If you work around cane cutters you find out that these guys are constantly sharpening their machete. Often with a file. They chop hard for fifteen minutes and then throw on a few strokes of the file on. Under such heavy use machetes are expendable and may only last a year or two.
As machetes they only last a year or two. They get sharpened down and become large knives, butcher knives, kitchen knives, paring and pen knives. Wood handles are a plus because they can be filed down with the steel.
This coming weekend (rain predicted again) I'm going to the big box builder store to buy a small mill file for my pack. I have a mammoth one in my garage, but I don't want to lug it around.