Machetes, Kukris & Hybrids

Discussion in 'Knives, Gear, Guns And Other Tools' started by Stone, Sep 20, 2018.

  1. Stone

    Stone Member

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    Yeah, I know.

    I lived on the west coast for 15 years.
    Now, I live here on the east coast.

    It's all just f'k'd up.

    I'll get back to you after sleep
     
  2. Strigidae

    Strigidae Administrator Staff Member

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    This is your thread and if you want it with your music videos i have no issue with that. However, with respect to other OPs keep the off track music videos out of them.
     
  3. Stone

    Stone Member

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    That sounds fair to me. :cool:
     
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  4. Stone

    Stone Member

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    Tuesday. My package from @FortyTwoBlades arrived this afternoon. (<joke> I knew it had arrived when I saw the postman's horse tied up out front. </joke>)

    In the box:
    • One Tram 14" bolo, special grade
    • Two sheaths, one custom made for top draw/shoulder carry, one a minor modification of his new belt sheaths
    • One F Dick mini-file
    • One Arctic Fox scythe stone
    I'm going to start that new thread in a day or two -- A Tale of Two Bolos (ATTB) -- to review everything, and chronicle my process to decide which of my two Tram 14 bolos I'll keep, which sheath I'll keep, etc.

    For now, just this. Am I glad I made this order? Yes! Worth every penny and more. His attention to quality, his customer service, communication about order status, willingness to cooperate on custom work (sheaths) is exceptional ... as always. I give Baryonyx Knife Co my highest recommendation. You just can't go wrong. :)

    I started testing the bolos today: side by side comparison. I didn't have much time. It was late when I got out (it's dark here by 1800 now), and I had several other trail maintenance tasks to do. (I hope this is the last major raking for the season. Leaf fall had nearly obliterated my loop trail.) But I did get a bit of chopping in. I'll save my thoughts until I've done more -- hopefully over the next few days -- and will report in ATTB, with pics of course. ;)
     
    Last edited: Oct 30, 2018
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  5. Stone

    Stone Member

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    Oh, one more point: I'm focusing a LOT on safety. In fact, I'm spending as much time with safety as with chopping. I've already learned that deflections can occur -- these lighter machete blades don't behave like axes, and I find I have to be very attentive to where I'm swinging, where the blade will end up, what happens if a deflection happens, etc, keeping body parts out of the way. :eek: Learning how to effectively and safely cut with this much blade real estate at 45º angles is going to take a bit of time. Focus, focus, focus ... no day dreaming or solving equations while I'm wielding these sharp puppies.
     
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  6. Stone

    Stone Member

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    1922 update.

    After spending about 90 min of the last few hours with it,
    I suggest that every blade owner -- whether 2" or 20" --
    should own one of these.

    [​IMG]

    It's like a puck and a whetstone get married and have a child shaped like a canoe.

    Pucks were for me ... unweildly, too short to offer a good sense of angle, crude.

    Whetstones allow a really polished finish, but ... they're flat. They just lay there.

    This tool -- with all its shapes, curves, edges --- allows one to feel the rough edges on the blade.

    Exceptional. If I'd had one of these 40 years ago, I might have been a master sharpener by now.

    But maybe it's not too late. :confused:
     
  7. FortyTwoBlades

    FortyTwoBlades Moderator Staff Member

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    I firmly believe that canoe-shaped scythe stones are one of the most versatile stone shapes possible. They can be used like a bench stone, like a file, or like a steel. And the curved edges and tapered ends allow it to get into tight spaces that are otherwise difficult to hone. The one I sent you had been one that I had fully radiused the edges on when I mistook a customer request (he had wanted it done to a Manticore canoe stone, and also ordered an American pattern Arctic Fox scythe stone, and I thought he'd bought two canoe stones and wanted them both radiused.) So normally you have crisp edges. If sharpening recurves like your kukri machete the radius gets better contact than the two-point contact you'd get with a crisp-edged stone, but you have a harder time getting the very base of the blade as a trade-off.
     
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  8. Stone

    Stone Member

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    That's the crux of it right there, me thinks.
    ____

    Almost 2200.

    Strop a machete?

    Yes! Strop it good!

    But mellow. Easy. Hone.

    Thanks to @Strigidae for being ok with music here. :cool:

    This is what the edge sounds like to me when it's really honed, then stropped well.

     
  9. anrkst6973

    anrkst6973 Member

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    I spent a good 2 hours at the lease today, deer season is T minus 4 and counting. While removing or trimming back the growth that creeps in from the edges every year I got a blister from my 18" Tram. That square corner at the top of the handle ( at the rear of the grip) was getting me , just like JV mentioned earlier in this thread. I will be taking a grinder then a rasp to that I can tell. ;). I like the light weight and quick blade of the Tram, in the Tx jungle it's a winner. But my beloved Condor is stays on my hunting pack until #1- I get the Tram handle dialed in, and #2-42 has a proper sheath listed for it on his site.
     
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  10. FortyTwoBlades

    FortyTwoBlades Moderator Staff Member

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    Just let me know what ya' need and I can just shoot you a digital invoice like I did for Stone. With how many Kingfishers I'm dealing with at the moment it may take me a little while to get to listing the sheaths. :)
     
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  11. Stone

    Stone Member

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    Dang. You guys down there are late to the game.
    Deer season here started a month ago,
    and there's another one coming. (Through Nov.)

    I'll likely wear an orange vest until Dec.
     
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  12. Bushman5

    Bushman5 Member

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    go easy....maybe use a grinding burr on a dremel.........a grinder can take a LOT of material off in milliseconds. Too much sometimes then your screwd.
     
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  13. anrkst6973

    anrkst6973 Member

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    Archery opens first, in early Oct, then black powder-muzzleloader after that, Then finally regular gun season. I get 2 months and 3 days ( or 65 days if you want) to fill 4 tags. :)
     
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  14. Stone

    Stone Member

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    I have some tasks to finish in early afternoon, but a bit later, I hope to get out in the woods and do some more work -- call it explorations -- with the bolos.

    As you'll notice upstream^, I spent a lot of time last evening taking a close look at the edge that 42 put on Bolo 2 -- which is a fine edge, by the way: it looks very professional, especially compared to the one that I've put on Bolo 1, starting with a single cut file, then working up through DMT diamond stones (I have the small duofold), then all the way to 4000 whetstone. It cuts well, but it's not ... pretty like the one on Bolo 2.

    But by looking carefully, with magnifying glass and even a little low power, terrible resolution USB microscope, I'm understanding his model for this edge. So, I'm going to modify Bolo 1 a bit now and see how it affects cutting. More on that in ATTB ...

    Oh, and Happy Halloween/Samhain (depending on your perspective). :)
     
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  15. FortyTwoBlades

    FortyTwoBlades Moderator Staff Member

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    Don't get too lost in the weeds when it comes to how I prepped the edge. It's more a matter of the overall low edge angle than anything else. Maintaining a low relief angle with a file or grinder and polishing the apex at a slightly higher angle just makes field touchups faster/easier. It's sort of like a micro version of a saber grind. :)
     
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  16. Stone

    Stone Member

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    I think you may not understand my process. I'm trained heavily in the sciences, as you know, including science as process (vs "facts" we learn via science).

    I'm approaching this project as much from that perspective as from a purely practical approach. It's fun for me to look at an object -- usually, something biological or geological, but in this case a couple of blades -- and ask, "How did this get that way? Why does it work the way it does, and could it be better ... or worse?" Etc, etc, etc.

    So, I promise I'm not getting lost in any weeds, just learning and understanding the best edge to cut those weeds. :)
     
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  17. Stone

    Stone Member

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    "It's more a matter of the overall low edge angle than anything else. Maintaining a low relief angle with a file or grinder and polishing the apex at a slightly higher angle..."

    Did you tell me last week that you put 10º and 15º on Bolo 2?
     
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  18. FortyTwoBlades

    FortyTwoBlades Moderator Staff Member

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    Approximately. It's done freehand, so it's not precise. Doesn't really have to be, so much as just being in the right ballpark. :)
     
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  19. Stone

    Stone Member

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    That makes sense.

    I'm playing a bit with my protractor, creating some cardboard wedges just as models to help me better visualize (approximate) angles. That's always been my biggest challenge in sharpening blades: getting the angle right and reasonably consistent. I find that by practicing using my little cardboard models, keeping the proper angle in front of me as I'm sharpening the blade (even though it's not beside the blade), I'm able to more intuitively get the angle right and keep it more consistent.

    I'm sure if I sharpened as many blades per week as you do, it'd be second nature. :)
     
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  20. Stone

    Stone Member

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    Having said that, I'm finding that one reason (among several) that I'm loving these bolos is, for some reason, having all that blade real estate is making it easier to get the angle right -- that's a big plane to the rear of the bevel, and I can see the angle more easily. PLUS it's so straight, at least up to the last 2 - 3" near the tip, but even that has such a regular, well behaved curve, that it's not hard either.
     
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