Axe Vs Machete, Which Should You Carry?

hey everybody coming at you from my gear room uh there's always been a great debate on the machete versus the ax especially when it comes to camping hiking backpacking Bushcraft and survival and then there was always on all the forums the survivalist forums and Bushcraft USA there's always the the one tool option you know but for me if I carry a machete I usually have a knife with me attached to it and if I carry an ax I usually have a neck knife or a belt knife so today what we're going to do is is we're going to discuss and look at and think about and talk about the difference between should you carry a machete or should you carry an ax and which is better which will do more which is more suited towards you what are the capabilities of this what are the capabilities of this this is basically a chopping tool that's what it was meant to be this is basically a slashing tool this thing's for chopping wood tearing chunks out of wood this is for tearing through vegetation Vines and grass but these you can hone and change the edge and do different things with them and these the manufacturers have come out with shorter thicker versions and people have modified the standard Latin machete to do things it wasn't supposed to do so let's take a look at these two now we're going to go out into the field and try a few little projects with with one we're going to do the same project with each one try to see you know how it goes but first i'm going to talk a little bit about axes and then machetes and the different styles of them and some of the benefits of carrying them so this is going to be very interesting hopefully it's going to be very interactive in the comments section so let's uh he's down to this end and take a look at some axes I'm going to kind of concentrate on these four axes but while we're on the subject of axes the smallest of them all is considered a hatchet all right and I'm going to kind of leave a hatchet out of this because to me a hatchet Hatchet is I don't know it's in its own class kind of like a tomahawk so we're going to concentrate on these right here uh I have here this is what they call a pack ax this is a marbles pack ax this is a these two right here are considered Camp axes uh or boys ax pack ax boys ax and then this is a special class of its own this is like a three-quarter ax and I'm gonna talk more about that in a minute uh this like I said this is a marbles this I can't hardly pronounce this is a I think it's pronounced Hodges Hodges Eureka it's a uh a basque ax it's similar to a tomahawk because these axes they're Heaven High they're driven in with a wedge into the high but this has a tapered uh handle that comes in through this side so really to me when you're talking camping hiking Bushcraft these are all good but when you're talking survival to me I would consider this as your number one survival ax because some of these others if you break the handle on them you're going to have to go through a bunch of carving and a bunch of work to get this eye to get this thing to fit back in the end but with this one I feel like if you broke the handle you could actually take the head or you could take your knife and you could carve a handle and just drive it through from the other side because it's it's tapered there's there's no eye on it so this is a council tool boys ax made in America I think North Carolina but anyway that's that's those three right there uh pack ax boys ax or maybe Camp ax this is a very very old rare woodings Verona and this actually belonged to a retired Green Beret sergeant major and I was lucky enough to get a hold of this and this is about the maximum I don't know if you would ever want a backpack with this but you would definitely want to carry this in a canoe or a kayak or a four-wheeler or a toboggan or a sled now I've got this handle here because I want to show you the difference in the length of it let's go up this ways a little bit I've got them level right there and you can see the difference right here this would be this is a full size ax right here and there's no way you would ever want to carry this I wouldn't even carry this thing in a canoe uh that's that's a little little Overkill to me so but this thing some people call this a three-quarter ax uh three quarter ax half ax quarter ax those are some of the nicknames on these things but we're going to look further at these but these are the ones that we're going to be concentrating on we're going to take out into the field lighter to uh do a little bit of work with them and see how they compare to machetes one other thing before we go to the to the machete side of things all these axes have a leather mask machetes have sheaths these are called masks and like say for example this one here it's all leather that thing pops on there like that that's just a typical mask now one thing that I wanted to talk about on this one this is a vintage woodings Verona very very old ax and so what I did with it is instead of leather I made a uh a pouch that has a liner has a polypropylene liner and what you do with that is you put that in you put that over and it protects the blade it's a double double uh double thick polypropylene and then I have this thing and I'm not sure what kind of pouch this is it's some kind of a military pouch and because this is just the idea I want to pass along while we're talking about this stuff you know because we're talking about military survival well I mean we're talking about survival Bushcraft whatever so the idea behind this was originally that when I carry this in a in an inflatable kayak or an inflatable canoe then I want the maximum amount of protection on this blade and then I also got to thinking about this that when I've got this double layer like this you can you can use some of this webbing here to strap it into your canoe or your kayak in case it turns over and you lose your pack and you lose everything you'll still have your ax and then you can have a survival kit a mini survival kit mounted to this because see I've got two pouches here and I can mount even more stuff to this and then this thing could be mounted to the kayak so you'll have a kit in case you lose everything else but that's about that now let's move on to the machetes I just thought these are pretty much what is known as plain machetes you have the the infamous Ontario with a smooth back and a d handle that's pretty much what a machete looks like right there just comes in a regular sheath this is a little bit more of a substantial heavy duty sheath this is the Ontario with the sawback on the back of it then you have the famous tramantina which makes that tremontina sing now most of these are spring steel some of them were made out of leaf springs in the past sheaths vary this is a sheath that I made has a gigantic pouch on it to where you can put a survival kit or other items uh this is another one made by tramantina this is considered to be a bolo shape that's bolo style because of the big bold bulge on the end gives you a little bit more more white these are mostly for grass and Vines and things and uh this one has a marbles sheath which has three pouches which is very handy this is a condor stainless steel Latin Style machete very good for if you're going to be on salt water in the ocean or in swamps comes in a very heavy leather sheath now these are considered cookies but a lot of people call them machetes too A lot of them call them a cookery machete some call it a cookery knife but now these kind of start even more evening the playing field with an ax because these things are real long and skinny and like I said these are generally slashing tools but these are really good at chopping now this is a traditional kukri from the Himalayas well no where is it Nepal yeah that's it I couldn't remember but uh yeah Nepal this is a typical cookery you can see it's a very very thick blade this is a very very beefy Chopper now the manufacturers have played on this design and made them this is a cold steel version of a kukri not quite shaped exactly like it but it's shaped enough with a weight forward that it's a very efficient Chopper and this can this can kind of hold its weight against an ax so that's the cold steel version this is the k-bar kukri and this is what I'm talking about about a lot of times on my machetes I'll I'll add a knife to it that way you've got a complete kit with you you have a knife and a Chevy and this is uh this is the k-bar version of it the K Bar kukri excellent Chopper and it's really not that heavy this is the Ontario Knife company's version I've got it paired up with a knife so that it's it's Bush Bushcraft more Bushcraft black and this thing I added an extra strap to it here because this one strap wasn't enough Sheet's not that great but the knife is really good cookery Ontario kukri you can see how thick it is on the back back there very thick let's pull this out right here and look at it there you go let's get them closer so you can see the difference in the thickness so the difference in the thickness that's what makes it such an efficient Chopper so those are kukris and what we're going to do is we're going to try to find something to go up against the ax and here we have yet another version of the machete and it's my favorite version the parang the parang is an absolute chopping beast and as you can see these three here have knives attached to them and this one in particular is a fantastic complete kit for shelter building and survival and whatever you need because I have attached a saw to it and when you have a saw when you have a saw silky saw and a machete you're you're good to go now this is the parang style I don't have a traditional parang but you can look them up and see them this one is a Han shoe boxing stainless steel great for around salt water or swamps comes in a leather sheath that is a chopping Beast right there this is in a leather sheath I got it paired up with a knife this is the Condor Village purring it's kind of a different style of a purring because it has the big curve on the back but you can see it's very very very thick almost a quarter inch thick that is a chopping base that holds its own against an ax this is the Condor Bushcraft purring which is an absolute chopping Beast itself has a convex grind I've got it paired up with a mora and then this is the charade version and I have it paired up with a charade knife this thing's got three straps on it yeah and it is parang Style this has got a Hollow Grind kind of sticks in wood but it chops deep so now what I've got to do is I've got to choose which machetes are going to battle which axes oh I got one more classification I'm going to show you too so I've seen a lot of arguments I've seen a lot of arguments online about what's a machete and what's not a machete and sometimes the manufacturers have warped that definition and sometimes people that talk about them have warped that definition this is the Ontario SP 53 it is sold as a bolo knife it is quarter inch thick and it's like a big knife but a lot of people call it a machete and just for the sake of arguments I've always called it a machete but they sell it as a bolo knife this is sold this is a tarava scrama or scrama and this is technically a sax s-e-a-x it's a sax knife but a lot of people call this a machete and this is a fantastic cutting tool this is the top of the Heat this is a this is called a machete some people call it a big knife but this is made by Three River blades this is handmade D2 steel this is the absolute Pinnacle of chopping beast when it comes to a knife or a machete the spine of it is a little over a quarter inch thick up at the very very top is like 3 16 thick and it's full uh convex grind but that is the absolute chopping Beast so these are the things that you can carry with you when you're backpacking survivaling and bushcrafting and what I'm going to have to do is I'm gonna have to try to figure out what to match up against what Acts so I'm gonna put a little thought into that then I'm going to show you my decisions and then we're going to take them out of the woods and do a project with them so this is how I decided to pair them up I'm going to put the tremontina bolo up against the little Marbles and I think that's a Marvel 709 with a 18 inch handle because those are going to be the lightest weight options now we're going to step up here the hatches Eureka Basque ax let's Let it go up against the Condor Village parang because the parang has got such a steep convex grind to it the baskets has a convex grind too so we're going to put the two of them together and see how well they do against each other the council tolls boys ax has sort of a flat grind on the end you know much much more flatter than a convex grind so we're going to run it up against a kukri style we're going to use the k-bar kukri all right now for the last the woodings Verona that I would never backpack with that I would only carry in a kayak or a sled or a canoe we're going to put it up against a big giant Beast of a machete that I would never backpack in and it is the Timberline Tactical by Dave Young and this thing it is a beast it is a gigantic machete it's huge it's got It's got all these serrations out on this end it's got a sawback on the sand it's got serrations up on this end it's got like a cord cutter this is a gigantic machete and it's based on a panga style and it's actually pretty thick I would never backpack with this but I might carry it in a kayak or a canoe so we're going to verse it up against that that's going to be pretty interesting right there on the chop test that's just going to be straight up chopping if you wanted to use it for for you know chopping uh firewood or something but these others we're going to kind of try to craft with them and do some notches and things and see how well they work all right so let's go out in the field now we're out in the woods and we're ready to start our test and our evaluation and figure out how these things work and today I am lucky enough to have Nick join me no there's nobody back here you're supposed to go hey oh okay heyo all right that's better all right now we got the Mojo going felt like I changed it up yeah right now there's no way back here okay we have this is the marbles bolo all right traditional machete and we are one pound two ounce and that is with the sheath okay one pound two ounce now that is that is as carried weight because it's the sheath like if you're gonna strap it to your bag coming your belt or backpack and I think it's 5 18 grams now the Marvel 709 is exactly two pounds so that's darn near double the weight but you know is there a benefit to that and it's like 908 grams so all right now what we're going to do is the first thing we're going to start out with is the difference between a chopping tool and a slashing tool now the traditional machete not the short stocky thick one is a slashing type tool for like slashing your way through through Vines and brush all right so all right nothing to it [Music] all right nothing to it right we all know we all agree that is what this is made for well let's take a look at this let's see how this does is this tool for this I don't know let's find out free aiming there you are now they well okay this is this is so ridiculous but let me show you something if he had if you have need for carrying an ax I'm going to show you a neat little trick for clearing brushing vegetation and the way you're going to do that is you're going to just hold the accent to it and give it a hit see here's a Vine right here let's say I'm going to clear that vine right there all right requires some effort you know I could have already had that sliced with a machete well I get up against it and give it a hit okay all right so that is one way of using this thing if you want to now it's a very very slow method but if you're going to have a one tool carry option that is something that you can do okay so yep before we go to the other acts in Machete next thing we're going to do is we're going to see the difference between these two in making a tent stake how about that we're going to see how easy it is to to handle that I wonder if a machete you'll get a bug out of my eye let's move on to the next one okay all right so what we're going to do here is we're going to try to make a tent steak with a ax and machete all right we're going to start with the the machine now generally what I do is I just give it a chop cut one end off then we're going to cut the other end off well it would help if the log wouldn't rotten let me boost this up under here and find different logs yeah see all it's doing is pushing it into the log but let's try this so what I'm going to do is I'm going to take this all right I'm gonna cut that to a sharp point right there like that and then what I'm going to do is I'm going to give this a hard whack a we're going to cut it down give it another whack cut it down all right so there is your tent stake and as you can see it really didn't take that much effort so let's try the ax see how the ax goes now I'm gonna move this over I think that might be a good spot right there let's try this see how the ax does oh there we go chopping is a no-brainer nothing to it so let's see now I'm gonna choke up on this you really could get by with a hatchet on this all right that does fine on the point now let's see how we do on this oh I see I lost it I got too happy on the cutting my feet is where everywhere yeah I'm starting to itch all over all right now that's a little harder to control that was a lot harder to control now I screwed that up so let's start over to be very very very careful when doing this all right now that do a little more I had to really choke up on it but that could pay us as a tent stake sharp on the bottom got a notch at the top all right so I would say that for this use now you can drive it in check that out you can drive it in very easily apologize if I'm missing over here I'm uh swatting mosquitoes like you wouldn't believe okay and then this [Music] is not good you're going to want to do this all right so there's the test there and I would say that when it comes these will both do the job but for this it seems like the machete did a better job the machete won out on this this will work but it's a little bit more so let's move on to the next group all right the next pairing is the Condor Village parang coming in at two pounds five ounces looks like 1.56 kilograms now I took the knife out of it normally though when I carry this I have the capability of a machete and a knife but if we're just talking about comparing a machete to an ax took the knife out therefore I took the weight off now this is the I think it's called Uh Hodges Eureka I can't pronounce it Harley it's the Spanish one uh the uh I mean Spain the Basques and that's coming in at two pounds 14 ounces so check it out two pounds five ounces two pounds 14 ounces this is a much much more a closer comparison of the white all right so what we're going to do with this is we're going to try to make a pot hanger I'm just trying to mess around and figure out what what projects can be done with these things and and how we can make the comparison of them all right what I'm going to do let's see how this chops right here let's chop it right here foreign no problem sorry for the heck of it while we're chopping we're going to chop this absolutely no problem with chopping with that so let's see what we can do now let's use a smaller one let's see what we can do you take and put a chop that way and a chop this way no I missed it oh I destroyed it that's not good start over baton these these things but what I'm going to do let's try this again let's give it a hit let's give it another hit all right now see how I've got the X let me zoom in on that say hi yeah you know exit okay it's right in the middle of the frame all right so what you want to do now that you take I feel like I heard those coyotes again at first I would swear it just sounds like somebody yelling but then when you hear you know like six of them then oh well that's not I can't be a group of people yelling just randomly out in the wood somewhere that turns into more of a howl first time hearing that before all right so let's push this down at an angle what we're trying to achieve is a point all right get my hand away all right let's go a little bit more now normally what I do is I'll I will do all of this with a knife but like I said we're trying to compare our ax to a machete the thing about the parang here is I'll do fine chopping on this part because the weight forward is what gives it its strength and see I've made those little curls and now I can just slice them up okay so let's see or your finger if you draw the machete the right way yeah or your finger all right so we have a pot hanger oh needs more work a little bit more it's a mosquito Massacre out here I should have wore a long sleeve that's why I wear them all the time all right one of them was brown in color I've only seen that one time before let's try this again all right that pot passed the pot hanger test now let's see what we can do with the baskets peel that off the bass gags now remember this is the one that I say that if I was to ever call an ax a survival ax this would be it because if the handle broke you wouldn't have to worry about putting a wedge in the eye you could just take this blade which is nicknamed the moon bit because it's curved and you could just carve out a handle and slide it through because it fits like a tomahawk hmm all right let's try these all right let's go and I'm not going to choke all the way up on it like this because I can't get much of a swing so that's a pretty good X let's see if we can land another X right in there oh I just screwed it up look at that look at that just like I think it's too sharp without man I hit it too hard man that thing is why sharper than the prying let's try it again but right now if I do it on the second try we'll be eating with the prying all right let's stop I'm gonna choke up on it the skate is still bothering you yeah ain't good spending about 10 of the time on the camera and 90 of the time slapping mosquitoes some sort of little round bugs too I don't know like almost look like fleas in size but all right you're biting me too all right there we go rocking it moving back up cut your finger off here well my hand was away from it a knife is much better on either of these operations I think have we got it oh now all that'll do is smash your finger all right let's see if we got it [Music] all right nope let's keep going at it to be such a heavy ax well I mean it's not that heavy but to have the bulk it's got it actually chops gentle chopping and carving it's pretty good all right so let's see how's that yeah all right let's move on to the next one and see how that does all right ready yep what would you think was a clear winner in that one uh it really feels like the ax might be a little too sharp for doing that it requires you slipped a little bit while doing it and at first you made the mistake of hitting it too hard driving right too far in remember it went a lot smoother with a machete it did unwieldy you know this is 1.25 kilograms what did I weigh it at I weighed it at 1.33 kilograms maybe their scales better than mine all right let's go get the next setup right this next match up is probably the most mismatched setup of them all but I wanted to uh I wanted to include a kufri I'm sort of a modern cookery now this is the k-bar kukri one pound ten ounces 764 grams going up against two pound 14 ounces one kilogram or 1.310 kilogram all right so one pound ten ounce versus two pound 14 ounce basically a pound more so what we're going to do this is going to be fire prep so what we're going to do with this is we're going to take our cookery and I've left the knife off the sheath that would have been a little bit more white hmm and this one had a stainless steel knife I'm just amazed you're capable of carrying everything out here it wasn't easy all right so what I'm going to do is I'm going to hold this I'ma hold this piece now what we're going to do is we're going to split we're going to chop a piece and then we're going to split it and then we're going to try to see if we can carve with it all with one tote all right so we're gonna cut oh and as usual the lanyard put it with a blade facing away from you pick it up that's how you lock it on all right so let's give this a chop hold it plenty capable Chopper takes a little bit of air foot now what we're going to do next is we're going to chop here now for the splitting what we want to do is we're going to set it I need to get the bottom kind of flat it's probably going to break this tree but for the splitting we're going to Baton it just like that see how this does looks like it's going to break the sticker holding first yeah I think it is all right we got it done enough where I think I can oh okay there we go see I'll slide it into three pieces see how that does this will be the only time that I got to do this because the ax will split in a different fashion all right so what we want to do now is we're going to see how it carbs if we want some little feathers foreign see the little shavings um you could do a whole bunch of them in pretty much no time all right all right so there is that's the kukri we saw how much effort that took let's take the ax now let's cut us off the piece we know this is going to chop good all right now comes the hard part for the splitting [Music] see if we can split split [Music] that wind sure feels nice out here you know I think from a lot of rain coming again that part's not fun all right we got a partial exploit that's fixing to break so now we're going to split it from this walleye that's why you splitting with an ax because like that person showed on a loan that time if you're holding and you do this mentally you don't have the willpower to come down as hard as you can because you may hit so if you're holding a lot of people will very gently hit it and when they do they bounce off and come down so that's why you want to hold it down like this and hit it like that yeah I wouldn't hit it anywhere at with any strength at all if my hand was below it oh yeah and that's what makes it bounce so we're gonna split this into Birds [Music] all right so we have three just like we did with the cookery now let's see still Sharp let's see if this thing will carve this is not carving as big a shavings of course this ain't nowhere as near as sharp as the cookery but it is making shavings I honestly believe the other action well the last ax might actually do pretty good oh yeah definitely I'm making them it's just taking some effort now this ain't ain't really the ax's fault I didn't have it as sharp as it could be now I could spend some time they don't have to be attached I did all my carving on that stick over there that all this was done with the ax and you can make a pile of that I mean that was just what less than two minutes yeah so there you go on them what would you think Nick would you think sort of an even match on that sort of um yeah if you were going to just do this this would win because it weighs less but if you're going to bring this which weighs more you have way way more capabilities of firewood way more all right well now for the coyote test the macheteer ax we don't want that anyway speaking of chopping capabilities the last test is going to be chopping capabilities so we got one more test very important egg sure I can't wait I know you can all right the two that we have left are so large that you know if you had to you might could do minor tasks with them but these are the Heavy Hitters here these are the Choppers now these are the ones that I would recommend that you would be using some sort of uh conveyance of uh canoe kayak toboggan sled maybe even a bicycle with a trailer but these are the ones that are so big I wouldn't want to backpack them in and this is the one that the sheath I've been I've included a survival kit with it so that it can be strapped into a canoe or a kayak now this one here the Timberline tactical machete this thing is so big I actually have a coyote co-ops that I forgot about that I could strap to the front of it or maybe the back and this would actually have the same survival kit capacity is that and see this could also have another pouch added to the back of it so that you know in case your canoe turned over and this these were strapped to your canoe you would still have a kit so I'd have been paying attention beforehand it probably would have been better for this video yeah that I have a Timberline ax and the same style pouch oh yeah you do don't you I forgot about that whoops yeah another video oh yep Timberline doesn't make this anymore somebody else picked up this this is a Dave Young design by the way but this is three pounds six ounces or 1.546 kilograms this is five pounds even or 2.264 kilograms so this is roughly two pounds more than this one so let's take a look at this one this thing's got a stripe on the back here and what we're going to do is Nick is going to time me and this is a pine gas design but this is a gigantic huge heavy machete it's very heavy and what we're going to do with it is Nick is going to use a timer and he's going to time 30 seconds and I'm going to chop you got a timer on the phone yeah all right so what we're going to do and then this thing here is this is the woodings Verona ax and as a treat to my longtime viewers I'm going to make the statement that this Acts this woodings Verona ax was uh I'm lucky enough to own it it was one time owned by former Green Beret sergeant major Richardson so the people that watch my videos you now have a last name sergeant major Richardson Greenbrier uh multiple multiple Medals of Honor for Valor and heroism so anyway this doesn't pass Morris kohanski's it's a little bit long Morse kohanski says to be a good Survival Camp Bush ax you need to put it in your armpit and be able to cup your hand around it a couple inches long but as you can see earlier in the video it's definitely shorter than for the uh full-size effects all right so what we're going to do now this is a tree instead of using a tree on the ground this is still a pretty good decent solid tree and a Nick shine a camera right there on the roots oh right here yeah I see the root ball right there what's going on yeah the camera's stuck in it all right so what we're going to do we're going to cut this thing off and then we're going to start with our chopping so that'll be a good place for me to start editing okay all right Brady and he is going to tell me to start and to stop and what we're going to do is we're going to see what damage this will do in 30 seconds and then we're going to see what damage that'll do in 30 seconds oh that's one thing for everybody safety glasses carry them with you camping especially when you're traveling at night I keep saying it hex armor hex armor makes the best cut proof gloves on Earth they also make safety glasses uh hex armor those cut proof gloves are good for if you're you know if you're five miles out in the middle of nowhere and you're playing with a machete or a ax or you're carving it'll keep you from cutting your fingers so all right we're going to do what 30 seconds is going to do this side all right ready just 30 seconds 30 SEC what do you think oh okay I don't know what do you think 40 50. go for it 30 is not much I don't know 30. I think you could probably take a bit out of it in 30. yeah I think so just cover 30. and it'll keep me I wouldn't want to put spend too much time on this and get tired and then make that not benefit as well for me being tired so let's just go with 30 seconds and see what it'll do okay yep tell me when to go all right go out [Music] stop all right that's a good 30 seconds right there now I'll say that the handle on this thing is horrible if you don't have a a glove I got hit in the face with a chunk hot spots it's terrible damn Barlow's good though I really think I might have could have gone deeper if I'd have had a glove you know but I mean this that's not bad for 30 seconds you know what permanent wood pieces five minutes oh sorry five minutes you could be and be through a 10 inch log all right now the vintage woodings Verona and I think this is where the ax is going to shine and this is a lot smoother it's got the boiled linseed oil on it it's not about to put that it's about to put that cutesy machete to shame you got your time already to be in a more of a ready position than that there you go well I mean I figured it would take a little bit more time to raise it up until we'll go down on it and so get a sort of a fair start all right and go [Applause] foreign well I mean I guess it's not exactly the same because the machine the ax is wider longer and heads heavier and it's more of a chop and toe but you're way more tired after using that how I am yeah but it did more I don't know if that's much of a I think it's a I think it's a win for the machete why is that yet because the ax cut more but you're way more tired yeah I don't know if you want to be doing that a lot I don't know normally big firewood for me is a bow saw item you know it I don't know you got a good point when you say the machetes will win for you because I wasn't winded when I was swinging the machete but this big heavy thing here I was swinging it but now it got more done ain't no doubt about that at one on that case I might have could have swung a little bit lighter you know hard to say rather have less energy expenditure yeah that's true now this leads me back also say uh do you want to bring an ax or do you want to bring a machete it depends on what you're doing what your purpose is are you going to build a shelter are you going to be crafting uh are you going to be cutting firewood you know what I mean is it winter time is it summer time is it a temperate tropical environment where you won't need a big warming fire just a cooking fire is it going to be a very cold snowy place like up north where you're going to need a bunch of firewood but you know chopping capabilities 30 seconds you could tell I did a lot more here took a lot bigger chunks though too the chunks on average for the machete or somewhere in the neighborhood of that and there's one of the chunks from the ax foreign doesn't smell like fat wood yet it ain't been rotten long enough or real rotten at all it helped speed up the process a little bit yeah maybe water will get in there but anyway uh that's that uh I don't know there's things I could say there's things I could say still throwing chunks yeah I mean this is a capable machete it's just very large oh yeah also this is an ax you can chop with it it's sharp enough you could carve with it you could drive Stakes with it you can smash acorns walnuts with it this is a machete it has serrations for carving maybe digging into things serrations here it's got a cord cutter it's got a sawback it's got a glass breaker here I don't know what the glass breaker would be used for in the wilderness but anyways that's right and it's a very sharp machete so I guess we kind of covered everything as best as we could there's always been an argument for it you just have to look at these variables and think about what they weigh how you're carrying them what you're going to do with them uh for me still boils down to what I've always thought in the past it depends on time of year and what I'm going to be doing you know because sometimes I'll bring a BB sack and then sometimes I'll build a full shelter firing put a tarp over it if you're going to build a log cabin I would say you're going to bring an ax for notching and a bow saw for all the saw one shelter building throw a tarp over it machete may be you better bet hot weather machete cold weather packs add Nick this has left me confused between the two of them well I had a feeling that it would be like there's no clear winter yeah you know what I'm saying it's just it's hard to tell maybe this will put the old argument to rest on all the forms ooh I actually pick your favorite is there one you think's cooler do you think an ax is cooler or machetes cooler and just bring it okay we're going to close with that yeah work Sage advice Nick so I hope you had fun hope you enjoyed it get out in the wilderness get your family out get off the couch stop watching TV continue watching YouTube we shall see you in the next one see you later

Channel: Reallybigmonkey1

Views: 34,738

Keywords: Bushcraft, Survival, Bushcrafter, Bushcrafting, Survivalist, camping, camp, camper, hike, hiker, camp axe, pack axe, axe, ax, machete, machetes, backpack

Id: lidBhaDnYaQ

Length: 53min 8sec (3188 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 16 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/Teaofthetime]

It depends on the situation. People swear by a machete or parang in the jungle but an axe is often the tool of choice in a forest or cold environment.

[u/_Punko_]

Axe vs machete ?

Are you hunting zombies or vikings ?

[u/_Punko_]

Needs to test a Swedish bush axe. Used one instead of hatchet/axe/machete while surveying. Fantastic for brush clearing i.e. wood <3" diameter

[u/SemichiSam]

I carry a 'heavy machete', which I modified by cutting and sharpening a hook into the back edge. The hook lets me reach into a stand of brush, cut off individual stems and gather them to set them aside. It takes a bit longer, but when the brush has heavy thorns I don't want it flying around. The machete weighs only a pound and a half and can cut through branches that ordinary machetes cannot. I have a sharpening stone attached to the sheath.