MTECH USA MT-20-08L Machete Knife 25-Inch Overall , Black

Overall, this is almost too nice a machete to go out and hack scrub brush with. More like stylin' your way through the zombie apocalypse. No quibbles at all about the blade. It is well made and thicker than your usual machete with very little bend. It arrived well-packaged and reasonably sharp. The cutting edge is 18", stopping about a 1 1/4" before the guard and the spine length was 18 3/4". The handle itself, however was just a little bit loose and slicker than I expected. Neither of which matter, since I am probably going to wrap it with some gutted paracord which should solve both problems. Definitely a 5 on the blade and a 4 to 4 1/2 on the handle. Well worth the money.

I already have a multi-purpose, medium-sized hand tool for wilderness use, the Cold Steel Special Forces Shovel (see my review of THAT pleasantly beastly thing), but I need to clear large quantities of brush for shooting lanes and small feed plots on a deer lease, and so I am buying several task-specific tools to that end. I don't want to use my chain saw for EVERYTHING.I feel pretty sure that someone is going to hassle me for saying this, but the only reason I didn't give this tool a 5-star rating is its length. Everyone seems to want a SHORT machete, and while this one is longer than most, I still prefer one that is even longer. I like to be able to swipe the base of a vine or briar or sapling without having to stoop at all. I know a little about the history of machetes, of their use for cutting sugar cane on the plantations, and I know that they have traditionally not been very long. Sometimes I break with tradition. This tool has such a thick blade that it is too heavy for many, and so a longer blade would be less popular. Still, I would like it longer.I also know that most rednecks in this area claim that a machete shouldn't be "too sharp". They cite two different reasons, both of which I disagree with, neither of which I care to repeat or directly argue against here. I'm a long-haired redneck myself, and I have never had a machete-related injury, nor accidentally inflicted one, though I have always kept my machetes very sharp, usually re-setting the factory edge and carefully bringing the tool to higher sharpness.Most machetes are not made of a steel that will easily take or keep a VERY sharp edge. This thing here, however, came out of the box pocket-knife sharp. I dressed the edge a little with ceramic, and brought it to a sharpness close to professional kitchen knife level. I then used it to cut palmettos, briars, vines, and some youpon trees so that I could get my ATV around a flooded spot at the edge of a blackwater swamp. This thick, hefty, strong, full-tang blade was still very sharp afterwards. This is a really amazing tool, and is more like an over-sized bush knife than a machete, but it definitely stands up to use as a machete.I made a custom paracord wrap on the handle when I first got it, and that change in the grip was perfect for me. However, this tool has an excellent grip out of the box.Because of my unusual demands / requirements, I will likely have to make my own bush-sword / over-sized machete to get exactly what I want. When I so do, I will likely model it partially after this design. One of the factors that led me to choose this blade over a contender that is two inches longer is the pointed nose that this one has. The other design had a typical machete round nose. I like the sharp point enough to take a slightly shorter blade to get it, though it was a very tough call, given the importance I place on a longer blade. So, yes, I did consciously choose this tool, knowing the length of the blade, but it was a compromise.To get the length and functionality combination that I want for clearing brush, I'm going to buy a brush-hook or two or three, and the other machete that I was looking at. When I get a chance to field-test them and find out which one works best for me, I will review them and I will mention it here so that anyone interested can check out those reviews.

Well, if you live in the Walking Dead World, your set! Reckon ya could pal up with Michonne and go to whacking away, lol. A machete it ain't, not really. More of a heavy Knife-Sword or rather a Sling-Blade. Nicely hardened, sharp, thick, long knife blade. Handle is nice and solid on this one. If it gets loose. I'll re-drill this one and install some larger brass or mild stainless solid rivets. I really like this thing in my little collection of blades. Oh, Amazon got right to it on delivery too. Two days from Florida to Texas. Will carry it on my left hip when we do our militia drills with my M-4 over my right shoulder. Got a 40 cal. pistol for my left shoulder and a standard military style knife for my right lower leg. Caution, seriously! This is a "DANGEROUS" Sling-Blade and must be respected as such. Also, my ring size is 14 and I consider that minimal. Large hands required. If it flings from your hand, something gets damaged badly! Must be kept secured to your wrist if your slinging it....

Much room for improvement, but still a good deal. I am amazed such a nice blade can be made for what it costs for a couple to see a night-time movie and buy one small soda in New England! Unfortunately they obviously ran out of money after making the blade and everything else is of poor quality.Pro: -Above average sharpness for a factory machete blade,-Listed as being 440 stainless steel on blade, which I believe is true.-Appears to be full-tang, but the guard is installed in a way that makes me wonder, since one reviewed claimed his blade detached. (Until I see a picture of a separated blade, I will believe it is a full-tang.)Cons: Extremely poor fit between tang and handle, even for China 1970’s standards! (Took off one star!)-Only two handle rivets.-Tang is sharp and jagged along slightly smaller handle.-Deceptive name with USA, but 100% made in China. (Took off two stars!)-Black blade finish already starting to wear off and I have not used it to cut brush yet.-Sheath is designed to quickly fail, especially if carried over one’s shoulder. This knife could do some major damage if the sheaf fails and the user is not aware of it.-Heavy knife to carry in the woods, especially after the extremely cheap sheaf fails.Overall, a good deal for $23, but you get what you pay for. Handle is unusable as delivered, but is fixable with 30-minutes of sanding, with some varnish or a tight wrap of paracord. Blade is nice and particularly sharp. Great length. Labor is cheap in China. If the manufacture invested another $7/knife to improve the fit, add a third rivet and make a better sheath, I would buy several for $30 to $40 each. If that is not possible, then a second option is to sell the completed blade as a kit, with a DIY rubber handle, guard, 3 rivets, sheath kit and epoxy for around the same price. Be extremely careful using this near anyone else. Unlike most machetes, this blade could cause serious injuries if the user is not careful.