I always wear my safety gear when working with a chainsaw, I have seen the damage they can do. But for 20 years I never even nicked my kevlar pants; then one late, hot afternoon cutting a survey line I drove a wide-open Husquvarna 266 into my left thigh, made it through 2 of the 3 layers of protection. Really gives you that H*ly Sh*t, feeling in your stomach.

My son hit the back of his left hand with a machete (actually a Fiskar 12" brush hook) a couple of years ago, while clearing shooting lanes in the deer bush. He was tired at the end of a hot day and had taken his gloves off. I used every bandage in my mini-1st Aid Kit plus some shop towels and duct tape to patch him up.

I usually carry my short/thick brush hook or a Sandvick Brush Axe instead of a machete, but I think my St. Lawerence Forest/Boreal Forest enviroment is much different than the jungle. I do think that a longer, thinner machete would be better in the lush jungle. But I am just guessing, I have never been to a jungle.

Mike