Even Suburbanites Need a Machete

Although popularly thought of as jungle hacking tools, machetes come in very handy around the house. I use mine to chop my kitchen and garden waste into little pieces so it composts rapidly. My evergreen bushes out front grow new shoots in the summer, and to keep the bushes looking I good I get rid of the uneven shoots with my machete. A vine is growing through some of my bushes, and the machete took care of that too. I make stakes out of branches and saplings from the backyard for tomato trellis stakes and bean poles.

Trimming Native Grasses

Using native grasses for landscaping has become very popular here in the US. Machetes and hand sickles are the perfect tool for maintaining native grasses.

In early spring, dead leaves and flower stalks should be cut-back to provide space for new growth. Hand sickles and machetes are perfect for removing dead, unsightly vegetation. Last year's growth should be cut to about 4-6 inches above ground level.

Additionally, machetes can be used to divide overgrown clumps of grasses into smaller clumps for replanting.

Condor Golok Machete

The Condor golok machete is a really cool tool, and our bestseller.

Golok is the Indonesian term for machete, so it is really a tautology to say golok machete. Since golok is an all-encompassing term, any style of blade that originated in Indonesia tends to be called a golok.

That said, machetes with thick, stout blades tend to be popular in Asia, and are a common feature of many "golok" machetes.

The Condor golok machete is hand-crafted in El Salvador, but based on a SE Asian design.

Machetes at the Fair

At one time, machete-like tools were ubiquitous in farms all across America. Known as "corn knives" or "sickles", they are similar to machetes in that that are swung to chop and slice. As the name implies, the corn knife is used for chopping corn stalks. As mechanization supplanted these humble hand tools, corn knives and sickles became rare. The Latin American sugar cane machete, still common in sugar-growing regions everywhere, is similar in structure to the corn knife, and can be used as one. Both feature a wide, thin blade with a blunt tip. The wide blade provides enough weight for chopping, and the tip is removed to prevent it from interfering with the chopping motion of the blade. The hook is used to help gather the chopped stalks or canes.

Website Opens Offering a Global Variety of Machetes

Website Opens Offering a Global Variety of Machetes

Columbia, Missouri-Feb 24th, 2010- The tool of choice for the common man all over the world, the machete combines elements of both the knife and the ax in one convenient, portable package. Used for everything from clearing trails to harvesting crops, machetes are popular with campers, foresters, gardeners, hunters, surveyors, survivalists, hikers, and small-scale farmers. Found throughout the world, certain styles tend to be favored in different regions based on local vegetation, crops, and custom.

Returning to the United States after a 2-year stint in the Peace Corps in Ecuador, MacheteSpecialists.com founder Campbell Laird missed his machete. He did not need a machete to hack through jungle or wield as a weapon, but rather for mundane tasks around the home such as clearing brush and chopping kitchen waste into manageable pieces for his compost pile.

“I needed a good machete, and frankly, I could not find one locally,” says Laird. “The type I had used in South America had a good deal more weight in the blade, making it ideal for chopping. The one cheap machete on offer at my local hardware store was too thin and flimsy.”

In the US, retailers simply do not stock many machetes. Large-scale agricultural machinery has replaced the humble corn knife and sickle (both different types of machetes) at harvest time, and Hollywood and 24-hour news coverage have contributed to negative impressions that leave the machete maligned and misunderstood.

To Laird, however, the machete is an essential tool. “Though more common in the tropics, North Americans have found many uses for the machete as well. Camping, fishing and hiking are popular pastimes, and more and more people are becoming interested in gardening and sustainable agriculture. Additionally, many people living in the US come from areas abroad where machetes are commonplace, and they appreciate being able to use tools they are familiar with.”

A worldwide selection of machetes, as well as machete related-information, can be found at MacheteSpecialists.com.

About The Owner: Campbell Laird is a self-styled machete expert, having spent months researching and categorizing the different styles, regional names, and specialized uses of machetes from all over the world.

Landscaping Machetes

I was just talking to a local landscaper last night about MacheteSpecialists.com, and he was really excited that there was now a place he could buy machetes. He insisted that every landscaper needs a machete. He said power tools are great, such as chain saws and hedge trimmers, but they simply don't work on small diameter branches and long grasses. For building fences, he regularly needs to clear the planned fence line of all vegetation before he can begin to set the posts. Landscaping machetes come in many forms. For heavy vegetation choose a blade with a lot of weight for power. There are two-handed machete varieties, such as this grass slasher below, that can be swung from an upright position to clear vegetation, which prevents workers from having to stoop.

Hunting Machete

There are many uses for hunting machetes.
Hunters can use the machete to clear shooting paths.
They can attract wildlife and diversify habitat by creating brush piles, clearings, and managing saplings to provide a variety of forest growth stages
Hunters can use a strong machete to dispatch wounded animals and to dress game carcasses.
One of our favorites is the Marbles bolo machete, which comes razor sharp with a high-visibility orange color for easy relocation.