TramontinaMachete, Carbon Steel, Polypropylene Handle

This company started making machetes in a small blacksmith shop in Brazil in 1911. That provenance is shown in the simple and practical functionality of this machete. I have an 18 inch Tramontina machete with a wooden handle that works well in tight areas. This 24" machete is front weighted and can reach out and touch some gnarly brush and saplings. It is a working machete. The very tip and first 4" of the blade are unsharpened in a traditional fashion to limit injury. I suggest leaving it that way. The handle is molded plastic with a bit of texturing on it. It functions well for all but the largest hands. One gripe is the flat cut off at the end of the handle. It's a bit uncomfortable but can be rounded off with a flat file. The blade is maybe 3-5mm and flexes some but is controllable. It sharpens up nicely and a few drops of oil will keep it rust free for years. A classic working machete at a bargain price. Highly recommended. (note- no sheath is included with this machete.)

For the money this is an excellent blade. The handle leaves nothing to the immagination, is rather cheap and not very comfortable but thats where the bad news ends. The blade came sharper than i expect a machete blade to come, it was usable as it arrived, and took very little time to hone. Edge holding is surprisingly good. It had no trouble cutting through 1.25 inch chutes and has a satisfying ring while doing so. While the long blade is flexible it is strong. Edge-on strikes and good alignment are important due to the flexibility but a mis-strike only make the blade bounce and not stay bent. The heat treat is the heart and soul of any blade, without which a blade can only be a dead thing. This blade seems to have a soul however and for those who are able to fut a worthy handle this blade will make an excellent tool. Not for beginners due to flexibility but with proper edge alignment a solid hitter

Previously, I have only tried out the wooden-handles Tramontina machetes. They are made with exceptionally good steel. They take a better edge than I've been able to get on other machetes, and they hold it better. The Tramontina steel is markedly better than that used in the Cold Steel machetes, or even US-made Ontario machetes.The biggest problem with the wood-handled machetes is the handle. The plastic-handled one I tried is much the same. The handles is slippery, and yet also abrades the hand when in use. I don't know hoe they managed that. With the wooden-handled model, a little sanding makes the handle much more comfortable to use. I would think that a little hockey tape or something similar would really help the plastic-handled machete.The handle shape is a little uncomfortable in use. It digs into my hand when I am chopping vines and such. It needs a little padding. The plastic handle does at least have a lanyard hole, which is a useful feature, and is not found on the wooden-handled version. If I needed a lanyard hole, I'd consider this machete, but otherwise I'd go with the wooden handle. It is more comfortable to use and easier to hold onto.The blade appears to be slightly superior on this model than on the wooden-handled model. It has a real ricasso, rather than just a section at the bottom that looks like somebody forgot to sharpen it. That is more attractive, and also lets you see, at a glance, where the cutting edge starts. You'll use that part of the edge down near the handle for more delicate cutting tasks, like maybe peeling fruit. The machete is a camping and survival tool, and it must be useful for many different kinds of jobs.As on the wooden-handled machete, this one arrived without a good edge on it. It could have been used to clear brush, but it cuts much better with a sharper edge. A few minutes with a file put a good working edge on it. As with other Tramontinas, the construction is a little sloppy and the edge was uneven. After filing, I found that there was a short section in the middle of the blade that was just as dull as before. It took several more minutes to even out the edge and get it sharp all the way down.The machete cut well and held its edge. No surprise there, as Tramontina makes about the best machete blades you'll find, without spending hundreds on a custom machete.For temperate zones, I have found the Cold Steel Magnum Kukri machete will outperform any other I've tried, including the Tramontinas. The Tramontina steel is superior, but the blade shape of the magnum Kukri performs beautifully. If you are sold on a latin-style machete, then Tramontina is the best, but for cutting the denser plants we have in the US, the latin-style blade shape is inefficient. If Tramontina would start offering a kukri-style blade in the US, it would probably be the best factory-produced machete available in the history of the world.

Comes reasonably sharp, unlike some. You'll still want to buy one of those hand-held diamond honing things though.Some cheap scrubber pads might be in order as well, to clean any sap off of the blade before you resharpen. I'd expect sticky tree sap to clog a sharpening stone pretty quickly.