Tramontina Machete Wood

nice machete

These are great machetes, I have a shop that I can easily make these, but this maker is known as the gold standard of machetes. It's high carbon steel, and it's very easy to sharpen. They do ALWAYS come dull, but that's par the course with this maker.Luckily I have a 2" belt grinder to whip an edge on it. But even if you only have a hand file, carbon steel is easy to sharpen with a file, now if you're Fred Flintstone, and only had a rock, that might take half a day ;)What I do is remove the factory handle, and replace it with a micarta handle, then it takes about a minute to sharpen depending on what kind of grind I want on it, depending in its use.If I don't make it from scratch, I only buy this brand of machete, then customize it.

The Tramontina machete are made from high carbon steel which I believe is 1070 or 1075 steel.The manufacture sends them out sharp but states machetes will need a final sharpening for max performance. This 18" blade machete feels excellent and well balances for high velocity maneuvers. The 4.5" wooden handle does fit my large hands good and feels solid. The wooden handle offers more of a sure grip for me The wooden handle seems to be much more comfortable than other machetes made from synthetic compositions. It's my opinion Tramontina make quality Machetes at a affordable price point.Unfortunately the pair order from Amazon website arrived without packaging protection for shipping. Consequentially, they arrived in unsatisfactory condition. I sent that pair back to the retailer and requested Amazon refund my purchase.I then purchased another pair from Home Depot and got three day free ship. That pair arrived well packaged and zip tied in original sheath from manufacture in perfect condition. I'm extremely pleased with them and Home Depot's quality service. I will keep them close at hand forever. I have to say, "Thank you Amazon" for the refund. Additionally, the retailer's poor standers should not reflect on Amazon's services or Tramontina manufacture company. Thank you Amazon for your support in this transaction.Thank you Tramontina for the quality Machete priced within my budget.Sincerely, Machete guy.

So before I review the machete some quick background. I don't know about you but where I live we have a lot of 2 types of animals: squirrels and raccoons. The squirrels are a pest and if I am not managing them they will take over the roof of my home and eventually chew their way into the attack. I live trap them and relocate them basically. The raccoons on the other hand are fat, happy, and kind of cute so I don't really worry about them. To date they have never gotten into the trash and made a mess or anything so I've been lucky. Anyway the other night a squirrel ended up in a live trap after I went to sleep and I woke up to some animal screams from outside. Grabbed a flashlight and looked out and found a huge raccoon trying to get at this squirrel. Had the squirrel's tail through the wire frame and was biting at it and between the squirrel screeches and the raccoon making some weird child like sound it was a serious public freak out. The squirrel was getting the worse of it and since this wasn't a fair fight I decided I would break it up and let the squirrel go since the timing was not ideal for a relo. As additional background I actually got the machete in the first place for cutting down the weeds in this one part of my yard where they grow tall and thick like you find in an old forest. Anyway on this evening with the screams outside it seemed like something machete appropriate. So I threw on some clothes and shoes, grabbed the machete and my light and ran for the backyard. Long story short by the time I found the trap there wasn't much left of the squirrel and the raccoon was basically watching me over its shoulder as it headed for the brush. I'm pretty sure it had some part of the squirrel hanging from its jaws. No idea how it figured out how to get the squirrel out of the trap. All I could do was shake the machete at it in a menacing manner and add in some yells and other threatening sounds. I'm sure it saw the machete so I'm thinking it got the message. I didn't actually use the machete so I can't comment on durability but it felt good in my hand so I guess that's a good sign for ergonomics. I can't really comment beyond this because I've been really lazy and haven't bothered to clear the weeds yet.