So I have this big 22" $5 machete that I bought years ago before I knew anything about blades. I used it once, decided it was terrible (too long, too much forward weight, half-ground edge bevel, cheapo plastic handles) and quickly replaced it with a 14" special grade Tramontina from Baryonyx after doing some research.
I came across it the other day and figured it's a big hunk of steel that I should be able to do something interesting with. Initially, I was just going to cut it down to 16" and put a proper edge bevel on it/use it for grinding practice, but now I'm thinking I could cut off the handle and use the unground section to shape a new tang, make my own scales and maybe alter the blade profile.
Here's the beast, ~2mm stock:
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It's ultimately up to me to decide what to do, but I'd like to hear some ideas from you guys about how to mod this out into a functional blade. Pretty much anything is on the table, so please throw it out there if you've got something.
I even thought about cutting it into sections to make multiple smaller knives, but since the quality of the steel/HT is dubious, it might work best to keep it as a machete.
I came across it the other day and figured it's a big hunk of steel that I should be able to do something interesting with. Initially, I was just going to cut it down to 16" and put a proper edge bevel on it/use it for grinding practice, but now I'm thinking I could cut off the handle and use the unground section to shape a new tang, make my own scales and maybe alter the blade profile.
Here's the beast, ~2mm stock:
It's ultimately up to me to decide what to do, but I'd like to hear some ideas from you guys about how to mod this out into a functional blade. Pretty much anything is on the table, so please throw it out there if you've got something.
I even thought about cutting it into sections to make multiple smaller knives, but since the quality of the steel/HT is dubious, it might work best to keep it as a machete.