Since Cosmo is an international house, and Sutton also has a large number of international students, this article is written to educate readers about one of the most commonly used tools in the world. The machete is also the best outdoor and survival tool that money can buy. The machete is available in every part of the world, though more common in rural areas than urban. Although its purpose is as an agricultural tool, its ubiquity and its effectiveness as a weapon, has made it the weapon of choice in uprisings around the world. But none of this will necessary interest the reader, as it is not personal. These tools have value as a household tool, and especially as a survival tool. A machete made of the right steel can cut, chop or smash just about anything put in front of it.
 The Panga |
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It is often used on plantations in tropical areas to harvest crops, but is also used as a butcher’s cleaver, to clear land, and for such tasks as opening coconuts. The design of the machete came from the European cutlass, and so the machete came into existence during European imperialism. The cutlass is a more expensive form of cutting tool, and the machete was designed to create a lower cost cutting tool, as well as a tool more suited to cutting soft materials such as grass and brush. The machete has a much lighter blade, thinner and wider blade than the cutlass, though the steel has often the same chemical composition as in sabers and cutlasses.
The ideal machete steel is better suited for the toughness of the blade as a whole than on maintaining a sharp edge, so a mid level carbon content is preferable. SAE 1055 is a common choice for steel in modern machetes. Finally the thickness of the machete, at 1/8 of an inch makes it economical to produce, while the toughness of 1055 makes it a tool that will last a lifetime.
While manufacturers maintain the thickness and steel among different styles of machetes, different shapes facilitate different types of work. The most common machete on the African continent is the panga machete, although the term “Panga” has become synonymous with the meaning of the word “machete” in many places in Africa. The blade of the panga has the weight concentrated at the end of the blade to make it suitable for chopping, while the tip is rounded over and swept upward to facilitate slashing through grass. Another common type of machete is the Latin machete. This is also the machete profile that is most common in North America. It has a narrower, longer blade than the panga, from 18-24 inches, and also has a more acute point.
 The Barong |
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In southeast Asia, the Barong, with it's leaf shaped blade is common. But more common in Asia, as well as East Africa and India is the Bolo machete. Like the Panga and Latin machetes, it has a weighted tip, as well as an upward sweeping point that optimizes the blade for chopping. The upward sweeping tips on these machetes make the tip less likely to break, as the part that is likely to hit the ground is wider than the rest of the blade.
Of course, the term “machete” is a European term for a tool that has been adopted by all the above mentioned regions. In the Philippines, the Barong machete is known as the Barong, and likewise with the Bolo in much of southern Asia and Eastern Africa. Also, the term machete in modern times relates more to the method used to manufacture the tool, and the flat, thin, wide blade, rather than the shape. However, the term “machete” most commonly refers to the Latin.
While events in Africa have associated the machete with violence, the reader must remember that the human heart is always responsible for violence, and not an inanimate object. Without the hand to grasp it, a machete has no ability to move or do anything. The knife is one of man's oldest tools, and without it, life is much more difficult. Students lives are sometimes sheltered from the practical, but ask any Filipino living in a small village, or farmer from Zambia or rancher in Montana, and they'll tell you that the machete, or something like it is necessary to make civilized life possible.