Hand Forged Machete, 18 Inch Blade with Oak Handle

Grass, briar and vine take up an afternoon, not a minute. The work is repetition, hundreds of swings at soft green stuff that gives way when the tip is moving fast. That is what this one is built around. An 18 inch blade in 1095 high carbon, hung on oak, balanced even along its length so nothing pulls at your wrist on the twentieth pass down a fence line.

Specification

The blade

1095 high carbon, 18 inches, left dark from the forge with the bevel taken bright. The profile is straight, the tip is squared, and the weight sits even from the handle out. A blade carrying mass ahead of the hand bites harder in green wood, but it drags your arm back on every return, and that return comes hundreds of times. Even balance gives up some bite and hands back the hour. The edge is thick and slightly convex on purpose, since a thin one chips on the first hidden stone. Carbon steel goes grey with use and spots if it is left wet.

The handle

Oak, 5.5 inches of it, over a full tang running the whole way to the butt. Three brass pins hold the scales on. There is no guard, which reads as careless until you swing one. Your hand moves along a long grip as the work changes, forward for control and back for reach, and a guard stops that. 5.5 inches leaves room for two hands when a stem needs both. The lanyard hole is at the rear. A damp handle and a hard swing part company quickly.

The leather sheath

Vegetable tanned leather, stitched by hand, with a welt in the seam so the thread sits back off the edge. It is cut to this blade's own outline, so the point has nowhere to wander inside. The face is stamped, the belt loop takes a wide belt, and a snap strap holds the handle down. It goes away dry. Leather holds damp against steel and the steel suffers for it.

Who it suits

This is for the person with a fence line, a ditch bank or a back acre that grows over every summer.

• Anyone clearing grass, briar, bramble and vine by hand
• Smallholders walking a boundary once a month
• People who want reach without a blade that tires the arm
• Anyone happy to touch an edge up with a file

What comes in the box

• The 18 inch machete
• The stitched leather belt sheath
• A care card
• Lifetime warranty and free sharpening

Every piece is different

Every blade is forged, ground and sharpened by hand, so no two leave here the same. The dark forge finish lands where the fire and the hammer put it. Oak grain runs how the tree grew it, pale in one handle, browner in the next. What turns up will be close to the photographs, not a copy.

Looking after it

Wipe the sap off when you stop. It is wet and a little acidic and it marks bare steel by morning. Dry the blade, wipe oil over it, then let it go into the sheath dry. Grey is fine. Rust is not, and a green pad takes that off. Keep the edge up with a mill file, the way long blades have always been kept. More is on our knife care and sharpening page.

Put a name on it

Laser engraving is 20 dollars per blade and you add it here on the product page. Around 30 characters fits, so a name or a farm name works better than a sentence. We send a proof image before the laser runs, which adds 3 to 5 business days. It is free on orders of 10 or more. The engraving page has the rest.

Questions buyers ask

How long does shipping take? Most US orders arrive in 5 to 7 business days.

Will it rust? It will if you let it. 1095 darkens to grey with use and spots if it goes away wet.

Why a straight blade with the weight even? Nothing out front pulls the tip down, so the blade comes back up on its own and each swing costs less. Grass and vine want speed, not mass.

Is 18 inches too much? Not for standing growth. The reach keeps you out of the briar.

How do I sharpen it? A mill file, drawn along the bevel. A long blade is kept that way and a fine stone is not needed.

Is it sharp when it arrives? Yes, sharpened by hand before it ships.

For mass carried ahead of your hand on thicker stems, the bolo machete on buffalo horn is the one, and the 15 inch kukri machete on walnut does the same in a shorter blade. This one sits with the machetes, the plain blades are under 1095 high carbon steel, and every blade we make is in one place.