I think that a machete-class blade should be interesting. You know that it would be the toughest one out there. One of the dilemmas with a machete is probably that there are a lot of fair to decent cheap options out there, so people's incentive to go up-scale may be limited? I know that the people on the forum would support it, but I wonder how big the overall market would be? I hope that they make one, though.

I hear you CR but you could say that about a lot of knives. There are CRKT, Buck, S&W, etc. that most (non-knife connoisseurs) would consider decent cheap knives....But it is us Bussekin fans and knife collectors/connoisseurs that buy the better stuff because we realize the difference.

I bet SY could put out a machete for not too much more than the Condors and they would be tougher and with res-C handles, more comfortable to boot. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I personally like the smaller knives, there are sooo many really big ones we need more neck knife type knives.

Martindale Latin style 24" or longer is the best sold today...Tramontina a close second.... the best ever.... Illegitimus Collins made in South America years ago... less than 24" is not an efficient machete for clearing work... and anyone that brings up a Barteaux... has never really used a machete.... pure Junk...been there... got the T-shirt... and the scars...

Doc
Florida Surveyor

Very good points... With dirt cheap Tramontina's (got a bolo) and even do I dare say the dreaded- Cold Steel (gargles mouth wash) (just got the kukri machete) as well, the machete market is covered by good product at very user friendly prices. A Yard machete would price itself out of everything except a specific market- us and the Hogs. That said, if Dan did a copy of the Martindale Golok (until recently the British Army issue survival knife/machete) in res-C and sr77 it'd be hard to resist...

Yeah, but way to expensive.

I went with "No" because, like khukris and axes, I don't believe Scrap yard can successfully compete head-to-head in a commodity-type blade market against established, good quality manufacturers. Scrap Yard has established itself as a better quality alternative to mass-production knives, but at a lower price-point than jumping into the full-custom market. I believe that most people who would buy a Scrap Yard machete are the folks who would buy any Scrap Yard release, no matter what it was. Despite voting "No", I might actually buy one, but that doesn't mean I think it's a good business decision.

I know that people will dispute my assertion, pointing to interest in the Killa-Z, but I have doubts that interest will translate into $700 each sales among more than just the hard-core chopperholics.

id buy one....if i had the dunny

I voted yes, just because I think it would be great to have. Saying that, I agree with Jim on his assertion.

Depends on the price...but with so many good cheap machetes out there...and the Waki coming, well I just dont know.


Waki or not, Id buy a SY47 or 4.

How expensive would it really be to make one?

A machete is thinner than Scrapyard's quarter-inch prybars, so that's less steel to buy... But is the major cost of a Scrapyard blade its steel? The initial machining? The primary grinding? The handle? The heat treating? How big a chunk of metal can their current equipment handle?

Without knowing intimate details about how the company works and how it buys material, I don't think we can make any intelligent comment about how expensive it would be to make a machete.

More interesting in my mind, is whether it would be a /better tool/ than what's already available. We already know that Scrapyard commits truly devoted amounts of time to making sure that they turn out only the best product. But in this case, because a machete is a very different tool than a knife (being a thinner and longer blade and subjected to very high speed impacts), would they be making the Omega of machetes or just one one that takes catastrophically damage a bit less frequently than the competition?

In other words, can they make a machete that is actually worth whatever it does cost them to make, or would even Scrapyard be unable to overcome the physics-based realities of machetes that tend to make them (comparatively) disposable. It strikes me that a machete which is so tough that it plows through everything in its path and never gets any damage in return is going to be too heavy to want to use, and a machete which actually does its job well and smoothly is going to be taking some damage from hard hits due to its geometry. Not enough to break it, but enough to dent and deform the edge, such that it requires heavy maintenance to keep in working order, and you certainly don't want to be taking a hammer and file to a hundred-dollar+ bar of steel on a regular basis...

Discuss.