Anybody Here Use a Machete in Gardening?

[NJCher]

One of our gardeners at the community garden used one last year. I was kind of impressed, so I bought one.

I tried it out on my wisteria but was not impressed. Maybe I should sharpen it myself. 

If anyone has advice, I would like to hear about what you use it for.
Do you think a brand new machete should need sharpening immediately?
Do you consider it a timesaver?
What kinds of plants do you use it on?

When I bought it at the local hardware store, there were some guys standing around waiting for their turn with the owner. One of the guys looked at me carrying my machete and he asked what are you going to do with that thing and I said "cut some mint."  They all looked at each other with alarm. I said what's the matter?  You don't know what mint is?  Then they laughed and said we thought you said you were going to cut some men!

[LakeArenal]

1. Brand new machetes need sharpening because buyers might cut themselves before the sale.

Costa Ricans use machetes almost exclusively.

[NJCher]

9. yes

I kind of wondered if they might be a little dull because of the sales process, which you confirmed.

My gardener was from South America; can't remember where, though.

[2naSalit]

2. Well...

Depends on who wants to know!

[Tetrachloride]

3. I found that my machete was shorter than the branches of

what I was cutting.

I didn’t like the straight handle either.

[cloudbase]

4. I did earlier this year.

The prickly pear cactus was getting out of hand, so bought a Harbor Freight special and had at it. It did a fine job.

[NJCher]

10. my bamboo is marching under the power line

which flips out the PSEG, so I was hoping to use it on that, too.

Plus it is now marching up the hill and it looks like I'm being invaded.

For decades this stuff has minded itself, never getting too invasive. Last spring, however, the PSEG decided they wanted it out of the way of the power line so they send in a horde of workers to clear it out. I think it invoked the bamboo's survival instincts and it wants to find "another planet," kind of like we do.

So if you can cut prickly pear cactus, it should be good for young bamboo.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

5. I still have my dad's machete

He used around the yard.

Honed almost razor-sharp.

[Chainfire]

6. What you can use them for gardening?

Just teasing. I had some surveyors out here not long ago; to watch what the could do with a sharp machete was impressive. They made paths through jungle like growth like it wasn't there. They sharpen them before going to work every day; I asked. Sharp is the key, and it takes some skill to sharpen the blades well.

I would give a warning about a sharp machete; they are not very smart and they don't know the difference in a limb on a tree and a limb on a body.

[NJCher]

11. interesting

haha. I am a knife sharpening aficionado but whether kitchen knife sharpening and machete sharpening have any crossover remains to be seen.

Like you, I was so impressed watching my comminity gardener slash through weeds. I hope I can do the same so efficiently. Unfortunately I can't ask her because she's no longer with us.

[Chainfire]

13. That is certainly true. I too appreciate a fine, hand honed, edge on a pocket, kitchen

or hunting knife, but I have not been able to get the results that I have seen on a bolo or a machete. Part of my problem may lie in buying cheap machetes from Wal-China. It is akin to teaching a Pakistani pocket knife to shave.

[JustAnotherGen]

7. Yes

For the creeping ivy.

[lark2]

8. I use one on the giant thorn covered hellvines.

Don't know what this weed's name is, but mom called them vines from hell because of the huge thorns and the corms grown way way down deep and are very difficult to get rid of. They get too big for the pruning shears so I use the machete to chop down the ones growing up our oak trees.

The thing that makes these so bad is they intertwine with less toxic vines and you don't see them, but you sure feel them + they always find a way to wrap around you when pulling them down and the thorns have a light poison so they really irritate your skin.

[NJCher]

12. that sounds worse than poison ivy

the part about the thorns and light poison is particularly scary. One would have to be so careful.

What a nightmare.

[lark2]

16. I am HIGHLY allergic to poison oak and probably poison ivy, this isn't nearly as poison.

The scratches just get red and itch and hurt, not like poison oak/ivy that can get in your bloodstream and go all over your body. The poison on the thorns is just enough to be very irritating,

I was nearly hospitalized when I got poison oak, purely awful. I ended up taking steroids and got a strong lecture about can't get near this stuff again or come straight to the hospital.

[Chainfire]

15. I didn't know what you call them, but we have the same or something similar here.

[Chainfire]

14. My problem is wild grape vines, they have the strength and toughness of a wire rope and yet the give

when struck by a blade. I have been struggling with them for the past 25 years, and I am not gaining ground.

[NJCher]

17. results of sharpening machete

First, however, regarding grapevines, I have a serrated saw hand tool that works fairly well on them, but you probably know about them. Looks like this:

https://www.vanceoutdoors.com/products2.cfm/ID/246758

Inexpensive, too.

I am working on a way that I can push a tube into the ground around the base of the vine. This is if I can't pull the grapevine root up. Then I will pour vinegar 30% on it inside the tube. I will leave the tube in the ground for a while, to let it thoroughly saturate the root. It prol'ly won't kill it but it will give it a serious setback. I'll just do a few a day but over a period of time, so I might make a dent in them.

On another topic, my more generalized sharpening skills only transferred to the machete in a limited way. Using a sharpening stone (whetstone, I think it's called) I sharpened it enough that I was able to hack down about 10 bamboo in less than 10", including gathering and transporting time. Here they are and I took the photo to show the cut end:



However, when I tried to use the machete again today on mint and weeds, it was ineffective. Just not sharp enough.

I spoke to the hardware store guy about it and he explained that I wouldn't be able to get the machete sharp on the curve with a whetstone, especially a small one, like what I had. Fortunately I learned he does sharpening there, so I'll take it over to him along with a few other tools and let him do it.