Billhook or Machete?

[Biker]

Since I don't have the powers to create a poll I thought I'd just ask outright which people prefer using.

Now I've owned one of those Golok machetes, having gone on a survival course years ago and the instructor couldn't praise them enough. However having now owned a couple of billhooks I find myself using those more often than not for general tasks.

So much so that I'm seriously considering retiring my golok after 20 years.

So what do you use and why?

 

[catweasel]

machete,

i dont realy know why its more like an old friend to me more than owt else

 

[Limaed]

Bilhook for me I think. Better steel, comes across more as a tool than a weapon. Designed for the UK.

Never had much luck with the old Army Goloks, couldn't get an edge on them at all. Would be my last choice for the UK woods.

 

[Westnorfolk]

bill hook for me too, as Limaed says no one worries about a bill hook and i find it more useful than a machete there is really nothing you cant do with a good newton hook a folding saw and a good knife and it will all pack away neatly at the end of the day

 

[_scorpio_]

well... i have a machete but rarely use it, it is too big and just looks too much like a weapon really... i don't know about bill hooks because i don't have one (yet ) but i use a meat cleaver for heavier tasks that are too small for an axe but too big for a knife. i have felled a 6" diameter ash sapling with it (the folding saw came a few months later but it is too quick and doesn't take enough effort ) but that was a bit overkill but for chopping kindling and cutting down little trees i find it handy because it is so much lighter than a hatchet, i assume a bill hook would work in a similar way.
not traditional methods i know but works for me

 

[spader]

I tried some machetes in the past, but most of them were quite light in weight and thin spined, so it was OK for clearing weeds and light vegetations, but when it came to splitting logs or chopping woods, the machete blades were bouncing off the wood surface rather than cutting into it despite having sharp edges.

Most billhooks - I have a few - on the other hand, are quite heavy and thick spined so they seem ideal when working with woods even with reasonably sharp edges.

So if I were in a jungle with lots of light vegetation to clear around me and coconut fruits to split, then its gotta be machetes for me.
If I am splitting lots of woods for fire, then I would choose billhooks any day.

 

[hiraeth]

I have both, the machete is an old american WW2 issue made by true temper (i think) and i have two billhooks, one with a double edge I find that i tend to use the billhooks most, as they somehow feel a lot better in the hand in use, than the machete.

 

[Biker]

I find that i tend to use the billhooks most, as they somehow feel a lot better in the hand in use, than the machete.

Yup my thoughts exactly Plus you look less like a wannabe Rambo holding a billhook ... more like a psychopathic farmer Giles.

Scorpio check your emails mate.

 

[British Red]

In my mind - the right tool for the job. I'll use parangs, bill hooks of various patterns, axes, slashers, ditch hooks, brush cutters, etc. I'm really not that hung up on how it looks - more what it does well

Red

 

[Biker]

In my mind - the right tool for the job. I'll use parangs, bill hooks of various patterns, axes, slashers, ditch hooks, brush cutters, etc. I'm really not that hung up on how it looks - more what it does well

Red

Point taken, but hauling 18 different edged tools with you in the woods will sorta get you noticed. I meant as a general purpose all-rounder tool of choice.

I am sorta emotionally attached to my Golok but recognise that it's fast becoming obselete when pitched against old school stuff. Lucky for me I don't have too many jungles to wade through to go to the post office, if I did then the golok might get an airing more often.

Might put the golok up for trade soon.

Parting is such sweet sorry.

 

[wentworth]

I was going to start a billhook thread today, as there's been a fair bit of chatter recently. I'm completely new to them. If it's not hijacking the thread too much, can someone explain how/ why they're used and why they're so great?
Another thread referred to them as a real man's tool!

 

[lab72]

i have allways had a thing for my Machete

 

[Adze]

Billhook... because I have one.

 

[Hugo]

Bill hook is a proper tool, machete is a slashing tool.
I let on go the other day at a boot market, was probably only £3.00 went back and it was gone.

 

[Westnorfolk]

Yup my thoughts exactly Plus you look less like a wannabe Rambo holding a billhook ... more like a psychopathic farmer Giles.

Scorpio check your emails mate.

standing in my barn sharpening hook muttering 'tell me when lord, tell me when....' it would be great if biker of drawing fame did a psychopathic farmer Giles picture for our gates.

 

[John Fenna]

Got both a Golok and an old Billhook...the billhook gets about 1000 times more use as I will take it along on meets but the Golok (reprofiled and all) seems more a "one trick pony" campared to the Billhook and stays with the other less versatile tools at home....

 

[BOD]

I'm puzzled by these British army goloks. I saw and tried some modified ones a couple of years ago and they would not be my first or second choice for the jungle.

Designed by the army were they?

 

[Melonfish]

I'd go with Bill also, more weight behind the blade when chopping and the steel is generally better, plus they're nifty little tools and quite multi purpose.
nice to have that hook shape too it also when your clearing

 

[Paul_B]

Well I don't own either but have handled machetes (have them at work for cutting insulation) and used a lot of billhooks over a few years of conservation work. My feelings is that there are different shapes of billhooks and they have different uses and levels of versatility. Now I am not in any way an expert in anything blade related (a veritable novice in fact) but MY opinion (FWIW) is the smaller ones with a blade only on the hook side are only good for a clearing job on thinner stuff. The ones with a flat blade on the back edge as well however can be more versatile. I found them knid of as good as an axe, a slashing / brush clearing tool and also for either chopping through completely (woodland management such as coppicing up to certain thickness) and also for cutting through partially (hedgelaying). I am sure there are other jobs suitable for them of a more bushcrafting orientation so IMHO a double sided (straight and curved blades) billhook is more useful than a machete. once you have the double blades I think it is more the case of the weight of it and the length of the handle. I've used what was described to me as a yorkie that had a 4-5' handle. I've also used one that was shorter but longer than a normal hand sized billhook that was described to me as a Staffie. Not sure if those re right and I could have mixed them up butyou probably know what I mean.

At work we only have the cheapish machetes and I reckon they would not last long indeed. I am guessing a golok one would have a thicker spine and be more suitable for heavy use. I do think that most billhooks (certainly all the ones I have seen) have quite a thick blade indeed which would suggest they were good for heavy use. Every tool has its uses and every tool has its place. I doubt I would (if ever I went) use a billhook in the jungles and I doubt I would use a machete for hedgelaying.

Anyway what do I know, I don't own any (although I do feel a machete might fall out of work and into my car boot one day).

Another thing does anyone use a sickle? I borrowed my Dad's sickle for clearing my new Allotment last year. Worked a treat and made it easier for digging it over. It wasn't well sharpened neither but still cut or ripped through the vegetation like a hot knife through butter. Good for stress too as I really got into attacking the plot. I reckon the houses surrounding the allotments must have thought I was a mad man. I was.

 

[Minotaur]

Billhook.

I was corrupted at an early age, and basically if it over 2" thick use a saw. Under use a billhook.