

I admittedly know very little about machetes and I don’t really know if the small difference in thickness would make that much of difference. So what do you think? Get the 3v or what are some other good steels for a machete? My friend really stressed the need for a tough steel because he was hard on machetes.

Any help would be appreciated :)
 
AEB-L would also probably be pretty good and you can get thin stock. Does your friend want a very thin machete? I find a bit thinker blade is easier to cut with since it is stiffer. I'm making one out of 3/16 stock. I geound in a large fuller to reduce the weight. Its kinda based on a Thai made machete that I had bought a long time ago that was about the same thickness. It was a beast but way to heavy as well a the blade just had a convex grind out at the edge and the rest was just a steel bar. O shortend it to a 18" blade and ground a real fuller into it and gave it a thinner full flat grind and now its a joy to use. I'm not a expert on machetes though and I use it to cut heavy brush and branches. It will give a powerful cut and cut through a 1" dry hard branch without breathing hard.
 
honestly just go a tiny bit heavier and use the 0.1" 3v - you'll not regret it ;)

(I use a 3mm 1075 ontario machete, it's a beast)
 
So I talked to my friend some more and I got some pictures of his old machete.B3153870-FE6A-452C-9F58-34FD9ED745E4.jpegADB85EBE-6387-4F22-B882-E8334458A6A5.jpeg
He lost the machete but he still has the sheath for it. He estimated that the steel would need to be 5 inches wide according to a template he made. It was going to be $130 for just the steel, so I recommended the 8670. I told him what I had found when researching it and long story short... he want a steel in between 8670 and 3v in terms of price and edge retention.

I plan on looking myself but, do you guys have any recommendations for a good in between steel?

edit: Thank you all for the replies and the help so far! :thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
Richard Coyle said:
So I talked to my friend some more and I got some pictures of his old machete.View attachment 1426029View attachment 1426030
He lost the machete but he still has the sheath for it. He estimated that the steel would need to be 5 inches wide according to a template he made. It was going to be $130 for just the steel, so I recommended the 8670. I told him what I had found when researching it and long story short... he want a steel in between 8670 and 3v in terms of price and edge retention.

I plan on looking myself but, do you guys have any recommendations for a good in between steel?

edit: Thank you all for the replies and the help so far! :thumbsup::thumbsup:
Click to expand...
I use a lot of 8670 and would highly recommend it, it’s very easy to sharpen even in the field which in my opinion is very important for a machete, I personally would not want a machete out of most stainless steels, it’s a hard use tool and ease of sharpening And toughness is far more important than edge holding and stain resistance in my opinion. You could literally touch up 8670 with a smooth rock and be back to business in 2 minutes and tempered to 59-60 gives you probably the toughest knife steel you could use. For what it’s worth I’d tell your friend to trust you on this one and just go with 8670 you won’t be disappointed. Also I’d take the design down just a bit narrower 5” is extremely wide for a blade like that, if you slim it down a bit to fit on a 4” bar of steel Pops Knife Supply has 8670 in 3/32x4x48 for $27 or 3/16x4x48 for $40, I’d go with 3/16 if he wants a heavy chopper and 3/32 if he wants something lighter and faster that would do what a machete is meant to be used for.
 
Richard Coyle said:
So I talked to my friend some more and I got some pictures of his old machete.View attachment 1426029View attachment 1426030
He lost the machete but he still has the sheath for it. He estimated that the steel would need to be 5 inches wide according to a template he made. It was going to be $130 for just the steel, so I recommended the 8670. I told him what I had found when researching it and long story short... he want a steel in between 8670 and 3v in terms of price and edge retention.

I plan on looking myself but, do you guys have any recommendations for a good in between steel?

edit: Thank you all for the replies and the help so far! :thumbsup::thumbsup:
Click to expand...

A8mod.
 
Alright I think I might have it. I just spent the last hour and a half looking over some of Larrin’s articles and I’m thinking aeb-l at 59-60 hardness would be good.

I did look at A8mod Willie71 Willie71 . I found it on AKS but the dimensions I needed were gonna be $140+ Maybe I’m missing something?

I also looked at cd1 but I couldn’t find that anywhere; and t-tuff, which is pretty similar, was also too expensive.

Joshua Fisher Joshua Fisher I appreciate your advice
about the 8670, but I just feel like 8670 is almost just a tougher version of 1075. I don’t mean that literally as in actual composition, but I feel like I’m not going to get a much of a boost in edge retention with 8670 over 1075. And if the 1075 held up to the abuse, I don’t really see the benefit of going for max toughness when presumably I can get a similar toughness + better edge retention in aeb-l. But I could be totally wrong on that; so please correct me if I’m wrong.

To be honest, he could probably find a similar machete for less than it’s gonna cost for me to do it, but I guess he really really liked the one he had and wants one as close to it as possible. So I don’t think scaling it down to 4” would work.


Here is where I’m getting my thinking from. D9A03727-ED5D-4657-B18D-7DE4F30C84FA.jpeg
While it’s not on this chart 3v at 60hrc is right under 40 ft-lbs. So it seems like they are pretty similar.


What bothers me is that there isn’t a toughness testing for 1075, but I would think it will be fine since aeb-l is similar in toughness to the 3v.

Please let me know if my thinking on this is wrong, but it seems like it would be feasible.
 
Richard Coyle said:
So I talked to my friend some more and I got some pictures of his old machete.View attachment 1426029View attachment 1426030
He lost the machete but he still has the sheath for it. He estimated that the steel would need to be 5 inches wide according to a template he made. It was going to be $130 for just the steel, so I recommended the 8670. I told him what I had found when researching it and long story short... he want a steel in between 8670 and 3v in terms of price and edge retention.

I plan on looking myself but, do you guys have any recommendations for a good in between steel?

edit: Thank you all for the replies and the help so far! :thumbsup::thumbsup:
Click to expand...

I know we are custom makers, but a Incolma Ciriri Machete (a Colombian brand, Brazilian Tramontina are about the same) is less than $10 and you only need to sharpen it, I measured hardness on it and it was 58RC along the entire blade. They are mostly made in 1075 or 1095.
I mean, if its a user, it will either be lost again or abused as these tools usually are.

I gave this same advice to a customer to be of mine and didn't made him one.

Pablo
 
Richard Coyle said:
Alright I think I might have it. I just spent the last hour and a half looking over some of Larrin’s articles and I’m thinking aeb-l at 59-60 hardness would be good.

I did look at A8mod Willie71 Willie71 . I found it on AKS but the dimensions I needed were gonna be $140+ Maybe I’m missing something?

I also looked at cd1 but I couldn’t find that anywhere; and t-tuff, which is pretty similar, was also too expensive.

Joshua Fisher Joshua Fisher I appreciate your advice
about the 8670, but I just feel like 8670 is almost just a tougher version of 1075. I don’t mean that literally as in actual composition, but I feel like I’m not going to get a much of a boost in edge retention with 8670 over 1075. And if the 1075 held up to the abuse, I don’t really see the benefit of going for max toughness when presumably I can get a similar toughness + better edge retention in aeb-l. But I could be totally wrong on that; so please correct me if I’m wrong.

To be honest, he could probably find a similar machete for less than it’s gonna cost for me to do it, but I guess he really really liked the one he had and wants one as close to it as possible. So I don’t think scaling it down to 4” would work.


Here is where I’m getting my thinking from. View attachment 1426254
While it’s not on this chart 3v at 60hrc is right under 40 ft-lbs. So it seems like they are pretty similar.


What bothers me is that there isn’t a toughness testing for 1075, but I would think it will be fine since aeb-l is similar in toughness to the 3v.

Please let me know if my thinking on this is wrong, but it seems like it would be feasible.
Click to expand...


1075 should be a bit tougher than 1084, for reference.
A8 mod is cheaper than z-tuff or 3v, better wear resistance than 8670, but not as wear resistant as 3v. It has the 3v toughness, but with the z-tuff wear resistance. It’s the “in between” you mentioned.
 
For toughness and cost my vote is for 8670. I have cut some rather big blades out if it for customers and it has preformed flawlessly for them.

Photo%20Sep%2027%2C%2012%2007%2017%20AM.jpg
 
I'm on board with the 8670 vote.
It has pretty good edge holding im my testing. And it resharpens crazy easy. And its cheap.
As others have said 3V and Z-Tuff are expensive.

Most machetes won't need too crazy edge holding unless you are chopping bamboo or some other semi abrasive or dirty vegetation. But to be fair, having the best steel is always fun. (I've made a few in 3V and they were amazing, just pricey)
Willie71 said:
1075 should be a bit tougher than 1084, for reference.
A8 mod is cheaper than z-tuff or 3v, better wear resistance than 8670, but not as wear resistant as 3v. It has the 3v toughness, but with the z-tuff wear resistance. It’s the “in between” you mentioned.
Click to expand...
I agree. A8 mod would make a kickass machete for an "in between" steel.
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****EDIT: AEB-L would be a great machete too. Just saw your post on it. Bonus that its stainless and super tough! Its also cheap!
 
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