Post by twomoons on Aug 31, 2012 14:14:26 GMT -5
The Machete
Machete, Kukri, Bowie, Parang, Golok, Corn Knife or Barong, call it what you will the big chopping tool has its uses and can be a useful tool in the woods. The main thing is to find what type and style will work best for you in your situation and then use it to your advantage. Here are my personal thoughts on the big knife as a tool and what works where.
In 1968 I was living in Northern Minnesota and my job at the time was working on a tree crew. Our main job starting in June was trimming Christmas trees. Here in Nebraska this equate to chopping cockleburs and thistles. For three months a year with other odd jobs thrown in I carried a razor sharp thin bladed machete and swung it 3 slices a tree from 6AM to 4 PM every day. In the process I learned a lot about chopping knives and how to keep them sharp. A few trips over the Rocky Mountains and life on the river has tended to hone those skills especially when coupled with a hobby of knife making.
Most folks when they need to chop some brush simply go the local hardware store and pick up a cheap machete with the standard canvas sheath and go home and go to chopping and this is fine if all you do is clear a little brush once in a while, but there may be better choices. If you are looking for a woodsman’s tool or a big knife for camping chores or survival use you need to put a little thought into your choice.
The standard machete with a stainless blade and a canvas sheath, $12.50 this and the square tipped corn knife are the farmer’s choice.
No matter what you call you big knife each type has evolved in its particular locality in part due to the tasks it has to perform. A blade made for cutting grass or weed stalks or green budding pine trees is going to be a different blade than one made for chopping woody vines or splitting firewood.
The machete modified Golok style good for light work but the blade is too thin for real chopping power.
First take a look at your standard machete as personified by the old Ontario military blade. The 18” blade is thin and had a very moderate taper and little belly to the blade. This knife was pretty much copied from the South American and Mexican machete that is used primarily for cutting light grasses and wood. Once you get a hundred miles below the border this is the machete you see everyone using. Farmers cut weeds and cut the light firewood needed for a noonday fire. The blade is long enough to cut into brush without sticking your hand too far into whatever might have a rattlesnake wrapped inside. If there IS a snake inside the long blade is my choice for dispatching the snake without having to get too close, in fact if I had to kill snakes on a regular basis a 3 foot blade would be even better! Where the machete falls short is when you get into tougher woods. A standard thin bladed machete is tiring to use for chopping through heavy vines or stout wood. If you don’t believe me take a corn knife and try and cut down a 3” cottonwood sapling. The light blade with a straight edge vibrates in your hand and the cuts don’t penetrate well in the tough wood. I occasionally use a machete that I cut down to Golok style for light work but the blade is too light for any heavy chopping.
The solution for this is either the American answer of carry an ax and do it right. (This is why America was built with an ax.) The other answer is to look to South East Asia or India for a more portable and efficient chopping knife.
My hand made copy of the Barong, note the leather sheath, not a good idea in a wet environment.
If you look at the big knives carried by the different races from the Philippines to Vietnam you will notice that the blades are all thicker than the S/A machete. They also tend to have a belly to the blade and a forward weight that makes them more efficient at chopping heavier wood. For North America if I don’t want the weight and limitations of an ax I would choose an Asian style chopping knife of some style. I will show you some of my favorites and give a few pros and cons of each.
In about 1984 I designed and built my ultimate brush knife. It was copied from a Greek Kopis and was 18” long with a blade a full ¼” thick and a smooth walnut handle. The handle was fine and the belly of the front of the blade was an excellent chopper but it was just too darn heavy. An hour of swinging the thing would tire out Rambo. But while going through a gun show one day I spied a Barong with a 10” blade on a table and thought it would make a good brush knife. It DID in spades and the wooden sheath proved practical for use on the river. The round handle with the hooked end was particularly comfortable to cut with and the leaf shaped blade with a straight taper was an excellent chopping tool. But after cleaning up the blade I found it was hand engraved 1909 Manila, and when a collector offered me a week’s pay for the knife it went to him.
The K Bar, note the hook at the back for the little finger.
I then picked up a K Bar cutlass machete and the 14” blade was shaped for good chopping power and the hook at the rear of the handle allowed a natural loose gripped swing. Since I cut a lot of my firewood in town and have to trim and haul off the branches I got in a lot of swing time with the K Bar and thought it would be my all time favorite but…
Back to my Kopis, I still missed the Barong and most of the copies I see for sale today are just too darn big for my uses, so I took a good look at the Kopis and out came the plasma cutter and suddenly I had an 11” bladed copy of my Barong. But I made a mistake, I copied the handle of the Kopis and found that although the knife blade was performing well the handle needed to be gripped tighter and this made it more tiring to use than the original Barong. For light duty and river cruising this is still my favorite knife but for long term use I need another blade...
Comes the Parang…
I saw and advertisement extolling the virtues of the Parang style blade and particularly the Bear Gryllis blade so I ordered one of these.
The Bear parang, the handle is the big downfall here.
I liked the blade shape for chopping, trimming and draw knife work in the field but the handle on the Bear knife is typical American lawyer proof. It has a guard that makes it hard to choke up on the grip, the finger grooves don’t let your hand move well in use and worst of all the darn thing came stone dull. Later I actually saw Bear Gryllis stunting for the camera and realized why he would carry one of these. “Nuff Said”
The Parang blade shape seemed all right though and I thought it would be a good blade for general use and an excellent blade for river running so I did a little research and ended up getting a Bidor parang from Malaysia. Bingo we got this one right.
The 13” blade is just the right length and the handle is comfortable for extended use or a choked up grip.
The handle was made of rubbery plastic melted and pinned on the blade. The handle has the same grip shape as the Barong and the K Bar but is just enough slimmer than the K Bar that it works well in your hand and after some smoothing has a nice slide while chopping. The blade itself is 13” long and is weighted well forward and actually came pretty sharp right out of the rubber.
That’s right the sheath is made of PVC rubber, and I like it. Like the canvas sheath on the original machete the rubber dries quickly and that is a big plus here on the river. The leather sheath I have on my Barong copy is pretty but if it gets soaked, and sooner or later everything in a canoe will get soaked, it takes forever to dry out and then needs re-oiling. The rubber sheath protects me from the blade and the welt in the seam and the rivets won’t let the blade poke though. It would be nice to have a teak wood sheath like the original barong but I am a little short of teak wood here and pine not only rots but it doesn’t dry much quicker than leather. The K Bar sheath of nylon and courdura is also excellent in this regard, the sheath on the Gerber is marginal the blade is held in with Velcro and two snaps, that don’t work, and this is not a quick draw sheath by any means.
Nothing wrong with a big Bowie for a outdoorsman’s tool.
Now the best for the last… maybe? The real American answer to all theses knives is the good old Bowie. In the early 1980’s I built a Bowie with an 11” blade for a friend. I thought it was too big for a carrying knife till after the first camping trip with Bill. That big bowie did it all… it could chop with the best, shave kindling, gut a deer, chop the pelvis and still skin a squirrel for the camp pot. It wasn’t as good as an ax for some jobs and wasn’t as good a brush knife as say the parang, but for all round use her in N/A a good big bowie is pretty hard to beat. Since then I have seen another friend split kindling with his Bowie, a Rio Grande camp knife and I sure can’t fault it at work. They are not a knife for slashing through undergrowth but here in upper N/A they will handle any camp chore you need short of an ax.
Sorry about the miissing pictures but I can't figure out how to include them.
Machete, Kukri, Bowie, Parang, Golok, Corn Knife or Barong, call it what you will the big chopping tool has its uses and can be a useful tool in the woods. The main thing is to find what type and style will work best for you in your situation and then use it to your advantage. Here are my personal thoughts on the big knife as a tool and what works where.
In 1968 I was living in Northern Minnesota and my job at the time was working on a tree crew. Our main job starting in June was trimming Christmas trees. Here in Nebraska this equate to chopping cockleburs and thistles. For three months a year with other odd jobs thrown in I carried a razor sharp thin bladed machete and swung it 3 slices a tree from 6AM to 4 PM every day. In the process I learned a lot about chopping knives and how to keep them sharp. A few trips over the Rocky Mountains and life on the river has tended to hone those skills especially when coupled with a hobby of knife making.
Most folks when they need to chop some brush simply go the local hardware store and pick up a cheap machete with the standard canvas sheath and go home and go to chopping and this is fine if all you do is clear a little brush once in a while, but there may be better choices. If you are looking for a woodsman’s tool or a big knife for camping chores or survival use you need to put a little thought into your choice.
The standard machete with a stainless blade and a canvas sheath, $12.50 this and the square tipped corn knife are the farmer’s choice.
No matter what you call you big knife each type has evolved in its particular locality in part due to the tasks it has to perform. A blade made for cutting grass or weed stalks or green budding pine trees is going to be a different blade than one made for chopping woody vines or splitting firewood.
The machete modified Golok style good for light work but the blade is too thin for real chopping power.
First take a look at your standard machete as personified by the old Ontario military blade. The 18” blade is thin and had a very moderate taper and little belly to the blade. This knife was pretty much copied from the South American and Mexican machete that is used primarily for cutting light grasses and wood. Once you get a hundred miles below the border this is the machete you see everyone using. Farmers cut weeds and cut the light firewood needed for a noonday fire. The blade is long enough to cut into brush without sticking your hand too far into whatever might have a rattlesnake wrapped inside. If there IS a snake inside the long blade is my choice for dispatching the snake without having to get too close, in fact if I had to kill snakes on a regular basis a 3 foot blade would be even better! Where the machete falls short is when you get into tougher woods. A standard thin bladed machete is tiring to use for chopping through heavy vines or stout wood. If you don’t believe me take a corn knife and try and cut down a 3” cottonwood sapling. The light blade with a straight edge vibrates in your hand and the cuts don’t penetrate well in the tough wood. I occasionally use a machete that I cut down to Golok style for light work but the blade is too light for any heavy chopping.
The solution for this is either the American answer of carry an ax and do it right. (This is why America was built with an ax.) The other answer is to look to South East Asia or India for a more portable and efficient chopping knife.
My hand made copy of the Barong, note the leather sheath, not a good idea in a wet environment.
If you look at the big knives carried by the different races from the Philippines to Vietnam you will notice that the blades are all thicker than the S/A machete. They also tend to have a belly to the blade and a forward weight that makes them more efficient at chopping heavier wood. For North America if I don’t want the weight and limitations of an ax I would choose an Asian style chopping knife of some style. I will show you some of my favorites and give a few pros and cons of each.
In about 1984 I designed and built my ultimate brush knife. It was copied from a Greek Kopis and was 18” long with a blade a full ¼” thick and a smooth walnut handle. The handle was fine and the belly of the front of the blade was an excellent chopper but it was just too darn heavy. An hour of swinging the thing would tire out Rambo. But while going through a gun show one day I spied a Barong with a 10” blade on a table and thought it would make a good brush knife. It DID in spades and the wooden sheath proved practical for use on the river. The round handle with the hooked end was particularly comfortable to cut with and the leaf shaped blade with a straight taper was an excellent chopping tool. But after cleaning up the blade I found it was hand engraved 1909 Manila, and when a collector offered me a week’s pay for the knife it went to him.
The K Bar, note the hook at the back for the little finger.
I then picked up a K Bar cutlass machete and the 14” blade was shaped for good chopping power and the hook at the rear of the handle allowed a natural loose gripped swing. Since I cut a lot of my firewood in town and have to trim and haul off the branches I got in a lot of swing time with the K Bar and thought it would be my all time favorite but…
Back to my Kopis, I still missed the Barong and most of the copies I see for sale today are just too darn big for my uses, so I took a good look at the Kopis and out came the plasma cutter and suddenly I had an 11” bladed copy of my Barong. But I made a mistake, I copied the handle of the Kopis and found that although the knife blade was performing well the handle needed to be gripped tighter and this made it more tiring to use than the original Barong. For light duty and river cruising this is still my favorite knife but for long term use I need another blade...
Comes the Parang…
I saw and advertisement extolling the virtues of the Parang style blade and particularly the Bear Gryllis blade so I ordered one of these.
The Bear parang, the handle is the big downfall here.
I liked the blade shape for chopping, trimming and draw knife work in the field but the handle on the Bear knife is typical American lawyer proof. It has a guard that makes it hard to choke up on the grip, the finger grooves don’t let your hand move well in use and worst of all the darn thing came stone dull. Later I actually saw Bear Gryllis stunting for the camera and realized why he would carry one of these. “Nuff Said”
The Parang blade shape seemed all right though and I thought it would be a good blade for general use and an excellent blade for river running so I did a little research and ended up getting a Bidor parang from Malaysia. Bingo we got this one right.
The 13” blade is just the right length and the handle is comfortable for extended use or a choked up grip.
The handle was made of rubbery plastic melted and pinned on the blade. The handle has the same grip shape as the Barong and the K Bar but is just enough slimmer than the K Bar that it works well in your hand and after some smoothing has a nice slide while chopping. The blade itself is 13” long and is weighted well forward and actually came pretty sharp right out of the rubber.
That’s right the sheath is made of PVC rubber, and I like it. Like the canvas sheath on the original machete the rubber dries quickly and that is a big plus here on the river. The leather sheath I have on my Barong copy is pretty but if it gets soaked, and sooner or later everything in a canoe will get soaked, it takes forever to dry out and then needs re-oiling. The rubber sheath protects me from the blade and the welt in the seam and the rivets won’t let the blade poke though. It would be nice to have a teak wood sheath like the original barong but I am a little short of teak wood here and pine not only rots but it doesn’t dry much quicker than leather. The K Bar sheath of nylon and courdura is also excellent in this regard, the sheath on the Gerber is marginal the blade is held in with Velcro and two snaps, that don’t work, and this is not a quick draw sheath by any means.
Nothing wrong with a big Bowie for a outdoorsman’s tool.
Now the best for the last… maybe? The real American answer to all theses knives is the good old Bowie. In the early 1980’s I built a Bowie with an 11” blade for a friend. I thought it was too big for a carrying knife till after the first camping trip with Bill. That big bowie did it all… it could chop with the best, shave kindling, gut a deer, chop the pelvis and still skin a squirrel for the camp pot. It wasn’t as good as an ax for some jobs and wasn’t as good a brush knife as say the parang, but for all round use her in N/A a good big bowie is pretty hard to beat. Since then I have seen another friend split kindling with his Bowie, a Rio Grande camp knife and I sure can’t fault it at work. They are not a knife for slashing through undergrowth but here in upper N/A they will handle any camp chore you need short of an ax.
Sorry about the miissing pictures but I can't figure out how to include them.