Bolo machete? Maybe a little too short for your needs but a good design.

http://www.stakemill.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=464

Ordered late Monday (11 pm). received Thursday.

The factory edge left a LOT to be desired. Concave edge, not severe. where the edge began to curve upwards there was this defect like the two were done (the straight and the curved edge) at separate times. File and about an hour later, it was straightened out.

WOW! An inch sapling fell down, did not know that I had hit it until it did. So far, with about an hour of use it has been awesome!

It's longer and weighted different than my old one, its going to take getting used to, especially because I am aware of how well it works. I am retraining on using it safely, I had gotten lax with using my old one.

In my experience the majority of injuries with machetes seem to be to hands and feet. I've sliced my own hand pretty good a time or two but I have seen some really serious wounds done to feet. People get carried away and forget where their feet are. The blade deflecting off, or traveling too quickly through, the target are an issue. Tennis shoes offer very little protection. Sandals, none at all.

Cut resistant gloves, leather or kevlar, and sturdy boots are recommended.

I read an artical a long time ago on a safer way to use a machete.You cut a thick stick similar to a walking cane but shorter.This is used to hook and hold what you are cutting.the hand is a safer distance away.the other added advantage is you don't grab nasties(snakes,spiders,scorpions)in the foliage and get bit/stung.This is more in a jungle environment but you get the point....

BOATMAN
John

I am usually wearing heavy steel-toe boots, but I can see where there would be a lot of foot injuries. I have used a heavy stick to hold back stuff so i could get at the base, trying to keep my bits safely out of the way. I have read that a machete is supposed to be used by drawing back on the opposite side that you are holding the machete on. (right hand draw back on left side) and swing across, because you are never in the path of the swing. This is not a comfortable swing for me, my back hand is not very accurate. (seems to be the root movement to me) Another little bit of wisdom I have picked up is to always swing across your body (ie if the blade continues unchecked it is not stopped by your body) basically I am focusing on what i am doing, and maintaining my safety. I have an awesome little scar on my left hand that reminds me everyday, that getting sloppy or relaxed with safety ends badly.

Scar, it was 8 stitches, caused by laxness and that "It won't happen to me" attitude.

I have one in the same spot. It pinged off the metacarpal. Luckily it was a spent blow. Otherwise it would have gone through it, chipped it at the very least. On the other hand the bone kept the blade from biting deeper and the cut from being wider. A bit deeper and it would have hit a significant vein. It bled profusely and this worried me a bit considering the proximity of the vessel. It took three butterflies to hold it closed but it was a clean cut and healed rapidly.

A bit worse, or a location that was stressed more at rest, and stitching would have been the way to go. I hate stitching myself and press the service of steri-strips and butterflies farther than is proper even if I have to splint the hand for a couple of days to keep it from opening.

Superglue can be used to hold butterflies more firmly than their normal adhesive allows. Superglue alone might be used alone but it is easy to seal the wound and allow an infection to fester. The prospect that I may have nicked the bone and the proximity of the vein made the risk seem unwise. Had it been all meat underneath I would have been less careful.

A dull machete is more likely to glance off of what you are cutting and become very hard to control the swing of. So in one way a very sharp machete is safer than a duller one.

On the other hand handling a 2 foot long razor blade is not safe to start with.
So I hope you have a good strong sheath for it.

I got a pretty bad cut by just by brushing my hand against the exposed edge once.

I am working on making a sheath for my machete, right now I am reusing the sheath from the old one to store it. I am thinking of building one out of wood, with a spike on the bottom. So I can stake it in the ground and not have it strapped to my hip. I am using this around the house and do no see a need to carry it on my person, seems to just invite an accident.

My cut/ now scar just missed the metacarpal for my pointer finger and the tendon for my thumb. The doc said that another millimeter more either way and either my pointer or my thumb would be useless. I did score the muscle, but it has healed with no problems.

I have used super-glue with great results for superficial cuts. butterflys are great also. I knew I had to get stitches with my hand, there was no way to externally hold the sides together, it took a couple of months to heal to a scar. the stitches came out after a 12 or 13 days, but i kept butterflys on it until i could see the sides were fused.

btw, the "snuff box" of your hand, when cut, gapes open. (Figured somebody would want to know)