Condor Tool & Knife Golok Heavy Duty Machete with Leather Sheath - 1075 High Carbon Steel - Hand Crafted Leather Sheath - Tactical Machete - 0.2in Thick - 14.5in Blade - 30.7oz

My favorite Knife. Thick heavy sharp blade, The Handle is very nice and wont slip out of your hand. I purchased two

I study and practice the Filipino martial art escrima, based on machetes. This is a beautiful blade, graceful, heavy, and short. Blade is a full quarter inch thick at the handle and tapers to an eight of an inch almost to the tip. The blade is 14 and a half inches long - heavy enough to cut, and short enough to be easier carrying than a Latin machete. This golok machete has a full tang, a hardwood handle which is easy to hold, and a hole for a lanyard if desired.

I bought this Condor after becoming frustrated trying to put a decent edge on a Gerber machete. My brush-cutting tasks are not really rigorous, but the Gerber seemed better-suited for use as a club, especially after my wife almost destroyed the edge on a bench grinder, then finished it off by trying to saw her way through a stone, ruining both the stone and the blade. I never managed to bend the blade, but I had heard of others doing so.It is probably not fair to compare this machete directly with the Gerber, but that is where my experience lies. In any event, the Condor trumps the Gerber in almost every respect. First off, it is beautifully crafted. The hardwood handle is perfectly matched to the tang. The wood seemed a bit dry in places, but a little beeswax I had handy gave it a semi-matte satin finish. The blade is sharp right out of the box. Some reviewers have described the Condor products as "kit knives" that needed a bit of work to get a sharp edge, but my example needed nothing.The blade is thick, about 6mm at the handle, tapering to 2-3mm near the point. There is no way you will bend this blade short of putting it in a hydraulic press. The grind is convex, not unlike an axe. I found it to make short work of branches up to about 5/8" in diameter, usually in a couple of swings if I placed the second one right. Some of the thicker brush would probably go easier with pruning shears, but the sheath makes the machete easier to carry than a pruner, leaving my hands free for other chores as I work. I didn't try too much chopping, but the heft and grind of the blade suggest it should perform in this regard.In contrast to the cordura sheath that comes with the Gerber, the Condor sheath is nicely made of thick, heavy leather. It holds the blade securely by friction. It has an oiled black finish, and has the Condor crest embossed on the front. The belt loop pivots on a stud, so that the sheath can swing out of the way if you sit down. If you look around, you can find the machete alone for about half the price of the machete and sheath together, but the sheath is a good value, and worth paying extra for.Of course, the thick blade means a heavy knife, which helps it do its work, but at the same time makes it pretty heavy to lug around. The handle shape does not help in this regard. It is thick and almost round in cross-section, rather than oval as many other machetes. The combined effect is that the Golok feels like quite a load in the hand.On balance, though, this is a very nice tool, capable of doing a lot of work while being very nice to look at and to handle.Update: After using the Golok for a year or so. I am giving it a fifth star. It is simply a fierce brush-clearing implement. I love this thing.Update 7/17: the Golok has proven to be a great chopper. I used it to take down a 4" Chinese elm, not the best tool for the job, but if it is what you have with you, it's good to know it can get it done. Not the best tool for grasses, either, a lighter Salvadoran machete or Tramontina will let you work longer without tiring, but the Golok will do the job. It really comes into its own on medium-sized brush, up to a couple of inches in diameter. I have tried a lot of other machetes since I bought the Golok, but this one gets the call for a pretty wide range of conditions.

EDIT 4 YEARS LATER:It's still good. I've wrapped some friction tape around the handle. It's heavy like a small axe. Heavy isn't always the answer. Sometimes speed would be better; speed you get with a lighter, thinner, longer, Latin machete. I'm looking at an Imacasa Bolo with the same blade length and at a quarter of the price of the Condor. The Condor Golok is a Cadillac of machetes with a very nice leather scabbard, but it only excels in thick brush. Think vacant lot overgrown with elm trees, or a fence line that hasn't been cleared out in 25 years. If it's green hardwood at chest level, the Condor Golok is the very heavy magic wand to make it disappear. If you're clearing softer stuff at ground level, you want a longer Panga style blade.It's good. It's even very good. It's just a little bit shorter and heavier than a regular machete, and that's good because when I'm clearing a path through heavy brush, I don't have enough room for a full swing with a long machete. The walnut grip has a bulb on the end which magically transforms this tool into a natural extension of your arm. It also gets a little bit slick when my hand is sweating. The blade is made from a thick slab of hard carbon steel. This makes it durable and hit like a hatchet. It also makes it difficult to sharpen. Its shorter length means all the power is right at that part of the blade that is going to chop off your toe if you don't hit your target, so steel-toe boots are a good idea. Out in the open where the shorter length and greater heft don't give this tool any advantage, it is only nearly as effective as a $7 machete from Walmart. The curve of the blade is handy for throwing trimmings aside. It chopped down a 4" elm tree more effectively than the Walmart machete, but a bow saw would have been the proper tool. When I'm out on the back corner of my 10 acres, this is the machete I will take with me. Its minor shortcomings are not so drastic as to make it ineffective. But I'm not getting rid of El Cheapo any time soon...