left to right Cold Steel machetes: two handed Panga, two handed Katana, two handed Kukri, two handed (that's all it's called), two handed 21" Latin, one handed 18" Bowie (for comparison).
The Panga is the longest by a tiny bit. The Katana and Kukri similar length though their ratio of blade vs handle lengths are different, the two handed Latin isn't that much shorter.
Panga, Katana, Kukri and Bowie are ~3mm thick, two handed and 21" Latin ~2mm stock.
The Bowie has the best factory grind, a good taper to the edge. All the others have a similar steeper taper.
Bowie with the 21" Latin, note I've filed the black factory coating off all of the edge tapers.
Bowie with the Katana.
General thoughts- looking at them and considering where the weight is and where the fulcrum is, you can see that there is a lump of long metal above the plastic handle, it goes into the handle just past the last 'bolt', then there is a length of lighter plastic handle- but all that weight is above the long light handle.
I've found the sweet spots of the blades are nowhere near their ends. They're all about 2/3rds of the way up the blades. If you try to use the part of the blade above that you can get a nasty vibration in the handle which hits your hand (chopping wood), and twisting if you don't hit dead right. You also don't get the maximum weight or power behind the blade.
How is that a problem? Well, I think they could have designed these blades to be squatter and shorter, more in line with the original two handed, rather than putting the weight on those levers out past where they can do good.
The Latin with it's more evenly distributed weight avoids this issue.
Chopping performance? I think I first expected two handed machetes to be like axes, but they're not, they don't have the usable weight.
When you consider speed one handed vs two handed, you're not going to swing a machete faster two handed than you could one handed, I doubt you even accelerate it that much quicker.
Plus the grinds on these two handed machetes aren't as good as on the one handed machetes.
With a one handed machete you're closer to where you're chopping, so have more control over the precision of your stroke.
In summary whilst it is fun chopping with a two hander (as long as you pay attention to using the sweet spot, and avoiding the vibration), I found it more fun using my 18" Bowie, though the Latin was fun too (it sings when you sharpen it). My Bowie chopped better for me.
