Martindale golok feedback
- Thread starter Tom89
- Start date
There are different ones on the market the cheap Chinese one in the bayonet frog, or the Martindale golok No.2 is a completely different beast and is very capable at completing most tasks you throw at it. im not sure if it is classed as a machete though, I have both but the one I favour is the Martindale every time
Biker
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
I couldn't get on with mine, just felt like flailing about with an unbalanced iron bar. I kept it out of giving it another chance for a further 20+ years and finally sold it on a couple of years ago to someone in Sweden. Billhooks seem to be my choice of tool now for the jobs I had set aside using the Golok for
Terrrible.
Too thick, too short, too soft.
I reprofiled mine, something thats an essential part of making this thing more than a tree beater. I cleaned up the cheap handle and did everything i could to amke it sharp, comfy and usable and it was still crap at everything.
Do yourself a favour and get a tramontina latin machete for a thrid the price. It will outperform everything and more.
Sam, just out of interest as I know little about these, which one are you talking about in the picture of yours?
Thanks
Thanks
I have an ex-issue Golok that I have re-profiled and made it good.
Out of all the machetes that I have owned (and that is a fair few) this is the one I have kept for general use from hedge cutting to "camp knife " duties.
Having said that - my bill hook gets more use than the Golok as it an even better tool!
Out of all the machetes that I have owned (and that is a fair few) this is the one I have kept for general use from hedge cutting to "camp knife " duties.
Having said that - my bill hook gets more use than the Golok as it an even better tool!
Ah, the shortest shiny one! The top one is also a martindale, but is infact a fabulous tool. Long, thin, tough and gets used nearly everyday to tame me land!
The middle machete is a £5 ebay purchase from about 8 years ago. Still going strong, still sharp and still better than the golok! SPend another £5 and get a tramontina which is better again!
Well, now, I guess I wound up with a Chinese copy. The blade is certainly tough enough but it seems to be shorter than the genuine article (I thought they were just shortened for some reason) and the handle is rough. I did get a bayonet sheath with it, though.
I live in Virginia, which in some years is semi-tropical. Things grow like crazy, except where you want them to. Ordinary Collins machetes (and even cheaper copies, not necessarily Chinese) are widely available. They are really all one needs to deal with the vines that grow around where I live, provided you keep the blade sharp. You have to treat it like the blade of a mowing sythe and pause every now and then to touch up the blade with a stone. The blades on such things are only so-so and will even seem a little flimsy but it's not the sort of thing you'd want to spend a lot of money on. A machete is not a specialized tool and for some purposes, something else may serve better. In the hills where I grew up, people would make their own corn cutters out of old butcher knives, for instance. But people like that never used a machete for anything.
I live in Virginia, which in some years is semi-tropical. Things grow like crazy, except where you want them to. Ordinary Collins machetes (and even cheaper copies, not necessarily Chinese) are widely available. They are really all one needs to deal with the vines that grow around where I live, provided you keep the blade sharp. You have to treat it like the blade of a mowing sythe and pause every now and then to touch up the blade with a stone. The blades on such things are only so-so and will even seem a little flimsy but it's not the sort of thing you'd want to spend a lot of money on. A machete is not a specialized tool and for some purposes, something else may serve better. In the hills where I grew up, people would make their own corn cutters out of old butcher knives, for instance. But people like that never used a machete for anything.
