On this site you will find details of machetes from Cold Steel, Gerber, Ontario Knife and others, all available on eBay from power seller 'Belote'.
Unsolicited testimonial from a repeat customer!
Dean Flanders writes....
I purchased all these machetes from Bob at Belote on eBay. This
is my review of these machetes. I have been using machetes since I was a small
child, adventuring in The Everglades with my dad. I understand the need for and
use of machetes. I have photographed them (above) and will review them left to
right. I have used machetes as farm and wilderness tools for my entire life. I
have purchased (from this company alone - counting left to right), FOUR
different types of machetes. The first machete on the left is the
Cold Steel Kopis Machete
- I bought 2 of those as gifts for others just on
the style of the knife. I have never used the KOPIS machete for anything -
it appears to to have no other use than as a combat or self-defense weapon - but
it is is beautiful to behold.
The next machete from left to right is the Cold Steel Two Handed Machete. This was a wise purchase. The price was low, and it has proved
extremely useful. I do fence-patrol
through the woods, and I often need to chop away branches that have fallen
across the fence or new small trees that are growing too close to the fence. The
long-handled machete is perfect for this work. The light weight allows me much
greater accuracy in my swings, and the non-wedged blade does not stick in the
wood. For farmers that need something to chop trees up to 3 inches, this is a
great choice. AS AN EXPERIMENT, I went out into the woods and chopped down
2 trees with the long-handled machete: a 4 inch thick soft pine and a 5 inch
thick much harder knotty pine. There is no doubt but that I expended less
effort and did a much faster job with the long-handled machete than I could I
have done with an axe or a regular machete. The lighter weight allowed me be
much more accuracy in my swings, so that I had a lot less "missed chops in the
wrong places". I was able to cut my "V" shape out of the side of the tree
with less swings and less effort than I have ever encountered while using a
standard length machete or a light, long handled axe. I have yet to try
the long handled machete on a hard wood tree - but I am 'SOLD on it' usefulness.
The next item left to right is the Gerber Gator Machete - you
woodsmen and survivalists - you should BUY THIS NOW. I was initially
skeptical of the efficiency of the SAW on the back of the blade, but
IT WORKS, and it works really well - especially when you are in
awkward circumstances and have limited room to saw in. I had cut off 4 pine
branches, from 3 inches to 4 inches thick with it - and I NEEDED that tool
when I used it. I had to climb up to 25 feet into these trees to remove
overgrown branches that were in the wrong places. The narrow profile of the
GERBER GATOR MACHETE allowed me to saw in tight places with protruding
branches all around me. My bow saw was was just too bulky up there and much
harder to use. The saw teeth on the GERBER GATOR machete appear to be sharp
and they cut both ways. I was a little concerned about the narrow profile and
light weight of this tool at the first, but the blade and edge as it is made can
be made quite sharp, and the machete IS heavy enough to slash light branches out
of your way. This is a really handy tool for farmers - and not all that
expensive! I WISH that GERBER/FISKARS had supplied a tool-steel specification
with this machete, along with SAW SHARPENING INSTRUCTIONS.
The long-handled COLD STEEL machete and the GERBER saw back machete are now
my permanent fence\patrol tools. They really work well
The last machete in the photo left to right is the
Cold Steel Barong Machete. This was originally a mistaken shipment which I would have sent back -
BUT - a friend of mind looked at it and expressed a fascination with the
unusualness of it's shape. It IS heavy enough to use as a chopping tool, but the
center of gravity is almost half-way to the handle. That means that the BARONG
MACHETE, with it's threatening point, is also a COMBAT WEAPON much more than it
is a working man's tool. It will work as a chopping tool as well as a weapon
for both combat and defense - but is apparently more of a combat weapon than a
tool. We kept it because it is so unusual looking that we JUST LIKED IT. It has
not been put to any practical use yet - but I am sure that we will find an excuse
to use it. It is probably a better weapon than the KOPIS if wielded by a strong
man, but IN A FIGHT with a man or a bear, I would rather have the KOPIS. On the
KOPIS, the weight is moved so much closer to the handle that it would be less
fatiguing on the wrist. I may end up buying even more machetes from this
vendor, just to try them out,
The prices (by the way) on all these machetes were low enough to make me
feel comfortable.
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BY THE WAY (not purchased from this site) I also have a 27 inch NO BRAND
Latin machete, 24 inch ONTARIO KNIFE latin machete; an 18 inch ONTARIO KNIFE
Latin machete with hand guard; a COLD STEEL HEAVY MACHETE, and a decades old
(no brand) hook-backed, short, heavy machete.
I only wish that someone would make a HAMMER HEAD that could be attached or
slid up and down the back of the blade of a machete so that I could have that
tool also with me incorporated into the machete.
If you put a hand-guard on the KOPIS MACHETE it would look like an ancient
Greek short sword.
I have always had the ambition to MAKE my own special machete - about 36
inches long, and designed for weight and blade to the effect that I could take
out a 3 inch thick tree with single strike. My design would be stainless
steel, have the SAW BACK, and would incorporate the sliding hammer head that
slid back to the handle when not in use.
Dean Flanders
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