Hey Guys Just thought I would share a couple of simple and quick mods. First up is bringing the edge all the way back to the handle on the LM and adding a sharpening choil. This makes feathersticking and notching alot easier. All you need is a steel file and a 3/8 round file. Lastly is squaring up the spine to strike a firesteel. I dont like carrying a separate scraper and I dont like using the cutting edge so this works great. I used a a DMT diafold across the spine and it didnt need much. I scraped the coating from the last jimping ridge to the width of the Diafold with my pocket knife, Once it was all done I gun blued it.
Never understood why machete grinds stop so short. I have modified mine into a scandi right there at the handle, squared the spine by the handle as well, and rounded the spine further out for comfort when using it like a draw knife.
""Never understood why machete grinds stop so short"" Because the rest of the world that uses machetes everyday never uses the back part of the blade. If you only sharpened the belly area of a machete you would be able to deal with 90% of everything a machete is used for. When a handle breaks in remote areas you will see folks that use them everyday wrap the lower part of the blade with any tape available and use that for the handle, still getting all of the work they need out of the belly area of the blade)))
They'll also commonly grip the unsharpened region for when performing knife-like cuts since it provides a more neutral balance. If they extended the handle up the blade it'd increase the tool's total weight and shift the balance rearward, which would neuter its chopping ability, so leaving it plain steel is the most sensible thing to do. That being said, if your uses would benefit from sharpening the base of the blade, it may make sense to do so. But if it was ground to an edge ahead of time and you'd rather do the traditional approach your only option would be to blunt that region and then you'd still have a bevel creating a thinner edge there, which would reduce comfort in such use.
Great info Mike, my experience with folks using machetes is limited to my travels around Asia. Tne machetes I saw were of no particular type yet were used for everything from butchering chickens to trimming hedges. The locals were more skilled than I will ever be.
