A 3$ Machete?
No one sane would trust his live in a 3$ Knife!

Would anyone trust a 10$ "Steal Price" Handgun or Rifle

Clearly not!

When it comes to bladed Weapons some people
tend to be stingy!

Wake up !
We are talking about what to defend with,
when no loud sound is apropriate,or you are out of Ammo!
Or have no Gun at all.

3$! That's what your Live and the Lives
of your loved ones is worth?

3$?

Morituri te salutant!
(and you may well be one of the morituri)
Eisenbart.

Dude... would you choose a machette as a primary weapon? Fuck yeah 3$. I can depend on that, if you can't use a 3 dollar weapon effectively you shouldn't be using them at all. I eat out of dumpsters, so 3 dollars sounds perfect to me. I would just as soon manufacture my own from bike intertube, a chunk of wood, some duct tape and some quarter inch sheet metal/steel. It doesn't mean fuck-all to me, considering the fact that most everything I have is manufactured myself, cheap as hell, or just plain trash (I mean that literally, I love gathering others garbage to use to my benefit.)

How about some Telehonecord to increase the Grib
on that "Sword'o Heroes"? :D

Morituri te salutant!
Eisenbart.

And do you own a telephone chord wrapped katana?

I'm sorry, but your logic is seriously flawed. It's like saying... "If you can't kill a zombie with this steaming pile of dog shit, you shouldn't be able to do it that that Glock!"

The cheap ass Wal-Mart machetes are POORLY MADE. Maybe QUALITY is a word you're not familiar with, but the concept is pretty simple. They buy cheap, flimsy steel, they put an equally cheap and flimsy grip on it, and sell it at a cheap price. What do you get? A CHEAP PRODUCT.

If you're willing to let your life depend on a 3 dollar peice of shit, that's between you and the shamblers. But, as you've got a member of the reanimated dead eating your balls while his little stagger of friends have you pinned to the ground, all because your machete broke off in one of their comrade's skulls, just be sure to remember how much of a cheapo you were that you couldn't spring for the 20 dollar Ontario blade instead.

You're right, in REALITY, when the ZOMBIES take over, I should spend 100$ on a decent machette... Or you know, I could buy more ammunition... or some gas to get the fuck out of dodge. And please, please reference any point in reality that a steaming pile of dog shit has been used as a weapon... If you can't use a 3 dollar one, don't get an expensive one... how could you turn that into something about dog shit and a gun? With that logic, every jackass with a trigger finger should have a gun, and an expensive one at that.

I'm not the one with flawed logic, here.

A 3 dollar hammer that breaks isn't worth the three bucks, now is it?

How about a 3 dollar machete?

Cheap machetes are pointless, good for nothing more than hacking up watermellons in your back yard, and giving you a false sense of worth, and assurance that you can "use it" if TSHTF.

And who said anything about 100 bucks? You CAN buy a good machete for 10-20 bucks, and it won't let you down. Ever. Like i said: Ontario.

Persistance wins, and I love you.

I have seen how bad those $3 machetes perform. I once abused on to death in a very short period of time, bruising my hand and nearly having a large piece of steel take my ear off when it broke. As I stated here before, avoid them. For a few bucks more, Cold Steel, Tramontina and a few other companies make decent, usuable, eadge holding machetes that do not break under stressful use.

My dad was a mechanic for many years and he only used Snap-On or Mac
tools. They were expensive, but he still has them after many years of hard use. I still use them regularly. He learned his lesson early about buying cheap tools. They will break and your will have to replace them, by which time you could have afforded a high qulaity tool that would not fail. Cheap gear can only get you hurt and end up costing you more in the long run.

The best rule though is to buy the best you can possibly afford. I have done so and have always been happy with the results.

I Remember an Acident we where once called to:

A guy tried to smash a big Bolder in his Backyard with his new
Slegehammer,he bought it for abut 10DM(at the Time)
(In $ roughly 20,by then)

Guess what,after his third or fourth good swing,the Hammer did burst
like a Shrapnell!

The guy took 2 in the Chest,hurting him badly,and managed to hit his
little son in right the forehead,with another Fragment(thank god not very seriously).

Guess this guy will never fall again for "Steal Price!"Tools


Morituri te salutant!
Eisenbart.

It's a tool and a weapon what more could you want. If you want a Machete then I think you should get one of good quality, something heavier. I have a couple cheap ones and the handles are very flimsy.

i have two $7 machetes and i know they are only good for hacking but they could hack through a skull in about two swings. thats good there are two of them. a have a better machete thats my main weapon in a paw. not my dream weapon but its good. I like the weight, balanced to be blade heavy. when i hack with that there are results.

my advice get a cheap blade now and look for a good one later.

Like others have said already, I don't know that I'd really trust a $3 machete.

While I try my best to take care of my weapons and my tools, I expect them to work and I don't think that I'd have much faith in a tool that was $3. Even a Cold Steel or Army Surplus Machete would be a little more durable than that one from Wal-Mart. While I haven't ever bought one of those Wal-Mart machetes, I've picked them up a few times while browsing and they seemed pretty flimsy to me. I couldn't have bent one by putting the blade under my foot and pulling the handle up.

--------------------------------------------------------------

As far as the debate between the Machete being a weapon or not I think that it definately qualifies as a weapon.

During the Rwandan Genocide victims were sometimes given the decision of being hacked to death for free or paying for a bullet. Clashing groups of Tutsi rebels (who were trying to keep the people of their tribe from being hacked, clubbed or shot to death) and attacking groups of Hutu Militiamen were often armed with nothing but machetes, farm implements and Assegai spears, only some of them were lucky enough to have an actual firearm. Beginning on April 6, 1994, and for the next hundred days, up to 800,000 Tutsis were killed by Hutu militia using clubs and machetes, with as many as 10,000 killed each day.

Machetes have also been used by Muslim Extremists who are driving out Christians in tribal warfare in Indonesia and it's been used in all kinds of civil wars in West and Central Africa where normal citizens were sometimes given a choice of 'Shortsleeves' or Longsleeves' for voting the wrong way. They've also become a very common sight when seeing groups of angry African protesters rioting and clashing with the political opposition everywhere from Nairobi Kenya to Johannesburg South Africa.

Not everyone in 3rd World Countries has a gun, but almost everybody has a machete and they work pretty well. There isn't much technique needed to use a machete, just a lot of aggression and the strength to wield it. That makes for a pretty lethal combo in my opinion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide

http://hrw.org/english/docs/1999/03/17/indone824.htm


What the armed Hutu militias (the Interahamwe, the MRND and the Impuzamugambi) looked like.


Rwandan Skull where the victim was hacked to death with a machete


This one of 'The Lucky Ones' in Rwanda who lived after being hit multiple times in the face and head with a Machete.


This is what it would have looked like right before


This is what it would have looked like right after.


The common weapons that were used in Rwanda


A Kikuyu supporter of the PNU of Mwai Kibaki holding a machete in Kenya


Thousands of people waved machetes in one of Kenyas largest slums as tensions flared over the presidential elections

You can't really say that it isn't an effective weapon after looking at those pictures.

This says it all:



Oh, and useless tidbit that I can't find a source for: IIRC, the Rwandans spent $0.50 a piece for the machetes they issued for the genocide. Again, IIRC, they were chinese manufacture.

Well I split a deer skull I had lying around and a coconut with a 10 dollar wallmart machete, they can be more dangerous than you think.

Whoa.

Intresting thread

It's only $10 bucks. I say go for it. Having one, even of cheap quality is better than having nothing at all.

Wal-Mart has machetes for $7.00. If you bought 7 of them, then you and 6 other people have weapons. If you buy a $50 machete then only you have the one weapon. If you bite the big one, then everyone else is boned. However if they have their own machetes, then they at least fight and try to save themselves.

I own 5 of the Wal-Mart $7.00 machetes. They work decently well for clearing dead branches and tall grass. They even work well on coconuts fresh from the store. Just something to consider, cheap doesn't always mean bad quality.

One other thing: the person whoever sees you with a machete isn't going to think, well that's a cheap brand machete, it'll probably bust after a few hits. They are going to think "fuck I hope he doesn't slice me with that".

don't worry... for any type of melee, or when silence is key, a mechete will serve you well to lop off a head or split a wig. anyone who says different is loco en el coco... many people on this earth have been sent away with one. Im more of a blunt object guy myself... but a mechete would do the trick. a $10.00 machete would work... but if my life was depending on it... id fork over a little more green.





still

I own half a dozen machetes or so, ranging from a 50 plus year old one my grandfather brought over when he came from the Philipines, to my cold steel magnum kukri. I believe a machete is always going to be a tool before a weapon, and living here in Hawaii, most camping trips call for a machete rather than an axe. I think a cheap walmart machete is still better than being caught without any at all, they are somewhat suitable for smaller brush and limbs, but you might as well spend the little extra money and buy something that will last. I personally perfer the cold steel line, they have a large selection of blade styles and lengths to choose from. On a side note, I would love to own one of each of the lengths and models available from cold steel and review and rate them all.

Maybe if I can find my girlfriends camera I'll put up some pics.

If I could find an old Collins machete I'd be a very happy camper indeed. I've been toying with the idea of ordering a Martindale, but it appears I'd have to order it from the UK.

All I ever see available in stores are crappy machetes. None of the Tramontina or Ontario machetes I've ever seen or handled are what I'd want, much less the even cheaper ones they sell at big box stores. The Home Depots and Lowe's around here seem to stock one model each . . . and they flat suck. The Cold Steel panga is about as close to acceptable as I've seen in a modern production machete available OTC in the states.

A machete should be thin, sharp, and light, and not too long. Ontario machetes, while durable and available in the 18" length I prefer, are too thick and heavy (I think they're designed to be soldier-proof rather than optimized for use as a machete). You don't need or want a thick, heavy blade, since machetes are intended to use speed and angular momentum to slice vines and thin brush, not to use brute power to chop though limbs and logs.* The longer the blade is, the more likely it is to get hung up on other vegetation during the swing cycle. The automagic sharpener on the Ontario sheath is a neat idea, but the angle is nowhere near acute enough. You'll have much better luck maintaining a proper edge with some sort of file/steel/stone regimen.

A machete can be a useful general purpose tool, but it is no substitute for an axe or a saw.

One reason I want an old Collins machete so badly is that they have wavy transverse ridges on the blade that break suction when slicing through succulent high water-content vegetation like banana trees, where an ordinary machete would get hung up.

* Don't hold a machete in a tight fist, make a loop with your first and second fingers and thumb and let it swing!

This post has prompted me to buy a cheap 7 dollar walmart machete to see just how bad it compares. My first thought would be a "toture test" to see how much abuse it could take and what it could do. After first opening it, and feeling how flimsy the tang is (it felt like it barely went 1/3 of the way into the handle, giving it a floppy feel to it) maybe for safety sake I wont push it to the limits. My first reactions, besides the floppy feel to it, the beveled edge was uneven (a trip to the bench grinder should fix that) and the grip (to plastic pieces pressed together) didnt flush with each other, so it was very uncomfortable and would give blisters after long use. Sigh, if I ever get around to this test I'll put up pics and whatnot, we'll see if having a cheap 7 dollar machete is better than none at all.

I would have a hard time believing that being weaponless could ever be better than having a weapon, no matter how crappy the weapon is (even if it is a $7 Wal-Mart machete, a rusty spoon, blowdarts, etc.) I agree the grip is crappy, but you could easily wear gloves to prevent blisters.

I just meant from a safe stand point, if this is an item that will snap or break under harsh use then I'd be happier without it than risk being injured. I'm not really concerned with it from a weapons aspect, but as a tool. I'm more likely to be chopping firewood and clearing a path with it than fighting a battle.

Well it would certainly be interesting to see how much abuse and wear and tear that Wal-Mart machete can actually take. I for one would be interested in seeing the results and pictures from any torture test you put it through. Just be aware of your backdrop in case the blade separates from the handle, I'd hate to see someone get hurt.

yea, I remember once when someone at our campsite was using a hatchet when the head seperated from the handle on the way up. Nothing like a flying axe head to wake you up at 6am.