Ontario Knife Company1-18 Military Machete

This is a great tool. I used to use a machete to cut sighting lines in my surveying days; wish we had these. I read many reviews and watched a lot of YouTube videos before buying this knife. I also researched the various machete types. Machetespcialists.com and Wikipedia.org provide a good overview and in depth write up on each blade. At any rate, I finally settled on this military issue machete sold by Ontario Knife Company. Each style of machete is going to have a particular task for which it will excel. For general brush and trail clearing the Ontario Military Jungle Machete is a great choice. Pros for this blade follow: 1) 1095 steel. Most machetes are going to be shipped with no edge. This steel will hold an edge very well. I used a belt sander to put an edge on mine and it's still razor sharp even after chopping through 1' thick logs and general brush clearing. 2) Full tang construction with lanyard hole. Very solid and the lanyard hole is a must for a machete. After a lot of work, your grip may relax a bit. The lip at the end of the handle and the lanyard help reduce the chance of the blade flying out of your hand. 3) Construction of the blade. With the taper of this blade and it's thickness (about 1/8"), it makes it ideal for chopping tasks. Some Golok Style Machetes such as the Condor Village Parang don't have any taper at all which causes an abrupt stop to your chop translating all the energy back to the hand. This translation of energy is much reduced in this blade and will give you many years of service. The overall length of the machete is 22-23" with the handle being about 4" with a true cutting edge (depending on how you grind it) to about 15". Weight is 1 lb 6 oz. 4) Zinc Phosphate coating. This isn't going to last very long but where ever it stays stuck to the blade, all the better. You will need to keep this blade oiled. Used this in the rain last weekend and it started to rust in a few hours. Cons: 1) No sheath. For $20 you're getting a great blade so I really can't complain. Retail price on the 6145 Machete is $35 so you're getting a good price off Amazon. I bought a plastic sheath for my machete (another review by me) separately. 2) This blade came shipped to me very carelessly. It's only protection within the shipping box was a thin cardboard wrap. In other words, there was no plastic packaging or anything really identifying this knife. Amazon probably purchases this blade in bulk and the blades come from Ontario Knife in a box of 20-30. Just guessing on this but there weren't any company markings on the cardboard wrap. The blade is marked 'Ontario Knife US'. Just the fact of how well this blade has held it's edge, I know I have the real deal.

I bought this after having a Gerber machete fail miserably after just a few minutes of use. I own several other American made Ontario products and should have gone with the Ontario machete from the start. The difference between the Ontario and the Gerber is night and day. The Ontario machete is considerably heavier and is much more robust. Don’t waste your money like I did on lesser quality products. This machete may cost a slight bit more but is worth every penny.

I had a 4" thick tree sprout out of nowhere along my fence line. I had tried to kill it when it was just a little bush and thought I had done the job with a shovel but it turned into a 20 foot tall tree in the space of several months. I thought about saws, limb cutters, etc but then remembered the good old machete, if it can clear a path through a jungle, it should make short work of a sapling. I wasn't wrong. This thing is thick, hardened steel and over engineered for it's purpose. If you are reading this, chances are you didn't stumble blindly to this product, but instead came knowing it is the same machete the armed forces use and it was chosen for a reason. It arrived completely dull. You WILL have to put an edge on it. I purchased an inexpensive sharpener with it and about 5 minutes of stroking the blade with it and I had a reasonable edge. Not sharp enough to cut paper, but sharp enough to make short work of my tree problem. The weight definitely helped in severing 1" and smaller branches in a single stroke. I cut off the branches overhanging carefully in case it was an urushiol plant and when I had cleared my way to the trunk I started cutting a wedge into it, and the rest of the sapling fell within minutes. It actually took me longer to clean up the mess of branches than to cut it down and chop it into pieces. I've never used a machete before but I feel like it was the right tool for the job. The handle didn't want to slide out of my grip and it didn't twist much upon impact and I was thankful for that as I could imagine a cheaper blade glancing off and hitting you in the leg or foot if you weren't careful. It was more than I wanted to pay for a machete I will be barely using but on the bright side I will never have to buy another one because this one is going to last a very long time.

I really like this machete.........AFTER IT'S SHARPENED. I can really see why this machete is standard issue for out military! This machete is a beast! I own and use a lot of different machetes; everything from Tramontina, Imacasa, and Condor, to Cold Steel, Kabar, Gerber, Fiskars, and this Ontario. Needless to say, this machete is way over-engineered! It's a bit thicker than most machetes, and much heavier as well. In return you get a very solid machete that shouldn't ever snap or bend unless your doing something drastically wrong! This machete is made from 1095 high carbon steel and takes a wicked edge. The reason I'm docking a star from my rating is because Ontario does such a bad just even putting on a basic bevel that the very edge has spots that are completely flat and up to 1/16" thick! This results in taking an inordinate amount of time to grind in a proper edge once you receive this machete. It took me the better part of one day, and a few hours the second day to finally make this machete work ready. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Ontario should make sure these things are razor blades before they leave the factory, but they could sure to a better job at putting a basic grind on the machete than they are doing now! It would be nice to see this problem fixed. Once this machete is properly sharpened, this thing should give you years and years of service! This is a quality tool, just don't expect it to come work ready out of the box.

Eine super Machete und ein netter Anbieter.

A beast of a machete, as other have noted it’s much thicker than your standard machete. Comes with an OK edge, 30 minutes with a file put a good enough edge on it for me. (Steel is real tough, requires a lot of consistency compared to sharpening my 1065 axe head). The handle is hot garbage. But I knew that when I bought it. I plan to sand it and round it out a bit (it’s a little too square for my preference). I love it because it’s obvious the blade is made to be tough and durable, it will take a beating. Although I expect the handle to loosen up sooner or later, so thinking of how I’m gonna deal with that when the time comes.

This is a pretty sturdy machete it feels very well built. The handle feels a bit weird but you can fix it with hockey tape. My only complaint about it is that it scratches very easily. (Also if your wondering the machete doesn't come with a sheath. You have to purchase it separately )

When it arrived I put it through some hard testing in the woods. The steel is obviously very high quality and the edge held up even after a week of hard use. If I have one issue it is simply the handle scales. The fitting is pretty good but not completely flush with the tang and because of that, it is not really usable without gloves, since it will tear up the skin on the hand.

This turned out to be quite good. I was initially concerned after reading some of the negative reviews. It is sharp enough, durable and sturdy. Should last a long time. One minor comment, the handle could be made a bit thicker/wider for a firmer grip. The handle is very thin and compromises your grip.