As someone who is constantly up to no good in the woods I carry a good chopping tool. I had a Gerber machete like yours and promptly found it to be a little too light and flimsy for my needs. In fact, I snapped it off. Oops. I replaced it with the Cold steel Kukri machete which chops better than most hatchets of twice the weight. Unlike the hook types this one can also be used to chip through ice when ice fishing, and makes a great improvised digging tool. The back of the blade is great at smashing the hell out of stuff when you don't want to cut it. It is quite thick and you would have to try fairly hard to break it. Best of all, it only cost me 30 bucks so when and if I do break it I will simply replace it. It holds quite the dammed edge as well. Together with a good field knife and my Gerber exchange-a-blade folding saw there is nothing I can’t chop, slash, rip , cut, pry, dig and smash my way out of in the woods.

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