H1Spyderco Machete?

[JoviAl]

Nice work on the palms. I imagine no damage to the serrations from that material.

Agree on the handle needing a bit of a hook to be efficient/reliable.

For funsies I’m attaching an entertaining Imacasa machete, a 28” Latin style which they market as El Terminador — Spanish for the Terminator. Note the T-1000 arm in the label.

28” is somewhat awkward for a lot of things. But the blade is moving so much faster (twice the speed of a a 14” machete) that you can reach out and just tap at 1” bamboo at it jumps off the stalk. I never really had enough of a yard to really swing this.

That’s really fun, I love when a company expresses its sense of humour. That thing must be huge!

[JoviAl]

Here’s a better example of the design, where the lower handle is carefully shaped to not hit your wrist/arm when you swing with the upper handle. That’s a design I’ve never seen on a machete before and it works a treat when ice climbing.

[zhyla]

That’s really fun, I love when a company expresses its sense of humour. That thing must be huge!

I’m not entirely sure it was meant to be humorous.

It feels like a light, floppy sword.

[JoviAl]

That’s really fun, I love when a company expresses its sense of humour. That thing must be huge!

I’m not entirely sure it was meant to be humorous.

It feels like a light, floppy sword.

I’m British - laughing at things (often inappropriately) is a cultural affliction.

Does it have a lot of lateral flex? I’m imagining one of those Chinese Wushu Jian swords, although I can’t imagine it would be that floppy as it’d be a rascal to use.

[zhyla]

Does it have a lot of lateral flex? I’m imagining one of those Chinese Wushu Jian swords, although I can’t imagine it would be that floppy as it’d be a rascal to use.

All true machetes are flexible of course. But this is somewhat floppy. If you hold it by the handle and wiggle it in the air gently the tip deflects about +/- 3”.

It takes a bit of technique to swing correctly.

[Jeb]

That's lots of flex for my taste...3" wow. It would have to be some really great steel or I would end up with it wrapped around some of the very stuff I'm trying to cut lol.

[Fireman]

So there is with serrations a longer total edge and the mechanical slicing if you pull the machete as you hit the cutting media like dozens of minuscule draw knives resulting in a more efficient cut and less fatigue so you are able to do more work. Does that seem to jive?

[sal]

Any interest in a fully serrated version?

sal

[Red Leader]

My primary interest would be if it especially had serrations.

I wonder if something like this, as experimental as it is leaning, might be better under the Mule Team Dept? A serrated machete is a heck of a thing to try to introduce to the public, with serrations normally being the hard sell that they are. But if the Magnamax SE is any indicator, this crew here is very tuned in to the performance benefit of serrations, and could really appreciate it.

If, let’s say, a 14-16” serrated machete ‘Mule’ was created, out of H2 or a more budget option (14C28N?), then the blade could be sold by itself, customers would (like the Mule) make their own scales (which could save time and cost), and be signing up knowing full well they are going to be beta testing this concept in the wild, which could take some pressure off if some things doing quite go to plan (broken, bent teeth, etc) - people would buy into it knowing full well it is an early trial run of sorts.

Sound like it could be a grand adventure. I know that people were bummed about missing the Magnamax Mule drop, but a one-off serrated Mule machete gets those juices flowing.


A fully-serrated machete would be bad to the bone.

[Fireman]

Any interest in a fully serrated version?

sal

A fully serrated version should be the first priority because it will set it apart

[Red Leader]

Any interest in a fully serrated version?

sal

A fully serrated version should be the first priority because it will set it apart

100%

[Fireman]

A “Salt” fully serrated machete would blow some minds and be in my collection. I just wish I could get it before Halloween Pumpkins beware! But seriously, a salt version, saber grind serrated edge for slashing and a tougher plain edge designed for chopping on the other side is my dream machete right now, the only question is length and thickness. The longer the blade the thicker, so, 16” blade may be the sweet spot in 2.5mm stock. PS. This reversible smatchet handle is chefs kiss.

[Jeb]

I do think a full SE version would be killer, might even look at a bigger scallop SE, that might make for the tips of the scallops to be tougher.

I got an extra Kukri here that is basically a double of the BK21 I just got that I am going to fully SE the blade on.

Then I'm going to take both of these Kukri's to this mustang grapevines and I will see just first hand if it's different lol.

I think about .25" or maybe a little bigger scallops and then about ever 3 or 4 scallops throw in two smaller. .125" scallops to breakup the cut pattern. Least that is what I going to do with this Kukri and we will see what it does or doesn't.

[JoviAl]

Any interest in a fully serrated version?

sal

A full SE version would be fantastic.

It would help if it had a handle made of a slightly malleable material like injection moulded rubber or silicone - I noticed yesterday a faint buzzing in my fingers of my right hand after I took down that coconut palm, not entirely dissimilar to the warning signs of white finger that you get after using an old chainsaw without decent anti-vibe mounts for too long without a break. The handle on that machete is full tang with bolt on micarta scales and it transferred a lot of impact shock into my hand over the course of the ~420 cuts in that half hour of work. The SE hits hard as it barely slides in the cut at all.

[JoviAl]

I do think a full SE version would be killer, might even look at a bigger scallop SE, that might make for the tips of the scallops to be tougher.

I got an extra Kukri here that is basically a double of the BK21 I just got that I am going to fully SE the blade on.

Then I'm going to take both of these Kukri's to this mustang grapevines and I will see just first hand if it's different lol.

I think about .25" or maybe a little bigger scallops and then about ever 3 or 4 scallops throw in two smaller. .125" scallops to breakup the cut pattern. Least that is what I going to do with this Kukri and we will see what it does or doesn't.

I had a look at those BK21 Kukri after you mentioned them before and was sorely tempted to try one out for SE, but I’d literally just blown $100 on a Skrama 240 to try out. I look forward to hearing how you get on with SE’ing it - I love a good Kukri!

[JoviAl]

I do think a full SE version would be killer, might even look at a bigger scallop SE, that might make for the tips of the scallops to be tougher.

I did much bigger scallops than the normal Spyderedge style simply because I did them over the narrowest wheel on my belt grinder. At a guess I’d estimate they’re about 12mm from tip to tip and about 5mm deep. Seems to be pretty durable as the tips are more triangular like shark’s teeth than pointy like snake’s fangs. I would love to try a proper Spyderedge pattern to see if it moves in the cut a bit more and provides a mechanical advantage over my uber-scallops.

One unexpected bonus has been how easy it is to resharpen after use. The brown rod corners on my Sharpmaker at 30 degrees inclusive then a quick strop has it ready to work again in under a minute. That’s quick to me.

[Jeb]

I am going to try and get mine SE'd today if things go as planned around here, I profiled some honing rocks to make the cuts, mine is not going to be perfect by any stretch either, I'm just going to get these chewed in and have a look see at how the two Kukri's cut.

[Naperville]

Any interest in a fully serrated version?

sal

I am interested in the highest performing knives available. Cost is important in some ways, but if the performance is that much greater I'd be willing to pay a substantial increase.

You should test plain and fully serrated blades and if the difference is dramatic then go for it!

The risk if any is another ho-hum machete. Dare to be the best!

[Red Leader]

I love how this thread is turning into it's own mule testing, before the thing is even made. I wish I had a machete to throw serrations on as well, I'm feeling left out lol. Closest I've got is a CS Black Bear Bowie and I'm half tempted to serrate the thing and just start hacking on stuff.

Has anyone ever made a serrated machete before, as in a production variant?

[Doc Dan]

@sal , I want to know if H1/H2 would take the impacts machetes normally are subject to without softly rolling over. What do you think?