pgandy
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Post by pgandy on Mar 5, 2021 2:16:37 GMT
As I was retiring for bed I took one last look around and I found this video about Condor machetes that really hit home. I didn’t realize they had so many models and not all were represented. It’s obvious Joe Flowers, Condor’s rep, knows the culture and machetes. He makes several statements and references that I’m familiar with but seldom if ever hear. At mark 9:59 he introduces a stick we use for grass cutting except I’ve never seen a notched stick and they are usually a trifle longer. And one cuts underneath the stick and not over it as the man on the right did. And then at mark 8:27 I was almost floored when I saw that machete. I thought to myself “damn I had one almost like that but smaller and the handle bent” and then he explains. With the ones I’m familiar the handle has two bends. The first one next to the blade goes up and the next one is more or less parallel with the blade like a trowel. At one point Flower describes how to hold a machete to get more mileage without a blister. I am surprised at how many Americans don’t know how. I can imagine the reaction I would have gotten if they said “serge, how does it work”? I dare say in those days the sarge himself didn’t know. I could very much relate to that video.
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Post by Adventurer'sBlade on Mar 5, 2021 2:19:33 GMT
Joe Flowers designed a bunch of the Condor blades, not just a spokesman. Talk about a dream job.
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pgandy
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Post by pgandy on Mar 5, 2021 11:57:32 GMT
Joe Flowers designed a bunch of the Condor blades, not just a spokesman. Talk about a dream job. So he says in the video. I used rep because at that moment he was acting as the company's rep at the show. The thing that bothers me most about Condor is that they are located to the north of me and won’t sell me a machete. I’ve asked them directly and for a name of a local source and they ignore all requests preferring to ship to the US, adding to the cost. Then I pay for international shipping from the States back to here. I can get a Bellota from Colombia locally much cheaper. The last one, and a favourite, cost me <5 USD.
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Post by bebut on Mar 5, 2021 14:17:30 GMT
Condor and Imacasa are marketed separately. I have never seen a Condor in Nicaragua and I wonder if they are even marketed in Salvador. It would not sell well because of price. It is a luxury item for people with billetes, and I doubt there are enough people with billetes here to justify importation. Swiss army knives do have a following here but they are sort of a gentleman's knife, not a weed whacker.
Imacasa, on the other hand , is all over the place. El Salvador and Nicaragua are part of the C4 common market and goods travel freely. That is probably why Colombian and Chicom brands have not caught on here.
I have seen the Tico machetes with the funny handle in CR. They seem like would alleviate wrist damage when used to cut stuff low and parallel to the ground, although they look like they would make dandy pancake or egg flippers, too.
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Post by RufusScorpius on Mar 5, 2021 14:57:19 GMT
I bought a surplus pack of 10 blades for $20 a few years back and it had a good assortment of Imacasa, Condor, and other known brands, all brand new. I guess in the US it's possible to buy a Condor for $2 under the right circumstances. Excellent machetes, btw.
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pgandy
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Post by pgandy on Mar 5, 2021 15:07:21 GMT
Condor and Imacasa are marketed separately. I have never seen a Condor in Nicaragua and I wonder if they are even marketed in Salvador. It would not sell well because of price. It is a luxury item for people with billetes, and I doubt there are enough people with billetes here to justify importation. Swiss army knives do have a following here but they are sort of a gentleman's knife, not a weed whacker. Imacasa, on the other hand , is all over the place. El Salvador and Nicaragua are part of the C4 common market and goods travel freely. That is probably why Colombian and Chicom brands have not caught on here. I have seen the Tico machetes with the funny handle in CR. They seem like would alleviate wrist damage when used to cut stuff low and parallel to the ground, although they look like they would make dandy pancake or egg flippers, too. Similar to my thoughts but gave mine to my instructor who was more than happy to receive it. I found it not pleasant to use for any length of time. I watched ticos use them with great success trimming grass, dig hole, transplanting plants. Perhaps I needed more patience to build up the wrist/arm but I sensed a wrist problem in the making. As far as Condor’s selling locally, the average Latino could not afford one. I’ve thought the same of TFW, and Kris when they were in the business. The working Filipino could not afford such a knife, so those outside the country that buy them are possibly not getting what they think they getting. Aside from not being able to afford a FTW knife I dare say the average working Filipino would not want one if he could. I’ll bet the HRC on those are higher than they are use to. And while an American would prefer it, it would be too hard to maintain in the field where the worker at best would have a file. Just guessing on my part and not knocking TFW nor the old Kris knives they are very well built but built for the export market. One of my most used machetes is quite soft and that’s its main virtue making it easy to maintain. I just used TFW and Filipinos as an example but the same holds true with Condor and the Latino labourer. I believe Condor designs and markets its blades for Americans.
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Zen_Hydra
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Post by Zen_Hydra on Mar 5, 2021 22:11:53 GMT
"...a reed impermeable to water..." <strangled throat sounds>
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2021 22:43:14 GMT
As I was retiring for bed I took one last look around and I found this video about Condor machetes that really hit home. I didn’t realize they had so many models and not all were represented. It’s obvious Joe Flowers, Condor’s rep, knows the culture and machetes. He makes several statements and references that I’m familiar with but seldom if ever hear. At mark 9:59 he introduces a stick we use for grass cutting except I’ve never seen a notched stick and they are usually a trifle longer. And one cuts underneath the stick and not over it as the man on the right did. And then at mark 8:27 I was almost floored when I saw that machete. I thought to myself “damn I had one almost like that but smaller and the handle bent” and then he explains. With the ones I’m familiar the handle has two bends. The first one next to the blade goes up and the next one is more or less parallel with the blade like a trowel. At one point Flower describes how to hold a machete to get more mileage without a blister. I am surprised at how many Americans don’t know how. I can imagine the reaction I would have gotten if they said “serge, how does it work”? I dare say in those days the sarge himself didn’t know. I could very much relate to that video. I noticed a lot of people love slamming their machetes into stuff, like they are trying to get it through a tree with as few hits as possible, then they become surprised when it breaks lol. I use a machete like I use a hammer: I let the machete do the work. Takes a bit longer but you don't feel it on the hand and the machete gets less beat up, keeping the edge sharper longer I love condors stuff. Their Kukri machete is my all time favourite tool for Bush craft work, and it would make an amazing weapon too
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howler
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Post by howler on Mar 6, 2021 5:56:11 GMT
Many of the Condor designs are machete in name only (not to be confused with thin bladed grass cutters) and really act like long bladed hatchets (which I like ), while others are knives of various size (I own a Moon Stalker bowie). Price has REALLY gone up in the last few years and they now have a huge selection of designs.
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pgandy
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Post by pgandy on Mar 6, 2021 14:08:46 GMT
Many of the Condor designs are machete in name only (not to be confused with thin bladed grass cutters) and really act like long bladed hatchets (which I like ), while others are knives of various size (I own a Moon Stalker bowie). Price has REALLY gone up in the last few years and they now have a huge selection of designs. Ya, the prices have risen and their offerings increased. I take it as a sign of success for the company, but hate to see the prices climb. And ya, again their machetes are more in name only. Aside from the Latino labourer not being able to afford one (which how this thread off shoot started) I dare say probably wouldn’t want one even if available. I did a search on Knife Center last night. The cheapest were about $66 and went well above $100. The three Latain machetes I’ve bought here were all under $10. The first two were too far back for me to remember the exact price but the last was less than $5. Most Condors I saw were 4.7mm thick. I found a Latin style w/18” blade that weighed just over 2 lbs, heavy in itself. But I can’t imagine a tico standing on a hill side swinging a 26” version machete of that description with the increased weight for hours with a stick in the other hand in the hot sun. Worse yet, wading down a drainage ditch swing that thing overhead clearing the foliage for any length of time. I’m not knocking Condor. I have one of their knives and it’s well built and I like it. And have been eying their parang. As for them naming about all of their knives machetes is a blessing to me as I could import one, declare it a machete and prove it by the invoice and it would zip right through. If I ordered their Naval Cutlass, which is more of a machete in the traditional sense than what they are selling as machetes, customs would give me a hard time, although the English speaking islands off of our coast call machetes cutlasses.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2021 14:45:47 GMT
I like them for being the best bushcraft knifes you can find. You can go get those moras, and have a seperate tool for each job, but for that modern idea of what a bush craft knife should be (at least what people really wanted it to be) the condor does just that.
But I agree again, ever since the price hike, I will likely never purchase a new one from a store, though I would consider the dadao. I always wanted a giant meat cleaver, and that one looks exactly like what I'm looking for. A real monster slayer
But my Kukri machete had mode value as a 60$ machete. Now they cost 120$. I would never pay that much for one
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2021 19:10:07 GMT
Many of the Condor designs are machete in name only (not to be confused with thin bladed grass cutters) and really act like long bladed hatchets (which I like ), while others are knives of various size (I own a Moon Stalker bowie). Price has REALLY gone up in the last few years and they now have a huge selection of designs. Ya, the prices have risen and their offerings increased. I take it as a sign of success for the company, but hate to see the prices climb. And ya, again their machetes are more in name only. Aside from the Latino labourer not being able to afford one (which how this thread off shoot started) I dare say probably wouldn’t want one even if available. I did a search on Knife Center last night. The cheapest were about $66 and went well above $100. The three Latain machetes I’ve bought here were all under $10. The first two were too far back for me to remember the exact price but the last was less than $5. Most Condors I saw were 4.7mm thick. I found a Latin style w/18” blade that weighed just over 2 lbs, heavy in itself. But I can’t imagine a tico standing on a hill side swinging a 26” version machete of that description with the increased weight for hours with a stick in the other hand in the hot sun. Worse yet, wading down a drainage ditch swing that thing overhead clearing the foliage for any length of time. I’m not knocking Condor. I have one of their knives and it’s well built and I like it. And have been eying their parang. As for them naming about all of their knives machetes is a blessing to me as I could import one, declare it a machete and prove it by the invoice and it would zip right through. If I ordered their Naval Cutlass, which is more of a machete in the traditional sense than what they are selling as machetes, customs would give me a hard time, although the English speaking islands off of our coast call machetes cutlasses. Out of curiosity, how do you feel about cold steel machete? I'm holding my boring and it seems like it would be a great machete.
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pgandy
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Post by pgandy on Mar 6, 2021 20:10:04 GMT
Out of curiosity, how do you feel about cold steel machete? I'm holding my boring and it seems like it would be a great machete. I like both Condor and CS. It’s that I don’t think condor is representative of a Latin machete and wouldn’t sell well in Central America. They're designed for the North American market. That might be the reason they don’t try? As for the CS Barong I have two, a 12” jobby and an 18”. I like them fine and feel the 12” is the better GP knife, the 18” is the more powerful cutter.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2021 20:19:47 GMT
Out of curiosity, how do you feel about cold steel machete? I'm holding my boring and it seems like it would be a great machete. I like both Condor and CS. It’s that I don’t think condor is representative of a Latin machete and wouldn’t sell well in Central America. They're designed for the North American market. That might be the reason they don’t try? As for the CS Barong I have two, a 12” jobby and an 18”. I like them fine and feel the 12” is the better GP knife, the 18” is the more powerful cutter. Yea that's a good point actually. Paying more for something that isn't at all the same tool, I can see why that wouldn't be interesting to many down south Also a great point about it being geared toward north America. The wood here is quite thick and dense, we don't have as many leaves and vines that require a thin light blade
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Post by bebut on Mar 29, 2021 13:29:58 GMT
It's about marketing. In the US we have a boomer class that is buying things just to be buying them. Condor is filling the void, especially for those of us prejudiced to carbon steel and walnut! Although with current prices they are speeding their demise. They will probably have to outsource to Asia to keep their price point. Many Truper and Imacasa tools are made in China, just not their machetes and shovels yet.
I see it with cameras, too. As they/we age/pass away that market will crash. As somebody online said "who needs 100 million old DSLR cameras?"
My purchase post-covid was 1 used Puma hunting knife in the $120 range, a "poor boy antique" I have been eyeing for decades but too cheap to buy. It has the patina of age and they aren't making them anymore, at least not in the carbon steel model.
Speaking of non-machete machetes, I have the Ontario sp8. I found some use for it to clean up firewood, then relegated it to a shop tool that never got used. I loaned it to a man working for me who was impressed with it for cutting woody brush, but he would have died in shock if he knew how much more it cost than a $5 Imacasa machete from any local hardware store. I finally found its highest and best use-- as an exercise knife. It has a handle similar to other knife-knives, twice the weight, and a very short length. With the edges taped up it can be swung indoors without damage to the ceiling fan or myself. I sometimes toy with the idea of taping some wheel weights to it to give it even more heft.
Go on You tube and you will see tape after tape of how it is the greatest woods' tool ever made. We will just have to agree to disagree.
I admire Condor's innovation and success, but you can only push the marketplace so far.
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