There is another thread going on knives so...

What do you guys carry in the baggage compartment?
What do you look for in a machete and how much do you use it?

I do usually Cary a machete in the plane. They are far lighter than axes or hatchets buy can do many of the same jobs. A properly sharpened machete can go thought a two inch limb in a single cut. That being said most of the machetes you can buy in the US are junk. They are either too thick to slice cleanly through limbs or not flexible enough and end up getting bent. I have had both these problems with Gerber machetes. I highly recomend getting a machete out of Central America where they are used as tools every day and made correctly. Imacasa is a good brand and available online. Get them razor sharp and they are a great tool.

I've got several machetes ranging from 14" to 26". Condor makes a decent blade and many different styles. Gerber was once a premium American cutlery manufacture, but now it's just a name. Aside from cutting blackberry bushes or trimming elephant grass I don't find machetes very useful. I've found that a sharp axe will cut through branches, even small branches, with a fraction of the effort, and when you get to arm-thick wood there's no comparison at all.

In the tropics machetes get used to cut sizable pieces of wood because that's the tool people have with them, but that's not their primary purpose. Their primary chore is cutting grasses and plants, and the machete excels at that. They work on wood, but they're not efficient, just as cutting cattle fodder with an axe would be unnecessarily laborious.

On a yearly basis I process several dozen oak trees and branches into (small) firewood for my sauna on one side and burn pile waste on the other, and I've tried every tool I can think of. I thought machetes or golocks would be just the trick, but a axe is much superior, providing you have the accuracy required to hit small branches where you want to. Even finger-thick shrubbery can be quickly and cleanly cleared with an axe using the correct swing. Again, accuracy and sharpness is everything. The longer cutting edge of a machete does make accuracy less important.

Collins Company of Collinsville CT was manufacturing 90% of the machetes sold in Central and South America by 1950.
They developed factories in Mexico, Guatamala, Colombia and Brazil.
The company began in 1826 and was successful until major floods caused the company to close in 1966 and the machete manufacturing was sold to Stanley Works of CT also.
Besides good steel, the heft and balance count for everything in a good machete.
The handle is also important. Wood was best. The black plastic material is too slippery even with wrist cord however there is a black/grey plastic type material that holds a matt finish and aids grip.

When I attended the Air Force's Arctic Survival Training at Eielson AFB in central Alaska, there were two Army troops attending as well. They both brought their issue Army machetes. The AF instructors in the course told them that there was no way they were going to take those things into the field for the field exercises. Nor did they permit axes or hatchets.

The reason was simple: We were "camping" out at -35, and at those temps, a machete or an axe will just bounce off most wood. The instructors in this course had actually seen more than a few instances of this happening, even at warmer temps, hence the policy.

And, in fact, we got along just fine with knives, building both shelters and fires.

At warmer temps, these tools are safer, but I'd take a hand axe ANY day over a machete. Lots of potential for doing yourself damage with either, but especially with a machete, used improperly.

And, in a survival situation, the last thing you need is a major bleed.....

MTV

I was fighting fire in Alaska. All the native crew members carried a machete in their line packs. It was vertical on one side of their pack with the handle sticking up past the top. I asked one crew boss why they all carried a machete on the fire line.

He gave me a demonstration of his quick draw, reaching over his left shoulder with his right hand he drew the machete and swung it across to to his right side at knee level and said "When the bear starts chasing you, wack the guy next to you in the knee then run like hell".

I carry a parang, by Gerber. Walmart. $27.Also a Gerber pack axe ~$40, but wish it had a longer handle sometimes.

Karmutzen wrote:I carry a parang, by Gerber. Walmart. $27.Also a Gerber pack axe ~$40, but wish it had a longer handle sometimes.

Hatchets have more uses than a machete around a camp. It's portable too.