Tramontina 13" Sugar Cane Machete with Long Handle

Blade was thinner and more flexible than I expected but being a Tramontina, it's durable. Came quite sharp. Sheath is available from Machete Specialists.com but I just made one from cardboard and duct tape. For a general purpose machete I would recommend Tramontina 18" Bush or 14" bolo.

I’ve owned a number of machetes but I’ve never owned one with metal as soft as this. I used this for one day cutting poison ivy vines off trees and the edge bent shockingly easy. Note: some of the vines were extraordinarily thick and some were on oak trees. The only upside is that it can be straightened, ground, and resharpened fairly easily because it’s so soft. Still, expect to repair the blade with every use.

I teach survival classes and this is a tool worth it's weight. I am pleased with it. The handle it made in such a way that you can choke up to whittle or move your grip back for more power. The hook on the pack can double as a pick to help in digging. The blade is thin (most machetes are) but strong. This is a good tool for everything from shelter building, clearing brush or whittling a pot hook or snare.You will need to do additional sharpening but the factory edge is reasonable

I am satisfied, however some stuff to take into account...1) lightweight, not heavy duty steel thickness, not going to chop down trees with this thing, if you want that get a KA-Bar machete, although they're fifty bucks so if you chip it like I did you'll be extra sorry.2) For the price I think this blade is well designed. If I were forging it myself I would make it heavier, as the two handed aspect is enticing. It is high carbon so it's soft, which is what you want, just keep a light file on hand and watch some sharpening videos on YouTube. It may not hold an edge but it'll take one for sure, and guess what if the steel is too brittle you'll snap it in half on bamboo which could end very badly, is rather just keep up with sharpening.3) The product description says full tang, which it is not, the tang ends halfway down the handle, for less than $20 that's fine with me but please change the description. Good blade!

Once you've used a cane machete you will never go back to using a saber style machete. I grew up near the cane fields in South Florida and these are what the professionals use and, or with the shorter handle. Force times the moment arm equals power so you might think the saber styles are better because they are longer ,but with this elongated handle (which can be used two handed as well) is near equal in length and the extra weight of the wide blade allows it to cut supremely better than a saber machete. That being said this is not the cane machete to buy. Maybe I have watched too many Forged in Fire episodes, but this steel appears untempered. Even on soft vines the blade steel chips and rolls. I have included a picture, unfortunately this is not the original picture after first use. It was much worse. Here I have already used a belt sander on it and these are the new deflections in the metal after a second use. The metal is not tempered right or it was not made of hardenable steel. I have included a second picture on the right of and old machete of mine that was put through the same vines and there is very little rolling or chipping or indentations. This machete is the Perfect design but bad metal. The one on the left is German tempered steel by Corona