Martindale machetes

Specifications, fit and finish and initial impressions

The Martindale blades are made from a medium carbon steel, hot rolled in their own mill. They are uniformly hardened to 45-50 RC with varying amounts of distal taper. Most models have groves lengthwise to aid in removal from sap wood. Here is a shot showing the larger Martindale machetes :

From top to bottom, #227 (Bolo), square tip patterns, #202, #204, wide tip machete, #32L and the traditional machete pattern #23W . A shot of the smaller ones :

From top to bottom, the Jungle knife [ref], Paratrooper, Golok and sheath.

The following are brief descriptions of the specifics of each blade with a short comment on initial edge sharpness and a brief notes on a light sharpening. The honing time was similar for each blade to allow a comparison of initial edge quality. The Jungle Knife was reviewed in full already but will be included in at times for comparison.

Golok

The Golok weighs 520 g with the balance point 7.5 cm in front of the handle, 13.5 cm in front of the center of the grip. The blade has 26.5 cm of sharpened edge with an overall blade length of 35 cm. The edge profile varies 0.155 x 0.255" for 16.9 degrees per side at the base, 0.135 x 0.220" for 17.1 degrees in the middle, and 0.093 x 0.180" for 14.5 degrees in the tip.

The edge grinds also vary 1-1.5 mm in width from side to side and the plunge grind is also visually off. The handle is smooth, no cracks, the slabs are flush to the tang. The end hook taper to the grip looks solid, it is not too sharp and should allow a nice drive. Their are extensive contours to the blade in front of the handle which should increase comfort in a choked up grip.

The initial sharpness is low, 21.5 cm of the edge was required to cut 1/4" poly under 1000 g of tension. Most of the edge has no slicing aggression, near the tip the burr just tears the poly. However the edge is well formed and sharpens quickly. Using DMT diafolds (x-coarse, fine, x-fine) with just a couple of minutes total, the blade easily push shaves and slices newsprint vertically. It now cuts the poly in 0.5 cm.

Paratrooper

The edge is visually even, there is one small dent about two mm long and 0.5 mm deep. The handle slabs are flush to the tang, no cracks or other imperfections in the wood. The edge is slightly sharper than the Golok but still far from truly sharp scoring 15 cm on poly. The edge also has a burned burr (blue/black). A bastard file was used to remove the burr, just a couple of passes. The DMT diafolds were then used to sharpen, again just a few minutes. The edge shaved well, but not as popping sharp as Golok. It slices newsprint smoothly, and is about 2 cm on poly .

Bolo #227

The Bolo (pattern number 227) weighs significantly more than the Golok at 650 g. This is nearly the same weight as my Battle Mistress. However the Bolo is much heavier in hand as the balance is much further out on the blade than the Busse. The Bolo balances 9 cm in front of the grip (2 cm for Battle Mistress), and 15 cm in front of the center of my grip. The blade length is 37 cm and is sharpened full to the handle. The edge angle varies along the length of the blade; 0.110 x 0.150 for 20.1 degrees near the handle, 0.100 x 0.150 for 18.4 degrees near the middle of the blade, and 0.058 x 0.150 for 10.9 degrees in the tip.

The edge on the Bolo is visually even, no visual burr. The handle is smooth, well finished with no gaps to the tang. The blade is between the Golok and Paratrooper in sharpness taking 19 (1) cm on poly. The edge has a very obtuse secondary bevel which is about 25-30 degrees per side. This additional edge bevel is very narrow, less than one mm wide. A file was used for about five minutes to remove the obtuse bevel. The DMTs were then used for a few minutes producing an edge which could cut the poly in about three cm. it could slice newsprint but tears it in a few places. The blade isn't close to shaving sharp at any spot along the edge. It needs a decent filing (5-10 minutes) to reset the edge, and then about the same on the DMTs to sharpen.

Traditional machete #23W

The familiar machete pattern (#23W) was surprisingly heavy weighing 630g. It had a very large heft in hand due to the balance point being 23 cm in front of the handle and 29 cm in front of the middle of my grip (just under a foot). The edge is sharpened for 61 cm with a total blade length of 68.5 cm. As with the other machetes the edge (and thus blade stock as a whole) has a significant distal taper; 0.083 x 0.115" for 19.8 degrees per side near the angle, 0.075 x 0.123" for 17.0 degrees near the middle of the blade, and 0.051 x 0.118" for 12.2 degrees near the tip.

The edge is evenly formed, and the handle is smooth, no cracks, and no gap from tang to grip. There is a light burr on the edge which is burned. The burr extends about a half a mm deep. This produces a semi-aggressive edge as it cuts the poly in 10-12 cm. However it is a false sharpness as this burr would crack off at the first serious cutting session. A quick few minutes with the DMTs allows the blade to cut the poly in 5 cm, it can now slice newsprint but rips it in half a dozen places. It Needs a few minutes filing for 100% sharpness.

Wide tip machete #32L

The wide tip machete, #32L, weighs 445g, similar to the Paratrooper but the #32L is significantly heavier in hand balancing 12 cm in front of the handle. The grip is very long and thus the balance point from the center of the grip can be shifted from 16.5 to 19.5 cm. The sharpened edge length is 40.5 cm with a total blade length of 45 cm. The machete has a strong distal taper to a very fine tip; 0.080 x 0.085" for 25.2 degrees near the handle, 0.060 x 0.090" for 18.4 degrees near the middle, and a very slim 0.035 x 0.085" for 11.6 degrees near the tip.

The edge is evenly formed, sharpened from about eight cm in front of the handle. The grip is smooth with no cracks, however there is a small gap of 1-0.5 mm from tang to slabs. The edge also has a large burnt burr. The burr is almost 1 mm wide near the tip. The edge is about as sharp as the traditional machete, on the poly it is 13 cm near base, 8 cm near tip, but again this is a false sharpness due to the burr. A couple of passes per side with a bastard file was used to eliminate most of the burr and a couple of minutes with the DMTs allowed a cut of 2.5 cm on the poly near tip and 5.5 cm near base of blade. There was still some evidence of a burr, a few more minutes of filing would be required for a 100% sharpness.

Square tip machete #202

The large square tip machete, #202, is quite heavy in hand, weighing 750 g with a balance point 14 in front of the handle and 21.5 cm in front of the center of the grip. The sharpened edge length is 45 cm with an overall blade length of 49 cm. The edge tapers significantly; 0.088 x 0.125" for 19.4 degrees near the handle, 0.086 x 0.145" for 16.5 near the middle of the blade and 0.042 x 0.108" for 11.0 degrees near the tip. The handle is much wider than the other machetes.

The edge is visually even and well formed. The handle has no cracks however there is a two mm gap underneath between tang and slabs and around a half a mm gap on the top. The edge has a light but visible burr, which is burnt (straw to blue in color), and scores 7.5 cm on poly. Using the DMTs for a few minutes obtained 2.5 cm on the poly. It could use a few minutes of filing to fully reset the edge, eliminating the burr and forming the edge of fresh steel.

Square tip machete #204

The smaller square tip machete, pattern number 204 weighs 670 g with a balance point 11.5 in front of the handle and 19.0 cm in front of the center of the grip. It is significantly lighter in hand than the larger one due to the slightly lighter blade and more neutral balance, but it is still very blade heavy overall. The sharpened edge length is 41.5 cm with a total blade length of 45 cm. The edge tapers significantly from base to tip; 0.085 x 0.167" for 14.3 near the handle, 0.072 x 0.167" for 12.2 near the middle and 0.040 x 0.115" for 9.9 degrees near the tip. The handle has a one mm gap on bottom and about a half a mm gap on top.

The edge is visually even however there is heavy blue burr around 0.5 mm wide in middle of blade about 20 cm long. The initial was very low, 24 cm of edge was required to cut the poly. To remove the burnt edge two passes on a belt sander were used with an 100 grit aluminum oxide belt and then then some light filing to reset edge. A brief sharpening on the DMT diafolds for couple of minutes total file + DMT produced a decently sharp edge. The machete now needed 1.5 cm on poly except for the spot in the middle which had the secondary bevel initially. While the additional bevel had been removed there was still evidence of weakened steel. The edge profile of the tip was altered on the belt sander to about 18-20 degrees per side .

Overview

To enable a comparison at a glance :

Note the wide range of blade types, this is only a very small section of machetes offered by Martindale. Most of the above larger blades come in various lengths and with multiple handle configurations. The initial sharpness and responce to a light honing is summerized as well below :

None of the blades come with a truly sharp edge but all can be sharpened to a fine finish with a few minutes honing and at worst a couple of minutes of prep with a file.

Stock testing

In addition to the poly and paper slicing to examine sharpness, several light cutting chores were performed to allow a quick general impression to be formed of various types of cutting ability. The work included rocking press cuts through 3/8" hemp near the base of the blade and in the tip, as well as whittling basswood dowel as well as a summary of the chopping comparison noted in the above. The Jungle knife had been expensively modified before the stock tests became standard so it could not be included. The larger machetes were included where possible. Results :

Note the very high performance of the wide tip pattern cutting the hemp near the tip but the relatively low performance in whittling. This is because of the huge change in angle from the base of the blade to the much more acute tip. The wood slicing needed a a glove to permitd a choked up grip. A full grip back on the handle would induce a leverage disadvantage causing the number of slices to roughly double. A glove was also used on the Golok and Paratrooper but both could do the cutting without a glove without excessive discomfort due to the much thicker stock than the #32 L.

General use

The blades were used in the as above condition as well as after a full sharpening to get a feel for performance over a wide range of tasks.

Grass and leafy vegetation with stems up to 3/4" thick, apple like consistency

Extreme sharpness is required here and is the key to cutting performance, even a slight blunting is immediately noticeable. Edge profile is a factor in the cutting ability but a very distant second. The blade length is critical for reach issues, and the balance and mass are important depending on technique as they provide the necessary power, and grip security and ergonomics are always key points.

Jungle Knife, Golok and Paratrooper

All of the blades are too short to be used standing and require bending, kneeling or duck walking. The Jungle Knife was not used with the NIB edge, but had a full sharpening first, mainly as a quality check on the edge bevel as it was the first Martindale product I had used. With this razor sharpness the Jungle Knife performed well and handled nicely. The Golok was also very sharp after the brief sharpening session noted in the above and thus performed at a similar level. The lower sharpness of the Paratrooper was easily noticeable and produced a lower performance. The much thicker overall blade stock is obviously overkill for this kind of work. The tip structures on the Golok and Jungle knife allowed closer ground clearing that with the Paratrooper, but that was mainly a method issue.

#32L and Bolo

With a less than ideal sharpness on both blades, the vegetation tends to get bent and torn instead of being cleanly cut. However the extremely wide and up swept tip on the #32L works very well on draw cuts and since the handle lacks a guard a hammer grip with a thumb on top works well with quick wrist snaps. Neither of the blades are long enough to trim down to the ground, so they also forces a duck walk or a lot of bending for true clear cutting, however on most heavier vegetation there is enough length for trail clearing without excessive stooping. The Bolo is overkill for this type of work in regards to mass and balance and offers little over the #32L except inducing greater fatigue.

#202 and #204

Again the slightly less than optimal sharpness induces a noticeable drop in performance. These blades are not quite long enough to trim grass standing up, but easily handle rough trimming of other vegetation. The mass and blade heavy balance are again overkill for this type of work in general, stiffer material would be required to warrant the extra power, without it effort is wasted controlling the extra heft.

#23L

This machete is long enough to allows trimming while walking and enables the clearing of a six to eight foot wide path, flip the wrist to cut on the back swing. While initial impressions were that the mass and blade heavy balance might be too excessive, they were found to be very necessary to provide the blade necessary power to enable cutting with the full edge length. Again the lack of razor sharpness was easily noticeable. The edge was accidently bashed off a rock which indented a region about one inch long, to a depth of about a half a mm. This produced a noticeable loss in cutting ability. The damage was repaired with a file to remove excess impacted metal, and a Dremel to grind out the indentation into a sharpened serration. No excessive fracture, the steel is very tough.

Overview

The blades were fully sharpened to a razor polish and the above cutting was repeated. All the machetes then cut at near identical levels, however the general handling characteristics remained the same. Overall the traditional machete is the clear winner having the necessary reach for full cutting while walking and a solid combination of mass and balance to generate the necessary power. The #32L is a close second in general handling characteristics, only lacking in reach. The other blades are all distant thirds for full cutting due to lack of reach and/or being over built. For shallow cutting and trimming the Jungle Knife is easily stand out, followed by the Golok and then Paratrooper.

Limbing and bucking

Extreme sharpness isn't required, the difference in the chopping ability of a blade that can pop hair and one that just catches on your thumbnail is only a matter of a few percent. Blade balance, mass and edge profile are key and of course grip ergonomics, security and the blades ability to handle shock are very important, much more so than on the lighter vegetation trimming.

Paratrooper

The Paratrooper limbs decently on shelter sized wood (2-4"). There was no edge damage, even on the hardest of small diameter dead woods. However the full bucking ability is low as the penetration is minimal, 33 +/- 3 of the ability of the Gransfors Bruks Wildlife hatchet . Because of the low penetration it has trouble felling even small shelter sized wood. It is however very fluid in the wood of course and would work well on very soft woods. It is also very stiff and easily handles breaking wood apart by prying.

Golok

The Golok Limbs much better than the Paratrooper, and can sweep off the smaller limbs, no chopping just slicing. The bucking ability is at 67 +/- 6 % of that of the Gransfors Bruks Wildlife Hatchet and can thus fell shelter sized poles without difficulty. However there were multiple spots of edge damage of about 0.5 mm deep from tip down to about halfway on blade, on medium difficultly limbing, not seasoned wood, hard to avoid this type of limbing if you want to use the wood. The edge was from 0.010-0.015" thick behind the dents. The damage was filed off without changing the edge profile, and the limbing repeated for another session (an hour or so) which only induced one small dent by the tip. Thus the edge durability see benefit from a full sharpening as is common on many production blades.

Jungle Knife

The Jungle knife limbs and bucks better than the Golok, however is much more prone to damage because of the very acute edge profile. It had to be significantly altered to allow even light limbing, see the full review of the Jungle knife for more details.

#32L

The #32L limbs very well. The expansive tip allows for a powerful draw cutting action, which when combined with the thin and acute edge makes for a very high level of cutting ability. The handle is perfect for such fast snap cutting with a lot of wrist snap. The grip is rounded at the end to be very comfortable in a far back hold. Since the edge gets more obtuse as you run back towards the choil, this allows harder wood working to be handled without harm as you can cut/break off the dead hard limbs with this region of the edge and preserve the tip for lighter work.

However the blade has little bucking ability in the tip even though the raw penetration is in the same class as the Wildlife hatchet. The machete wedges too badly and has no ability for chip removal as it flexes too easily. The region closer to the handle can be used which is much stiffer and thus can work chips loose, however the vibration is excessive.

Even though the tip is very thin and acute I had no problems cleaving through even the hardest of live limbs. Since the combination of weight, balance and handle shape worked so well, the control was at a high level which minimized damage. In order to induce any problems I had to do a couple of wild swings which induced strong lateral impacts. This produced a bend that was three cm wide (over an inch) and the steel was ~0.05" thick behind the bend. It was repaired with pliers and a hammer. The blade was used for many successive limbing sessions with no problems.

Bolo

With the new in box edge geometry it chops at 65 +/- 9% of the raw penetration as the Wildlife hatchet, a similar bucking ability as the Golok, which isn't impressive from a mass or length perspective obviously. It doesn't limb nearly as well which would be expected as this is more sensitive to edge profile . It has slightly greater reach, but the Golok would easily be preferred with the stock edges. The wide tip machete, #32L, has much better limbing ability on all woods except seasoned, dead or frozen woods in which case the Bolo works much better, mainly as a breaking tool. The Bolo also works better for bucking and felling than the #32L and has a very large performance potential in that area which could be brought out with some edge work.

#202 and #204

These limb well in regards to raw penetration, far above the Golok, and even greater than the #32L, and they also sweep well. The raw chopping penetration is easily in the same class as the Gransfors Bruks Wildlife hatchet. However the binding is excessive, there is no natural chip removal ability. The blades also can't readily pry out heavy chips as they don't have the necessary lateral stiffness. In heavy limbing the #202 rippled near the tip significantly to a depth of 2-3 mm deep. The edge was 0.020-0.025" thick behind the ripples. This limbing was through heavy ingrowth on hard branches, lots of lateral contact. This forced a re-profile as noted in the above.

Traditional machete #23W

The traditional machete has little felling or bucking ability. The penetration is very high, easily exceeding the Gransfors Bruks Wildlife hatchet, but the binding is very high as is the shock. It isn't practical for cutting deep wood. For the same reasons it does not work well in limbing hard woods, even mature pine is too hard for the machete to work well. However on immature pine and softer woods like Alders the machetes works as a superb trimming tool with excellent reach and very high cutting power.

Overview

Overall the #32L was the clear winner in handling limbing and general brush work on live woods, speaking mainly of Pine, Fir and Spruce. This is in general speaking of such work done with one hand while the other manipulates the wood, it lacks the reach necessary to cut felled wood on the ground. On much harder woods, or dead or frozen limbs , the Bolo is a better choice as it is better able to handle the heavy shock, and works better as a club (which is often the way such limbing is performed). The traditional machete is the top choice on softer woods like Alders, the #202 and #204 work well here also, but the pointy square top is problematic and the very wide blade is a bit overkill. The latter three do have more reach than the #32L which can be a great benefit depending on method.

In the general scope of wood working, the #32L has little to no bucking ability because of excessive binding or shock (depending on method), nor do the square tip blades, #202, and #204, and the traditional machete pattern #23W for similar reasons. The Bolo has the potential to perform well at bucking and chopping in general with some edge modification and this will be explored further later on. For the short blades, the raw bucking power goes from Jungle Knife to Golok to Paratrooper. The overall blade strength and stiffness, which is important in regards to wood splitting and leverage issues (breaking or digging in wood for tinder or food), runs the opposite way with the Paratrooper being the preferred blade.

For reference, the large heavy duty Barteaux machetes [ref] is a solid choices for the harder limbing tasks when a lot of reach is desired. It is made out of thicker stock than the Martindale machetes and has no distal taper.

Heavier wood work

These are tasks such as splitting wood and prying apart and digging in stumps to find pitch wood for tinder.

Small machetes

The Paratrooper easily stands out here having both the necessary full body strength to make a decent pry bar, and a "pointy" tip for working in wood. The tip profiles on the Jungle Knife and Golok are too slim for even light prying, and have low penetration on thrusts, but decent on chops.

Larger machetes

None of these with the exception of the Bolo are suitable for that kind of work. They all bend very easily if laterally stressed and generate excessive vibration if pounded on the spine with a mallet for assisted splitting. The Bolo has a small ability to split wood under its own power, but will bind readily even on small woods, but does work well if supported with a mallet.

Modifications

Several of the machetes were adjusted in profile to raise the cutting ability at the expense of the durability. As these blades had toughness in excess for many aspects of the work described in the above, this tradeoff induced a gain in cutting ability with little loss in functional durability. The new edge profile was convex and uniform from base to tip. This resulted in general in a large thinning of the edge near the base of the blades and a slight thickening near the tip. The measurements specified in the following tables for the new profiles were all taken near the base of the blade close to the grip.

Paratrooper

The Paratrooper had one of the thicker edges to start and was thus ripe for extensive modification. Fifteen minutes were spent on a one inch slack belt sander with a 100 grit AO belt to reprofile the edge. The steel machined easily, but since there was so much to be removed (no primary bevel on any of these blades), it still took a decent amount of time to reshape the bevel. After the shaping, the blade was then sharpened to a razor finish with 1000, and 4000 grit Japanese waterstones and then stropped on CrO leather. Details of the modification :

The profile on the Paratrooper was reduced in angle near the edge by about 20% in the tip and 35% in the base of the blade. There was a much larger change in the profile further back from the edge, as a huge relief was ground on the initial v-grind edge thinning it back to around 5 degrees per side from more than 20. Thus the cutting ability should be increased significantly for both shallow and deep cutting. To examine this the stock tests were repeated. With the new profile the Paratrooper now cut the 3/8" hemp with 44.7 +/- 1.8 lbs near the tip, sliced points on the basswood dowel with 11.1 +/- 1.0 cuts, and chopped at 53.9 +/- 3.4 % of the ability as the Gransfors Bruks hatchet. Comparison :

As expected there was a significant change in shallow cutting ability shown on the hemp, and to a similar degree on the hardwood slicing, and a much larger performance increase in the deep cutting (chopping), which make sense as the deep cutting saw a much more drastic change in the profile.

With the new edge the blade was used for general wood work (limbing and bucking) was performed and then the blade was just used for general utility cutting, in the kitchen and inside and outside the house. The overall gain in cutting ability was easily noticed, and the blade was still easily able to cut the hardest woods without problems, and cut up light bone in the kitchen, poultry and such.

Bolo

Similar to the Paratrooper the Bolo also had a very obtuse initial edge profile and thus there was a large possible increase in performance to be obtained with some edge trimming. As the edges is slightly off center, one side of the bevel turned out much wider than the other. It took thirty minutes of grinding, to complete the modification. The time increase was due mainly to the much longer blade. There was no change in blade width as the very edge was never touched, the large relief dropped the mass slightly to 640 g. Details :

As on the Paratrooper, the Bolo received a very large relief to the shoulder of the edge bevel, and a sliming of the very edge near the base of the blade, however the edge near the tip got made slightly more obtuse, this wasn't the actual goal as such, the edge was just kept to a constant angle to promote ease of sharpening. The slight thickening of the edge near the tip of the blade does however promote the necessary durability for rougher use as this area of the blade can often takes really hard accidental contacts cutting or trimming near to the ground. With modified profile the Bolo now chopped much better and has the same raw penetration as the Gransfors Bruks Wildlife hatchet. Comparison :

After using the Bolo with the new profile for some time, the squarish end to the handle stuck out as a point of further contention. It was abrasive in far back grips, which limited power on the swing. Even just walking around it was a bit of a problem, as I then tend to relax my grip and carry the blade straight down, which forces a grip around the back of the handle and is thus more comfortable with a rear contoured and tapered grip. I thus modified the handle. Working with the Valiant Golok was also an inspiration for the modification as was the wide tip machete, pattern number 32L.

Using an angle grinder the end of the handle was sloped back at an angle, a rasp and a Dremel then smoothed out the shape and the newly exposed wood received a other coat of boiled linseed oil. I could now grip far back with the end of the handle inside my hand with no discomfort. It also allowed me to angle my grip, and thus the blade felt *much* lighter in hand, even though the balance was actually shifted further forward because of a more rear grip. However the grip needs a large end knob like seen on the wide tip machete for additional security. During limbing the blade tended to slide forward and out of my grip. However the raw feel was very good, quite frankly it felt like a whole new knife. However the grip security problem was limiting as I kept having to adjust my grip.

To solve the retention problem the handle was extensively checkered with a fine saw. I had intended at first just to do the middle areas, but then decided to do the whole thing just to see where hot spots would develop. When I was finished I gave it another coat of boiled linseed oil after using a wire brush to get rid of all the sawdust. The surface finish was also left very rough, 20 grit sanding disk. Back to more work, the handle was now very secure, no slipping. The feel of the blade was much better, the fatigue was much lower both in use as well as just carrying it around. Here is the new grip

Golok

The Golok already had a decently acute edge so it could not be made much more acute, however it could be given a significant shoulder relief. Since the blade is so thick near the base, the resulting edge bevel was over 3/4" wide on one side (1/2" on the other as the edge is off center). There was about an hour of grinding total. Details :

The new profile offered a near identical very edge profile, however with a much deeper grind. With the new edge the Golok cut the 3/8" hemp with 35.8 +/- 0.6 lbs near the base, 44.3 +/- 0.5 lbs near the tip and cut the points on the basswood with 7.8 +- 0.4 slices. It now chopped at 76.5 +/- 4.7 % of the ability as the Gransfors Bruks hatchet. Comparison :

The huge amount of work hogging off metal near the handle significantly increased the precision cutting ability in that area as evidenced by the gain in hemp cutting near the base. However the changes in overall cutting and chopping ability were rather low. This modification would only be worthwhile if the knife was going to be extensively used for a lot of light cutting near the base of the blade.

Miscellaneous

Mainly odd tasks with a few of the blades that were worthy of mention.

#202 and #204

These made very nice snow shelter building tools. They had the weight and heft to cut through ice crusts and very heavy snow, and in addition the very wide blades made nice levers to pop the cut blocks apart. The square points however make the leading tip weak and they can't for example be used to cut holes in ice as the tips will really bend up. It would be a simple modification to give them this functionality, just up sweep the tips.

Note since Martindale makes patterns in a massive amount of shapes and sizes, you can easily get the right one without extensive personal customizing.

Traditional machete #32L

During the winder we had several bad snow storms, 15 to 30 cm of snow in a few hours. These were often followed by freezing rain which forms an ice crust on the snow making it very difficult to shovel. This machete was used to cut through the crust making it possible to shovel the snow. The blade length allowed full cutting to the ground while standing. It turned out to be quite a valuable winter tool in that regard. The edge near the tip did take frequent impaction as it often hit the ground, however the damage was easily filed out in a couple of minutes.

Summaries

Short overviews on each blade.

Jungle knife

The very thin and acute tip makes for very high cutting ability. This edge profile when combined with a decent mass and blade heavy balance allows the chopping penetration to be relatively high. The edge profile is too thin near the tip for woody vegetation but will excel at lighter cutting. The edge profile in the tip can easily be modified for wood cutting with some filing. A relief grind near the base of the edge will also increase cutting and chopping ability in that region significantly. The handle is comfortable, however a little flat on top and bottom. New in box it is also a little slick and could do with a sanding and a coat of boiled linseed oil. The long grip also allows for a choice of forward grip for balance close to neutral, or a far back grip for heavy chopping. The balance is a bit odd in that due to the hump it is above the blade/handle line, so it takes a little time before this feels normal. The hump makes a decent scoop and beater for dead wood, and in fact if sharpened, works as an excel rough limbing blade.

Golok

The Martindale Golok is essentially the Jungle Knife modified for woody vegetation. There is a distal taper, but it is not as heavy and thus the tip doesn't become as slight. Because of the heavier blade stock in the tip it also does not need the ultra wide tip to get the necessary forward balance. The Golok doesn't cut as well as the Jungle Knife with the new in box profile, but is able to handle far heavier wood work without significant damage. The precision cutting ability can be increased significantly with the addition of a relief grind to the edge. The contour of the blade forward of the handle is simply excellent for a choked up grip, though it could do with some filing to round it out. In the same manner, the spine, while not sharp, can be improved with some filing. The handle could also do with a sanding and a coat of boiled linseed oil. The forward guard is a solid choice as this blade has more of a tip for knife work.

Paratrooper

The Paratrooper is again a step up in durability and blade stiffness. The edge suffers no damage at all even on the hardest of woodworking. However you do see a pretty big reduction in fine cutting performance and chopping ability because of the increased edge angle. With the addition of a relief grind to the edge, the cutting and chopping ability can be increased with no functional loss in edge durability outside of extreme uses, rock contacts and such. The point profile offers better versatility than the previous two blades with much higher penetration on thrusts, but lower on chops. The sharpened top edge has obvious martial advantages, but also makes a nice edge for rough use, roots and such, as well as a scraper, and a sparker for ferro rods. The coating lasts about as long as the lower end powder coats I have seen. Not as well as the high end ones such as from Busse Combat. The handle could also do with a sanding and a coat of boiled linseed oil.

Wide tip machete #32L

The wide tip machete works very well on limbing live medium density woods and handles all manner of light vegetation easily. It doesn't have the full reach necessary for close trimming to the ground, but the shorter blade length does make it a bit more versatile allowing more control in cutting and work very well in preparing shelter sized wood and such tasks (note this model comes in many blade lengths). It however cannot fell or buck wood of any size readily due to binding and shock problems but does make a decent draw knife. It is light enough in hand for lighter tasks such as whittling and such, but since the sharpened edge only starts a few inches out from the handle, the performance it relatively low in that regard. Plus the extra blade length makes it a bit awkward, and of course the very wide and up swept point makes any kind of tip work impossible. The Golok, Jungle Knife or Paratrooper would in general make a much better tool for that kind of work. However if the wide tip machete was sharpened right back to the handle, which would not be a difficult modification, it performance for knife like work would improve dramatically.

Bolo

With the new in box profile, the performance for brush work isn't that high. The edge is too obtuse and the handle not my personal preference (however that is a very common grip shape). With a little work however the Bolo becomes a very nice blade for general limbing and bucking. With the above modifications, it handles light limbing as well as the #23L and is a much better tool for bucking and felling. The Bolo is awkward to use for any kind of lighter knife like work due to its mass and blade heavy balance, but due to being sharpened full to the spine and generally being stiffer it is more capable than the #23L.

Compared to the Tramontina bolo which is the same general shape but made of thinner stock with no distal taper, the Martindale Bolo does as well on lighter work, and far better on heavier wood work (dense and/or seasoned wood), as it handles shock better, has a lower tendency to glance, will bind less, and is much stiffer so has more prying ability which can be useful for chop removal. Both steels are of similar hardness and no significant difference was noted in edge retention or general durability.

#202 and #204

These machetes have enough penetration ability to limb well but the new in box profile leaves the tip really prone to damage as they are very thin. They also have little bucking or felling ability due to heavy binding and little precision cutting ability as have a more than decent heft, especially the #202, and the wide blade makes choking up very difficult . They work well best on very thick fruits and vegetables or I would expect on cutting something like sugar cane or bamboo which would benefit from the raw power these blades can generate but not be that hard as to pose a problem for the edge and induce rippling.

Traditional machete #32W

The traditional machete has the full reach necessary to allow trimming of vegetation close to the ground and allows a very wide cut swath. It has no bucking or felling ability except on the softest of woods, and is far too awkward to use for any precision or knife like tasks. This pattern does come in a variety of lengths, and one of the smaller ones would make a very functional large knife.

Sharpening

The machetes can all be worked with a file, most come with one, and thus they sharpen readily. Depending on the vegetation that they will be cutting, and the method used, going to a higher polish over the file finish can be of benefit. They can be sharpened all the way to a razor polish easily. The edge holding is solid for that class of blade. Since they are so tough they resist fracture very well and tend to just dent when overstressed. The dents can usually be hammer out, or straightened with use of pliers. A file may be needed in the worst case such as excessive compaction from a hard swing into a rock.

Comparisons

The Martindale machetes used in the above are of far greater performance than experience with similar products from Ontario, Tramontina, Diamond, and Cold Steel. The variety of blades offered from Martindale, and thus the scope of work exceeds those companies as well as those offered by Barteaux. The initial edge quality is also far greater than that of the Barteaux machetes.

Overall

Martindale offers a very wide range of machetes made to cover a very expansive scope of work. The steel sharpens easily, resists blunting well, and is very tough handling even extreme impacts without gross damage to the blade. The initial edge is shaped well but may need some light honing to achieve full sharpness, and I would personally give the handle a rough sanding and coat of boiled linseed oil, but these are minor issues. Pick a model which suits the task at hand and it will be a low cost, very functional and dependable tool.

Comments and references

Comment can be sent to : cliffstamp[REMOVE]@cutleryscience.com or posted to :

• Martindale Machetes

There is a website for Martindale which can be used for further information. In addition they can be contacted directly at :

Ken Vokes
Ralph Martindale (Birmingham) Ltd
Tel: + 44 (0) 121 681 4040
Fax: + 44 (0) 121 333 3273
E-Mail: KVokes@RalpmMartindale.com