Probably a mixture of state, county, parish and private owners.
G
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Greetings all - Machetes, axes, clearing foot paths?
- Thread starter Edtwozeronine
- Start date
We have those here as well (although the most common has a slightly different blade shape) and they’re awesome tools! In the South they’re normally referred to as “kaiser blades.”
https://images.app.goo.gl/NWnK3BnCfJLWNsmS7
I always thought they were mostly on private land but were open to public use by reason of law and tradition for rights of way? Hopefully somebody will answer that for us soon.
You learn something everyday. I now know I shouldn't use a machete in the UK and if I use one clearing my path I'll expect a visit from the police. Should I ask for a locking knife, handsaw and chainsaw to also be taken into consideration?
Anyway, I like a machete for clearing brambles and thin branches, some times. For the original question I'd use a saw and learn how to use it. If it's getting stuck look up compression and tension when cutting, or use a thin wedge above the saw blade to stop the cut closing above the blade.
And ask permission, considering the owners perhaps say a prayer?
Anyway, I like a machete for clearing brambles and thin branches, some times. For the original question I'd use a saw and learn how to use it. If it's getting stuck look up compression and tension when cutting, or use a thin wedge above the saw blade to stop the cut closing above the blade.
And ask permission, considering the owners perhaps say a prayer?
You learn something everyday. I now know I shouldn't use a machete in the UK and if I use one clearing my path I'll expect a visit from the police. Should I ask for a locking knife, handsaw and chainsaw to also be taken into consideration?
Anyway, I like a machete for clearing brambles and thin branches, some times. For the original question I'd use a saw and learn how to use it. If it's getting stuck look up compression and tension when cutting, or use a thin wedge above the saw blade to stop the cut closing above the blade.
And ask permission, considering the owners perhaps say a prayer?
The legal owners aren't even in the same country considering the woodland is in Wales and the church of England is kind of... in England?
The legal owners aren't even in the same country considering the woodland is in Wales and the church of England is kind of... in England?
Ooh, now you're throwing oil on a fire !
Not sure what size of bar I have on the petrol chainsaw here, 18-20 inches perhaps but don't fancy the slog of dragging it into the woods. It's not like there's easy access for quad bike pulling a trailer, it's all fenced in with stiles to clamber over in order to keep livestock in their fields which surround the woodland. I don't actually own a quad bike anyway...
Well I used a Martindale machete to clear the nettles along the path beside the burn, and a dog walking neighbour looked at me with horror.
So, I put it away and I found a sickle instead. (Known as a heuk around here) and not another soul commented apart to make conversation about how the council used to have enough money to be able to do this.....
https://www.machetespecialists.com/filter/brand/martindale/
Buy and use something innocuous, something that looks 'gardening' and no one will bother you.
M
Interesting that a company called Martindale make cutting tools, to me the name is known more for electrical testing equipment, especially your standard socket testers.
In my case it's technically privately owned by the church of England but for all the time I've lived in the area it's been treated and used as a common green space for people to enjoy. Take your kids there, take your dog there, take your soft drugs and alcohol there if you're a teenager - live and let live, i used to at least do the drinking part there myself when I was younger. You'll find much worse going on in the city centre at the weekend.
You learn something everyday. I now know I shouldn't use a machete in the UK and if I use one clearing my path I'll expect a visit from the police. Should I ask for a locking knife, handsaw and chainsaw to also be taken into consideration?
If it's your path, then you are on your private property, and therefore have no problem.
Expecting a visit from plod is possibly over-stating since it depends on so many things, but peoples' fears and expectations have swung to the point where one should not rule it out. Heck, maybe you get reported for the machete and run in to plod on the way home or way back to the car...your reason for using the cutting tools is accepted, you have a nice chat (could happen)...then because they are thorough they ask to see in your bag and pockets, where they find the lock knife...which might be considered inappropriate for tree clearance.
Regarding Martindale....meh, don't bother. They don't sell in the UK, except for goloks and Paratrooper. I bought one of their Jungle Knives, at great expense, from the USA and the fit and finish did not warrant what I paid, and the steel is the sort you sharpen with a file. That was somewhere around 2004 and their policy was old then, and has not changed. They won't sell here because they don't want to be associated with any crimes, and the UK isn't a big enough market to take that risk.
I guess I really should get on and do my review of the Condor Eco Parang Machete, which I have had and used for over 18 months now. Lets just say that I think it could do with improvements to make it a good/usable tool. That is the problem with many such tools, the idea of the tool may be fine, but the execution is poor, leading to poor performance and the impression that the type of tool, the idea of it, doesn't work. My folks have a slasher tool, used to be fantastic, until some muppet broke the handle...the replacement handle is heavier, and longer, and it just does not work as well as it did. If I had not used it with the shorter handle it would be easy for me to think that slashers must be rubbish.
All the best
Chris
Regarding Martindale....meh, don't bother. They don't sell in the UK, except for goloks and Paratrooper. I bought one of their Jungle Knives, at great expense, from the USA and the fit and finish did not warrant what I paid, and the steel is the sort you sharpen with a file. That was somewhere around 2004 and their policy was old then, and has not changed. They won't sell here because they don't want to be associated with any crimes, and the UK isn't a big enough market to take that risk.
I guess I really should get on and do my review of the Condor Eco Parang Machete, which I have had and used for over 18 months now. Lets just say that I think it could do with improvements to make it a good/usable tool. That is the problem with many such tools, the idea of the tool may be fine, but the execution is poor, leading to poor performance and the impression that the type of tool, the idea of it, doesn't work. My folks have a slasher tool, used to be fantastic, until some muppet broke the handle...the replacement handle is heavier, and longer, and it just does not work as well as it did. If I had not used it with the shorter handle it would be easy for me to think that slashers must be rubbish.
All the best
Chris
It really depends on what sort of stuff you’re clearing too. The longer handles are very useful when slashing thorny bits where you want the extra reach to stay out of the thorns themselves.
Long cutting tool handles take a lot of getting used to - they need a lot more muscle training to use them properly so you can't just pick one up, have a go, and say it's useless. It took me a lot of pain to get to use them properly and, as soon as you stop for a few months, you have to start all over again. Fine for someone using them every day but dreadful for occasional use.
I do think the whole 'cutting tool' thing is very subjective though. As I said above, I'm doing a lot of coppicing at the moment and I'm using a billhook but all the time I'm using it I'm thinking 'this isn't ideal' - yet this is a tool developed over hundreds of years - how can I possibly know better? What I do know is it doesn't quite suit how I want to work; I'll be designing my own for next season
I do think the whole 'cutting tool' thing is very subjective though. As I said above, I'm doing a lot of coppicing at the moment and I'm using a billhook but all the time I'm using it I'm thinking 'this isn't ideal' - yet this is a tool developed over hundreds of years - how can I possibly know better? What I do know is it doesn't quite suit how I want to work; I'll be designing my own for next season
I think this is where the machete actually accels. It’ll never be the best tool for heavier cutting and definitely isn’t a do everything tool; but it’s probably the single most intuitive to use.Long cutting tool handles take a lot of getting used to - they need a lot more muscle training to use them properly so you can't just pick one up, have a go, and say it's useless. It took me a lot of pain to get to use them properly and, as soon as you stop for a few months, you have to start all over again. Fine for someone using them every day but dreadful for occasional use.
I do think the whole 'cutting tool' thing is very subjective though. As I said above, I'm doing a lot of coppicing at the moment and I'm using a billhook but all the time I'm using it I'm thinking 'this isn't ideal' - yet this is a tool developed over hundreds of years - how can I possibly know better? What I do know is it doesn't quite suit how I want to work; I'll be designing my own for next season
Long cutting tool handles take a lot of getting used to - they need a lot more muscle training to use them properly so you can't just pick one up, have a go, and say it's useless. It took me a lot of pain to get to use them properly and, as soon as you stop for a few months, you have to start all over again. Fine for someone using them every day but dreadful for occasional use.
I do think the whole 'cutting tool' thing is very subjective though. As I said above, I'm doing a lot of coppicing at the moment and I'm using a billhook but all the time I'm using it I'm thinking 'this isn't ideal' - yet this is a tool developed over hundreds of years - how can I possibly know better? What I do know is it doesn't quite suit how I want to work; I'll be designing my own for next season
I spent a couple of seasons cutting chestnut for NHS bent walking sticks (another industry gone now
), and found even the lovely Fiskars bill hook catching on the frithy stems in the coppice stool. I haven’t tried a Skrama, but I feel it could be a better tool.that sounds familiar
, over here i've made the same observation... imho machetes are a "Jack of all trades, master of none" solution and a collection of poor compromises -- i'm still wondering about their origins(== introduced by Europeans or --as I presume more likely-- by African slaves)one of the inspirations behind Daniel Defoe's famous story about the adventures of a kraut slave trader on a tropical island used a homemade machete on the Juan Fernandez islands but there's no mentioning of them in the book (most-mentioned tool is the hatchet)
i think i just went
again...
Interesting thought!
Well, the sugar cane came from south Asia originally, and I guess they had a cutting tool developed for it?
Parang like?
I do not remember any German in Dafoe’s novel?
There is one in Jozef Korzeniowskis novel Heart of Darkness though.
Kurtz. I believe they nicked that character and featured him in that somewhat weird movie Apocalypse Now.
They did not smell any Napalm during the filming, more likely plenty of Bolivian Marching Powder...
Well, the sugar cane came from south Asia originally, and I guess they had a cutting tool developed for it?
Parang like?
I do not remember any German in Dafoe’s novel?
There is one in Jozef Korzeniowskis novel Heart of Darkness though.
Kurtz. I believe they nicked that character and featured him in that somewhat weird movie Apocalypse Now.
They did not smell any Napalm during the filming, more likely plenty of Bolivian Marching Powder...
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Interesting thought!
Well, the sugar cane came from south Asia originally, and I guess they had a cutting tool developed for it?
Parang like?
I do not remember any German in Dafoe’s novel?
iirc sugar cane was first cultivated in india (already mentioned during Alexander the Great's campaign) but i've no idea what they used to cut it... modern cane knives are rather soft steel, too...
the kraut (a nickname which goes back to the 18th century and the use of sauerkraut to prevent scurvy -similar to "limey" for british sailors) i was referring to was the main character: Robinson Crusoe's father was from bremen and changed his surname from kreutznaer to Crusoe after migrating to England... .he got shipwrecked on his island during a trip to Africa to buy "negroes" as slaves for his plantation in Brazil (the prussians briefly were in the slave trade in the 17th century but lost out against the concurrence...) Robinson Crusoe also invented the 5-day week as he got all work done by Friday
the "inspiration" i was referring to in my earlier post was Will, a member of the miskito (moskito) tribe from central america: he got left behind when his (british) ship got chased away by the spaniards while he was hunting -- he cut up his firearm barrel after he run out of ammunition, one of the tools he made from it was a "long knife" (machete?!), a tool he was likely familiar with.... he's less known then Alexander Selkirk who was a few years later on the same island...
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