thoughts on a Spyderco Machete

[Ric]

Inspired by "Another run of Whale Rescue blade is needed."

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=96242

Would be cool to see a Spyderco Machete.
I have a CRKT one but only used once in the garden.

My requirements:
#) Good sheath (incl storage for a gauntlet diamond rod or a small metal file maybe)
#) Not expensive (250 max.)
#) User / abuser (if a rock is hit nobody cares)
#) Forgiving, flexible steel that can be easily sharpened with a file
#) ~20 inches total length

[Mushroom]

I would love one too but it’s a difficult market for Spyderco to be competitive in.

[Fireman]

The Darn DAO might be our best hope.
I would be tickled to have a LC200N machete being so tough and rust proof. A jungle machete that won’t rust is a cool thing. Sell it as a kit where you can buy scales sheath and hardware for it or make your own handle like the Mule project would be a great way to keep the costs down.

[Fireman]

I would love one too but it’s a difficult market for Spyderco to be competitive in.

You don’t have to compete, you just have to be cool

[Fireman]

It does not have to be a “Machete”, I have a 12.5” custom knife that is a kitchen knife for breaking down your BBQ meat shaped like a scimitar like the pic that could be used as a machete. It’s a large butchering knife that could double as a zombie apocalypse knife. If it’s made to be a large kitchen knife but happens to act like a bad *** machete too, that’s a bonus. It would have the kitchen market as well as the Rolex wearing zombie apocalypse larper crowd as well. A machete sells for $20 but a 12.5” kitchen knife can fetch hundreds. If it’s a double sided handle with a fully serrated concave portion as well as the full flat convex plain edge, people like me would lose their minds and trip over one another to throw money at Spyderco for one. I still would like to have the option to buy the kit version so I could have a g10 handle for my Rambo weekends and a demure dishwasher safe handle for my Monday to Friday steak salad slaying. (PS, never put sharp knives in the dishwasher, that’s for your family to do behind your back. PPS, Spyderco Scimitar has a nice ring to it but I prefer the hybrid “Butchete” Butcher/Machete)

[Stuart Ackerman]

I made 10 Kukhris years ago, maybe for Sal's perusal...

BUT, you can buy cheap machetes and kukhris, and Spyderco's manufacture might make the price a tad more for such a simple object.

I have two other knives in Spyderco's queue, if ever that they decide to make them, so I gave a few kukhris away, and tested two to try and break them, to no avail...

FYI, 3mm 1050 steel, BIG stainless Corby style bolts, Pakkawood scales and a lanyard hole, and all in a 15 inch package...

[Fireman]

Stuart, Love your knives. I hope we get to see a reissue of the Serrata in a stainless like LC200N or Magna Cut.

Making this concept stainless and a kitchen knife will take away the “Cheap Machete” argument. I have some expensive short machete chef knives living in my kitchen

[JoviAl]

If Spyderco produced a machete I’d buy a couple so long as they were in a salt steel. I don’t care which one, I’m just sick to the back teeth of all of my machetes being covered in corrosion after a week (that’s with daily cleaning and applications of Marine Tuf Glide, much to my great chagrin). The tropics is tough on gear, but considering machetes are used extensively here I am perpetually baffled as to why they’re not made out of an ultra stainless steel. People just seem to buy them, abuse them and bin them then buy another, but it’s total false economy (especially when you factor in the time wasted sharpening junk steel every half an hour on a big clearance job). I would pay $500 a H2 or LC200N machete without a moment’s hesitation.

Thus ends my tirade.

[Naperville]

Maybe I'd buy one. Have to see the final product. I already have one machete, a Bark River Knives 1V Machete. The word is it is fantastic in 1V. I have not used it on any trees in the backyard yet.

Maybe a Spyderco 3V Kukri? I don't own a Kukri yet. Cold Steel has one in 3V, but due to the cost I have not purchased one while out of work. Maybe once back to work.

[jdw]

I like the idea in theory but given manufacturing costs and recent price increases it doesn’t seem like something that I could afford to buy.

[zhyla]

Most knife people don’t know what a machete is or why it is the way it is. The Bark River machete is a good example — a big sturdy chopper is not a machete.

Machetes are thin and not super hard (on purpose). They are consumable goods that are meant to be sharpened until there’s not much left and then replaced.

[Hopsbreath]

I would love one too but it’s a difficult market for Spyderco to be competitive in.

The fact I can get an 18” Tramontina WITH sheath for $20 from Lowe’s supports this statement.

[Danke]

[SchoonerBum]

I would love a little thin salty 12” machete in LC200n. I’ve used the Tramontina 12” and slightly larger (14”?) bolo machete that they make quite a bit. They’re wonderful tools but yep, they do rust. Now that I can afford it I’d love a rustproof small machete to go with my lifetime supply of Aqua Salts.

[James Y]

Ideally, I would like to own a rust-proof Spyderco machete. But realistically, I wouldn't buy one even if they made one, because it would cost hundreds of dollars.

Although I'm not a machete collector, I do own and use a few, including a Cold Steel Kukri and a Tramontina. TBH, the Tramontina is my favorite, and as Hopsbreath mentioned, mine was gotten for $20 at Lowe's.

Another good machete that has served me well over the years is a nameless black-coated one that was made in Japan, which I bought for $5 at a military surplus store back in the late '70s.

Jim

[zhyla]

I would love one too but it’s a difficult market for Spyderco to be competitive in.

The fact I can get an 18” Tramontina WITH sheath for $20 from Lowe’s supports this statement.

AND it's an actual machete. Much like woks, any time someone tries to make it more premium they make it not what it is supposed to be.

I would love a little thin salty 12” machete in LC200n. I’ve used the Tramontina 12” and slightly larger (14”?) bolo machete that they make quite a bit. They’re wonderful tools but yep, they do rust. Now that I can afford it I’d love a rustproof small machete to go with my lifetime supply of Aqua Salts.

Ideally, I would like to own a rust-proof Spyderco machete.

Machetes are constantly getting wet (from the plants you're cutting) and corroding. They're tools, they don't need to look pretty -- it doesn't affect their function since they're being constantly sharpened anyway. 'Corrosion is not the machete's enemy.

You can get them with painted blades which works well if you want them to stay a little more presentable.

[Naperville]

Most knife people don’t know what a machete is or why it is the way it is. The Bark River machete is a good example — a big sturdy chopper is not a machete.

Machetes are thin and not super hard (on purpose). They are consumable goods that are meant to be sharpened until there’s not much left and then replaced.

Maybe.

I used machetes, axes, sickles / scythes, and chain saws when I worked for a builder when I was 18. So I think I know what your typical machete is built like.

I agree the Bark River Knives Machete is not a typical $30 machete. But when I saw how easily it went through decent sized saplings on YouTube I wanted one for self defense. I know that if somebody breaks in here, I can use it and it will not flex and bend, deflect, or fail on me.

I don't buy my tools to open boxes or cut weeds.

[Fireman]

Your Lawyer says that you do buy them for boxes and weeds

LC200N will be good for preventing blood from corroding your machete. Would be a pitty to have a blemished blade because an intruder needed an emergency armectomy.



I might need a mattress machete in the bedroom. Attach the sheath to the bed rails with magnets. Maybe a tactical flashlight in the handle for the tacticool types. An intruder would **** their pants to see a 12” stainless blade lit up in the darkness. Would make it easier to aim for the right places and you don’t want to accidentally chop the wrong person’s appendage off. A good thing about a machete is it never jams but best to have both. Perhaps an accessory rail so tacticool people can go wild. Should be easy to add your own light to a one piece handle/accessory rail handle. Maybe a well placed button to only turn on the light at the right moment. We ninjas need the element of surprise. The tacticool model is DLC coated pack 4 AAA batteries in the handle should be good for a years worth of burglary anxiety power.

[zhyla]

Machete is not a typical $30 machete. But when I saw how easily it went through decent sized saplings on YouTube I wanted one for self defense. I know that if somebody breaks in here, I can use it and it will not flex and bend, deflect, or fail on me.

I see. For that kind of usage the longer reach of a standard Latin 18” machete will get you a lot more reach. They are flexible, as are lots of light swords, but that isn’t a bad thing. The speed at which you can swing them and edge velocity of the edge at that distance is terrifyingly effective.

In any case, both a short chopper and a longer machete will cleave to the bone and stop there unless you very lucky with the angle of cut.

If you want to be able to lop off limbs, a cheap katana is mind blowingly effective. If I had to grab something in an emergency that wasn’t a firearm my $65 Chinese factory katana is my 2nd choice.

[James Y]

Ideally, I would like to own a rust-proof Spyderco machete.

Machetes are constantly getting wet (from the plants you're cutting) and corroding. They're tools, they don't need to look pretty -- it doesn't affect their function since they're being constantly sharpened anyway. 'Corrosion is not the machete's enemy.

You can get them with painted blades which works well if you want them to stay a little more presentable.

My machetes all have at least some rust. The Tramontina has the least rust because it's the newest, and it comes with some type of clear lacquer (?) coating on most of the blade that seems better than a black coating, but that'll eventually wear off too, I'm sure. My black-coated, made-in-Japan machete has the most rust, but that's because it's the oldest and most used.

Rust on machetes doesn't really bother me much. I use mine mainly to hack fairly small limbs and overgrowth of bushes and other plants in my yard. Machetes are REALLY used to their fullest potential in countries in Latin America, Southeast Asia, Africa, etc., where the environments and humidity are far more corrosive than where I am, and what I use my machetes for.

But I thought it would be nice to own a rust-proof machete for the fun of it. I would still use my carbon steel machetes as my beater/workhorse machetes.

Jim