Hey, I think I'm gonna steal that and use it as my sig line.

"... suspended at the top of the tree by a rope...limb, limb, limb, rope..."

Hahahaha. I know that I shouldn't laugh at others misfortune, but that one has all the earmarks of a $100k winner on AFV...

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

I stole it from somebody, but it was about hammers and nails.

Wow! You're right! My boss looks exactly like a shrub (poison oak).

It is obvious in hindsight, but starting with a really sharp machete left me much less tired at the end of the day. And probably safer, too. I used to sharpen mine with a file and that was good enough. Last time, though, I took it to the next level with a guide-rod sharpener, like I would a regular knife. The difference was amazing. I was mainly cutting saw-briars, blackberry vines, and small limbs along a property line.

Mine's an old unit I've had since I was about 12, typical of what you can get at a military surplus store, but I don't know if it is actual military issue. Medium length, medium hardness steel. I haven't found anything I like better.

I'm thinking about giving it a dual-bevel edge next time I use it...

Steve

440 is surgical stainless steel, your machete s probable just a carbon steel. Does it have a patina, dark staining on the non painted part.

I have a Kabar one, but Imagine any abroginal would be happy with a cheap wal-mark $4.99 special. It is amazing what people that live primatively DON'T have but make due with. I am sounre on of them have $300+ knives, LOL
cheers

I have found that wrapping the handle with cloth tape, like that used on tennis rackets, helps a lot. Not having to grip so hard to hang on keeps the hand from tiring so fast.

If the handle is wood or slick plastic scraping tit with the edge of a knife to roughen it also helps.

A lanyard sized so you can loop it around your little finger, up the palm ,and around the hand to the attachment point on the handle further steadies the hand. This arrangement is used on night sticks and improves the grip while allowing you to easily let go.

I have found the Trimantina and USGI, usually made by Ontario as I understand it, units to be solid and workable.

If you do try to cut thicker and harder wood you need to came at it at an angle and take off thinner pieces so the blade doesn't get stuck.

Atoz, 'Surgical Steel' is an advertising ploy to sell knives. There has never been a specific steel designated for medical instruments.

Agree on the Tramontina brand. I have two for a while now. I think I payed $10 for both. May of two years ago, I helped out at the local cemetery, cleaning up about an acre of overgrown land. The vegetation was mostly scrub, including some young trees up to about three inches in diameter. Two guys used chain saws to drop them, while two others would drag them out of the way and use hand saws to cut them up and burn them. They thought I was nuts for using a machete, but after a few hours they were impressed by what I got done.
The only excitement was when the president of the cemetery decided to 'borrow' a gas can from one of the guys using a chain saw, in order to burn a huge sticker bush. He sprayed the bush with the gas, lit it, and it fizzled. So what does he do?
Oh, yes, he did!! He threw some more gas on it. Evidently it was still burning because it flashed up, the flame following the stream of gas from the can right to him. He fell over backwards, while burning, then gets up and starts running! Luckily, the one guy near him realizes whats going on and tackles him, pulls off his shirt and uses it to pat the flames out. Again luckily, just next to the cemetery is a hospital.
So, once we get everything cleaned up, the rest of us go down to the hospital to check on him. He's covered in wet towels and his face, neck, and upper arms are bright red. He's pissed off at himself for doing something so dumb and worried about calling his wife. The nurse was asking him about the cemetery, saying she didn't even know it was there. He says "it's right up the road, you can walk here." Then I say "Or run here, if you happen to be on fire," and then he yelled at me for making him laugh.
At first, he looked like he had a bad sunburn, but a few days later, when that skin died and turned black, he looked terrible.