Traveler III
Hello all
I thought I'd do a quick little first impressions/first use review of my new Coast Machete:
I bought this nice little machete for 20 Canuck bucks from Home Depot Canada. It has a 14 inch stainless steel blade with a full tang, overmolded heavy duty polymer grip, sawback design, and it even comes with the little lanyard, which I really thought was a nice touch.
Here's my specific example:
Especially considering the price, the overall build quality of both the sheath and the machete are excellent. Even though this is a very inexpensive machete, nothing about it says "cheap." The handle is very crisply molded with well defined, quite aggressive checkering, there are no mold lines or burrs anywhere on the handle, the blade is nicely finished, and it even comes with a simple paracord lanyard, which I thought was a very nice touch. The grip and its guard are well proportioned and sized right for my somewhat large hands, but I think even a person with smallish hands could weild this thing very effectively. It's weight also seems to be just right - heavy enough to cut effectively, but not so heavy as to be cumbersome or a burden to carry. In fact, it carries so nicely that I actually forgot I was wearing it on my belt a couple of times.
As for the sheath, it's a good quality nylon weave, the belt loop is well proportioned and is fastened with a double cross stitch, and there's a reinforcing welt inside where the blade edge goes in, and a rounded reinforcement at the back to prevent the saw teeth from damaging the nylon weave. It has some rigidity to it, which really helps make sheathing the blade easy. there is also a snap down retention strap (face down in the photo above) which when looped through the D guard of the machete positively retains it. Even without the strap done up, the sheath has a little bit of passive retention, which is really nice.
The idea of a machete with a saw blade on the back is somewhat questionable in and of itself. It definitely is not ideal as a saw, but I suppose it detracts little if anything from its primary use as a cutting tool. In fact, I did make use of the saw today while I was using the machete for the first time hacking through some brambles and other nasty underbrush, and I found it quite effective. It has fairly aggressive teeth with a decent kerf that made cutting through an inch and a half fallen tree branch reasonably easy. In a pinch when you can't or don't want to carry a dedicated saw, it comes in handy.
I have seen some reviews of other machetes with saw backs that have snapped in half due to the valleys between the teeth concentrating force into the metal. Those were, I believe, cheap Chinese no-name blades, however. Coast's machete is made in China, I think, however the company is based in Portland, Oregon. They back this blade with a lifetime warranty, so time will tell whether it will fail under heavy use or not. I'm optimistic based on some previous experience with Coast products.
Out of the box, the F1400 comes with a respectable, but not excellent edge. The secondary bevel was not perfectly centered all the way along the blade, and the keeness of the edge was good but not great. However, it did cut through brambles, reeds and smallish branches fairly effectively, making a satisfying shing when I got my cut angle and speed just right, so at $19.99 plus tax, I consider the edge it came with quite acceptable. I have no doubt it could be improved with a bit of effort.
One point where Coast missed the mark a bit was in the choice of plain stainless steel. I get the reasoning behind using it, namely corrosion resistance, but it's just too soft. After one outing and perhaps 20 minutes or so of slashing through the bush, a few contacts with the ground and/or thicker tree branches were enough to dent the blade's edge in several places. Of course the upside of this softness is that it's also easy to sharpen, and a couple minutes with a file and knife sharpener restored the blade to almost its original condition, while arguably showing a slight improvement of the centering of the secondary bevel. Ultimately, I think this may be the only criticism of an otherwise fairly excellent (for its price point) machete. I believe Coast would have been better served by using high carbon stainless to get a harder edge while still maintaining rust resistance. In discussions about swords made of stainless steel, I have heard that blades above a certain length made of stainless are brittle and prone to breaking, but I think at 14 inches, and based on the degree of flexibility of this blade, it should be fine.
Conclusions:
I think in order to give this a fair review, one must consider its design concept, or to borrow a term from Nutnfancy, its philosophy of use. I believe this machete is intended to be used primarily in a sort of camping/exploring/trail clearing role rather than a heavy duty or agricultural kind of role. If you're going to clear a huge swath of bush in the back of your ten acre homestead, I think this machete is a poor choice, especially compared with something like the cold steel latin machete. If, on the other hand, you are like me and plan to carry it more than you use it, drawing it from time to time to slash your way through nasty brambles impeding a trail, or perhaps to clear some underbrush from a chosen camp site, I think it's an excellent machete. In this kind of role, its light weight, compact design, integrated saw, hand guard, and even its rust resistant blade all make perfect sense.
Obviously only time will tell how it holds up over long term, but it performed quite admirably today and was really little the worse for wear afterwards. The fact it has a lifetime warranty suggests that it will hold up just fine.
Considering that I paid $17.99 for a bolo machete that turned out to be a complete piece of crap with the most laughable excuse for an edge I've ever seen (I returned it), for $19.99 this machete is outstanding value. I think if the edge retention was better, ie. better steel, I'd call it just about perfect as a trail/camp machete.
Pros:
Excellent value for money
Well made
Well designed, attractive
light weight
compact
ergonomic
decent edge
easy to sharpen
comes with a sheath and a simple lanyard
saw is effective, such as it is
cuts well
highly corrosion resistant
flexible, but not excessively so
lifetime warranty
Cons:
Edge retention is fairly poor, steel is overly soft
checkering might be a bit overly aggressive - may want to wear gloves
Not as effective for heavy duty tasks that a bigger style machete would excel at
Overall, highly recommended budget camp/trail machete.
I thought I'd do a quick little first impressions/first use review of my new Coast Machete:
I bought this nice little machete for 20 Canuck bucks from Home Depot Canada. It has a 14 inch stainless steel blade with a full tang, overmolded heavy duty polymer grip, sawback design, and it even comes with the little lanyard, which I really thought was a nice touch.
Here's my specific example:
Especially considering the price, the overall build quality of both the sheath and the machete are excellent. Even though this is a very inexpensive machete, nothing about it says "cheap." The handle is very crisply molded with well defined, quite aggressive checkering, there are no mold lines or burrs anywhere on the handle, the blade is nicely finished, and it even comes with a simple paracord lanyard, which I thought was a very nice touch. The grip and its guard are well proportioned and sized right for my somewhat large hands, but I think even a person with smallish hands could weild this thing very effectively. It's weight also seems to be just right - heavy enough to cut effectively, but not so heavy as to be cumbersome or a burden to carry. In fact, it carries so nicely that I actually forgot I was wearing it on my belt a couple of times.
As for the sheath, it's a good quality nylon weave, the belt loop is well proportioned and is fastened with a double cross stitch, and there's a reinforcing welt inside where the blade edge goes in, and a rounded reinforcement at the back to prevent the saw teeth from damaging the nylon weave. It has some rigidity to it, which really helps make sheathing the blade easy. there is also a snap down retention strap (face down in the photo above) which when looped through the D guard of the machete positively retains it. Even without the strap done up, the sheath has a little bit of passive retention, which is really nice.
The idea of a machete with a saw blade on the back is somewhat questionable in and of itself. It definitely is not ideal as a saw, but I suppose it detracts little if anything from its primary use as a cutting tool. In fact, I did make use of the saw today while I was using the machete for the first time hacking through some brambles and other nasty underbrush, and I found it quite effective. It has fairly aggressive teeth with a decent kerf that made cutting through an inch and a half fallen tree branch reasonably easy. In a pinch when you can't or don't want to carry a dedicated saw, it comes in handy.
I have seen some reviews of other machetes with saw backs that have snapped in half due to the valleys between the teeth concentrating force into the metal. Those were, I believe, cheap Chinese no-name blades, however. Coast's machete is made in China, I think, however the company is based in Portland, Oregon. They back this blade with a lifetime warranty, so time will tell whether it will fail under heavy use or not. I'm optimistic based on some previous experience with Coast products.
Out of the box, the F1400 comes with a respectable, but not excellent edge. The secondary bevel was not perfectly centered all the way along the blade, and the keeness of the edge was good but not great. However, it did cut through brambles, reeds and smallish branches fairly effectively, making a satisfying shing when I got my cut angle and speed just right, so at $19.99 plus tax, I consider the edge it came with quite acceptable. I have no doubt it could be improved with a bit of effort.
One point where Coast missed the mark a bit was in the choice of plain stainless steel. I get the reasoning behind using it, namely corrosion resistance, but it's just too soft. After one outing and perhaps 20 minutes or so of slashing through the bush, a few contacts with the ground and/or thicker tree branches were enough to dent the blade's edge in several places. Of course the upside of this softness is that it's also easy to sharpen, and a couple minutes with a file and knife sharpener restored the blade to almost its original condition, while arguably showing a slight improvement of the centering of the secondary bevel. Ultimately, I think this may be the only criticism of an otherwise fairly excellent (for its price point) machete. I believe Coast would have been better served by using high carbon stainless to get a harder edge while still maintaining rust resistance. In discussions about swords made of stainless steel, I have heard that blades above a certain length made of stainless are brittle and prone to breaking, but I think at 14 inches, and based on the degree of flexibility of this blade, it should be fine.
Conclusions:
I think in order to give this a fair review, one must consider its design concept, or to borrow a term from Nutnfancy, its philosophy of use. I believe this machete is intended to be used primarily in a sort of camping/exploring/trail clearing role rather than a heavy duty or agricultural kind of role. If you're going to clear a huge swath of bush in the back of your ten acre homestead, I think this machete is a poor choice, especially compared with something like the cold steel latin machete. If, on the other hand, you are like me and plan to carry it more than you use it, drawing it from time to time to slash your way through nasty brambles impeding a trail, or perhaps to clear some underbrush from a chosen camp site, I think it's an excellent machete. In this kind of role, its light weight, compact design, integrated saw, hand guard, and even its rust resistant blade all make perfect sense.
Obviously only time will tell how it holds up over long term, but it performed quite admirably today and was really little the worse for wear afterwards. The fact it has a lifetime warranty suggests that it will hold up just fine.
Considering that I paid $17.99 for a bolo machete that turned out to be a complete piece of crap with the most laughable excuse for an edge I've ever seen (I returned it), for $19.99 this machete is outstanding value. I think if the edge retention was better, ie. better steel, I'd call it just about perfect as a trail/camp machete.
Pros:
Excellent value for money
Well made
Well designed, attractive
light weight
compact
ergonomic
decent edge
easy to sharpen
comes with a sheath and a simple lanyard
saw is effective, such as it is
cuts well
highly corrosion resistant
flexible, but not excessively so
lifetime warranty
Cons:
Edge retention is fairly poor, steel is overly soft
checkering might be a bit overly aggressive - may want to wear gloves
Not as effective for heavy duty tasks that a bigger style machete would excel at
Overall, highly recommended budget camp/trail machete.
