Post by: konrad on November 06, 2012, 12:31:10 PM
From an early age (one must remember, I was raised on Zorro, the Lone Ranger and Tarzan) I was fascinated with weapons of all types. As a young sprout in the Cub Scouts, it was a great step forward for me to gain accreditation to carry an edged tool at scouting functions. My parents had a strong fear of firearms; however, they were more than willing to arm me to the teeth with other implements of destruction starting with a recurve bow and arrows, pocket knives and eventually a machete.
Living along the Gulf Coast of Texas (Houston) offered opportunities for tropical “bush exploration” along the banks of the Buffalo Bayou (for the benefit of those not familiar with the dialect native to the area the word is pronounced “Buy-O”). Most all of those expeditions saw me carrying that machete of Army surplus origin. This was a time wherein a boy of my age was allowed and even expected to roam far from home and return sweaty, covered in mud, scratches and bug bites. If my mother and dad ever worried about my abduction, they never voiced that concern to me. I suppose they thought if someone wanted to snatch me, they had better be prepared to fight for their life because of my “standard issue armament”.
Time passed and I eventually lost that blade as an adult on a camping excursion outside of Austin. It was only a short time later that I began to understand how a machete had become my go-to tool for many chores aside from the exploration of Darkest Africa or even Texas. I began purchasing and using machetes of various makes, styles and lengths but none ever seemed as perfect a fit as my original. I currently own five different machetes and have used them extensively for clearing my back lot as a form of relaxation and physical exercise. A couple of months ago I became aware of Cold Steel’s offering of a new blade in the Latin style. That, in and of itself was no big deal however, it was offered in the 24 inch blade length.
To date, my Cold Steel Bolo style blade machete’s combination of tough easily sharpened steel, good weight forward balance and an excellent grip had been my favorite; however, its 16 3/8 inch blade forever made me stoop while attacking ground targets (of which my blackberry plants are included members). Things like extended periods of stooping never were a concern back in the day. For some reason, “stooping” is now of much greater import. I ordered the 24 inch Latin style with anticipation.
Initial inspection revealed a crudely sharpened cutting edge with three die stamping dents remaining in the ground edge. This machete is manufactured in South Africa (as was my Bolo) and the pricing is very competitive so a few minutes with the vice and machinist’s file were of little concern for me. This same summer I had purchased the Gerber Gator machete and found it had been shipped with a square edge! Yes, you heard me right, a square edge. The only way it would have cut butter was if it had been heated first! But this report is not on the Gator.
The blade is of full tang construction (as opposed to the Gator) with a textured over-molded synthetic grip. The mold parting lines made the grip uncomfortable when using bare hands (something I rarely do) but an additional few minutes with a small round file nicely smoothed out the ridges.
Not only do I no longer have to stoop to destroy those aforementioned ground targets, I have found a pretty good chopping device as well. Yesterday I made a circuit of my property swooping down on any likely enemy. I handily cut through a 10 inch fallen Red Alder and part way through another before continuing on to destroy numerous vines, bushes and the dreaded blackberries. In all I think I used the new blade for about three hours and I think I have finally found what I had been looking for all those years past.
Here I am, back at Cold Steel again with a new favorite and all for less than thirty dollars list price!
PS
I must admit to owning numerous other Cold Steel products and have always found their price/quality ratio to be excellent. The beginning of my relationship with those folks was when I found a Trail Master in polished carbon steel.
K