This will probably come as no surprise to anyone who reads this blog, but in my opinion you can never have too many weapons. You might not get the chance to use them all but its better to have them there than not. Lets have it right, a machete isn’t a gardening tool, hunting knife, butchers knife, or razor to shave your Mrs’ legs with — granted, you could do all those things with a machete, but what it’s really for is hacking body parts off people you don’t much care for. I’ve got ten of the things, and trust me, I didn’t buy any of them to go camping in the Amazon with.
Fox Machio
My cheapest machete is a Tramontina, with an 18″ carbon steel blade and wooden handle, which is about $15, and my most expensive is a Fox Machio Machete, with a 14.2″ 425 Stainless Steel blade and ABS handle, which costs $86. The Fox Machio is made out of a better steel, which isn’t that important in a machete because they could both lop off a head easy enough, but the Fox Machio would feel better in your hand when you did it because it’s got a nicer handle and better balance. But you don’t need to spend $86 to get a decent machete.
I’ve got the 21″ and 24″ blade Cold Steel Latin Machetes, which are both 2mm (0.08″) thick and made out of 1055 Carbon Steel with a black anti-rust matte coating, which is fine for a machete, especially as they both only cost $18 each. They also have decent polypropylene handles. Although they’re Latin machetes they’re actually made in South Africa and personally sharpened by Nelson Mandela (alright, I made up that last bit). Cold Steel also make Bolo, Panga, Kukri and a heavy machetes, but their best fighting design is their Latin machetes. You can buy sheaths for them for $8 if you want, but I’m a Catholic and the Pope doesn’t like sheaths.
I also have six Condor machetes. The Condor Tool & Knives Company is a great firm from El Salvador. No surprise that a firm from El Salvador makes good fighting machetes. They’re a seriously good firm that have some brilliant designs. The quality are their knives and machetes are pretty good as well and they’re also cheap, which is always a bonus. As well as the machetes I’ve also got the Condor Bush knife, Rodan knife, Borneo Headhunter Pipe knife and Bush Cutlass – love them all.
El Salvador Machete
Condor have range of carbon steel and range of stainless steel machetes. The only Condor carbon steel machete I have is the 18″ El Salvador Machete, which is a lot like the Cold Steel latin machetes in quality and design. The blade is coated in epoxy black powder, it has a polypropylene handle and costs $25. The rest of my Condor machetes are made out of 420 HC Stainless Steel, which isn’t much different from the 425 Stainless Steel that my Fox Machio is made of.
Condor Combat Machete
The Condor Combat Machete has only got a 13″ blade but it’s 3mm (1/8″) thick, double-edged and spear pointed. It’s also got a really comfortable Ergonomic “PoszeGrip” Santoprene handle. I’ve got it in the Mystic Camo but you can get it in blasted satin or black . It costs $65 and comes with a sheath.
Condor Outback Machete
My biggest Condor machete is the 20″ Outback machete. It’s 2 mm (0.08″) thick like the Cold Steel Latin machetes. Black coating, comes with a sheath and has a high impact polypropylene handle. It’s $75 which is pricey for a machete but this is made out of 420 HC Stainless Steel, so it’s more durable and will last you longer. That said, the Cold Steel machete could still take a head off.
Condor Jungle Saber Machete
Condor Hog Sticker Machete
I’ve also got two Condor machetes with knuckle guards: the 18″ Jungle Saber and 18″ Hog Sticker. My Jungle Saber in Mystic Cammo and Hog Sticker in black. Again, both 2 mm (0.08″) thick and have high impact polypropylene knuckle guard handles. They both cost $70 and come with sheaths. The knuckle guard is a good feature for combat because it offers hand protection and doubles up as a knuckle duster, which is still a valid sabre fencing technique.
Condor Puerto Rican Machete
Lastly, my favourite Condor machete, the 14 1/2″ Puerto Rican machete, 2 mm (0.08″) thick with a hardwood handle and comes with a sheath and black blade. It also costs $70. The reason I like this the best is that it’s similar to the Italian roncola, I can use the curved top edge for hooking and slicing the opponents limbs.
@ Rob. “You might not get the chance to use them all but its better to have them there than not”
But why would you need 10? You’ve spent over $400 on machetes.
@ Jen
I know, but look it this way, Stefi recently bought a Beretta Storm TX4 Semi-automatic shotgun for about $1200, Amica bought a Beretta Cx4 Storm 9×21 IMI semi-automatic carbine, which cost over $800 and I bought a Benelli R1 Rifle for my uncle, which cost just under $1400. Ten machetes for $400 doesn’t sound like a lot now does it. I bought them to use. I fence with some of them and I keep the others for self-defence. A machete is a good thing to have in your motor — you never know when you might need it — some copper might try and give you speeding ticket. Stefi and Amica use them to fence with too. Stefi is a lot more deadly with a machete or cutlass than I am.
@ Rob “what it’s really for is hacking body parts off people you don’t much care for. I’ve got ten of the things”
LOL
@ Rob. How do you know they could lop off heads have you tried it?
@ jenny
He has decapitated goats and pigs, and if you can do that you probably can with a human head too.
A video of an old man demonstrating the Columbian machete fighting art of grima in the street.
A man can have too many women, but rarely enough machetes. Or guns. Or knives. Or guitars/amps/drums. Or fishing rods and reels. Or cars.
For more on the theatrical and hiighly sensationalized offensive and defensive use of EL MACHETE, see the latest movie by Robert Rodriguez out of Austin, Texas, called appropriately, MACHETE. There are promo shots on the web featuring Danny Trejo wearing a vest/holster outfit that carries a large number of machetes and other implements of destruction.
Here in Texas, a machete is an integral part of lawn and land cleaning and clearing. Even the average joe living in a suburb with a small lawn has need for a basic tool type machete. Just about everyone I know who does any kind of yardwork or if they live on farms or ranches, brush clearing, has machetes around their places. Also very good for snake-chopping-head-offa purposes. Most of these are sorta whippy and thin, like a long wood saw, but they don’t cost much and do the trick for the average homeowner who tends to his own place.
@ El Fish
LOL
@ el Fish
I’ll take a look at that at that film. I’ve never really got the point of using a machete in the garden. There are so many better tools, like a hedge trimmer, chainsaw or axe. Do you have a lot of rattlesnakes in Texas? Do they kill a lot of dogs?
Some really redneck tyoes here in Texas that have rice farms use their dogs to track down the wild hogs that destroy their rice fields, and a pack of wild hogs can destroy hundreds of acres very easily and quickly. Once they locate the hogs, these rednecks use fighting machetes to sever the heads or throats of the cornered hogs. I’ve seen it, it’s a melee. It was a bit too primal for me.
@ El Fish
Wuss
In Italy we ain’t allowed to hunt with guns so if you don’t kill your prey out right you got to finish it off with a knife. Killing animals is good training.
@ el Fish —
One of the first lessons in Sicilian knife fighting is how to kill. Killing an animal is good practice for killing a man. My favourite pig sticker is the Condor Pipe dagger.
I’ve got ten of the things, and trust me, I didn’t buy any of them to go camping in the Amazon with.
Quote of the day.
@ el Fish
Cheers mate.
Great review Rob. Funny and informative.The combat machete looks like a gladius and the hog sticker looks like a sword too. Which do like the best for combat?
@ Ian
I like my Cold Steel Two-Handed Panga Machete best… It only cost €31… how freaking good is that?
Amica — it’s alright but it’s got no thrusting point. They should stick one of their Latin machetes on a that handle.
@ Ian — You should see the Bush Cutlass, it really is a sword. The combat machete is like a Gladius, it’a a great fighting tool. The best for fighting is tricky. They’re all have their strengths and weaknesses.
Rob…
LMBO
wrong kind of sheath.
Stefi…
Okay, why is he standing in the road waving a machete about?
We have a ton of rattlers in south, central and western Texas. East Texas has them too, but where I live we also have water moccasins and cottonmouths, both highly poisonous, large and agressive. The occasional deadly Coral snake is also in my area, and I’ve had one killed in my yard 10 years ago. I’ve killed two mocs at the house we live in now, and the house we lived in before was near water so we had lots more snakes there. Our state, and really, our nation, has no shortage of snakes whatsoever.
A scattergun is the preferred way to dispatch a snake, but if your hiking or landing a canoe or boat or working in the yard and have a machete in your hand, it’ll do the trick.
It takes a manly man to jump on the back of a 200 lb mean arse hog with tusks who is mad and scared and kill it with a knife. I think I could, but it’s like noodling catfish or wrestling alligators. I’ll leave that to others.
@ el Fish
The Sicilian suino nero delle Madonie can get to 150kg 330lbs but they ain’t got tusks.
West Texas has even more snakes that all the other parts put together. And it’s all rattlers out there, bubba.
@ El Fish
We have 10 breeds of snake in Sicily apparently: asps, whip snakes, grass snakes, rat snakes, leopard snakes, four-lined snakes, Aesculapian snakes, Italian Aesculapian snakes, southern smooth snakes, smooth snakes. The asps, whip snakes and grass snakes will attack humans and dogs if cornered or trod on but but only the asps are dangerous. Their venom isn’t lethal if treated and rarely ever lethal even if it isn’t but I wouldn’t want to be bitten by one.
You don’t want to get bitten on the asp.
@ El Fish
We’ve got rattlesnake, swamp rattlers and copperheads which are poisonous in NY too. We’re advised to run away and call 911 if you see one.
@ Heather
They’re venomous not poisonous. You can eat them.
Amica…
Funny girl.
I didn’t know you could eat rattlers but who would?
heather said:
@ El Fish
We’ve got rattlesnake, swamp rattlers and copperheads which are poisonous in NY too. We’re advised to run away and call 911 if you see one.
We do things differently in Texas. LOL.
Correct about venomous vs poisonous. But people do die from venomous snake bits every now and then.
Rob .. NOW you’re talking! I’ve got a variety of the Cold Steel machete’s. The steel is pretty cheap – not a fancy alloy. They are sold as low-price items. The long-bladed versions, such as the long Latin, tend to have some wobble in the blade when you swing them. I prefer the shorter blades – there’s a lot you can do with them.
I’ll check out the Fox – definitely that looks like a good design. And if I run across the Condors I’ll take a look at them too. I haven’t ever heard of the Condors before, but it makes sense that someone in South America should be making a decent machete.
cheers,
P
P –
If Cold Steel made the Laredo Bowie, Natchez Bowie, Trail Master out of 1055 Carbon Steel they would be shit knives but in a fighting machete it’s fine. You don’t need one made of VG-1 San Mai III or even AUS 8A. I’m not keen on their folders but I can’t fault Cold Steel for their swords or machetes, and alright I’m not in the market for a Bowie knife, but if I was, I would buy either the Laredo or Natchez Bowie.
“I’m not in the market for a Bowie knife, but if I was, I would buy either the Laredo or Natchez Bowie.”
I was tempted but gave the Laredo Bowie a miss, the way the handle is held on by a bit of braided wire with a nut on the end didn’t inspire confidence! I’ve never heard a bad word about the Trailmaster in Carbon V though!
You should check out Valiant co for machete like objects, they are made from truck springs by villagers and sold through Valiant in Australia. Horn handles and differentially heat treated carbon blades, many reviews online.
I have the survival golok and a Kelapa and they are both scary cutters. Take many precautions when using, assume they will sever the branch you are cutting and continue on. Hopefully there are more branchs between your leg and high velocity blade!
When I couldn’t decide on a tough bowie I bought A Busse Battle Mistress btw. Should see me out!
I like the Davide Pedersoli 916 Rezin Bowie and 917 Bowie for looks but I don’t have any use for a Bowie. I don’t like the valiant company knives , their handles are too ethnic. Prices seem a bit low for horn handles.
Buon giorno Stefi, just discovered your blog. Thanks for this! Congrats to you and the commenters, pretty interesting! 10 machetes, I am impressed… I have only 4 of them…. so far
My first is a Marbles bolo, dont like too much the wooden handle that hurts the fingers. For a long session I would say a glove is mandatory. Then I have a Fox military kukri
http://www.fkmdknives.com/fast/k/en/eur/products/v/51
very cool, quite lightweight despite its 6 mm thickness on the spine. The handle does not fit my hand perfectly, but otherwise this beast is scary sharp and the blade coating excellent.
Further, a Ka-Bar Kukri, the handle is perfect for me and the weight still allows good maniability. The edge is good but perfectible in my opinion. Black coated blade, but the coating has not the resilience of the Fox’s.
Finally, a Fox gukha kukri, my heavyweight (860 gr if I remember well). Like my other fox product very good quality product, scary edge. So far it only served… to cut frozen meat from the freezer! You can probably compare a big bunch of frozen meat to a limb… brr, these machetes are terribly efficient! Well enough babbled, I hope this was a valuable addition to the subject.
Behold the Machete-firing-xbow: