Post by Adventurer'sBlade on Jan 17, 2016 16:32:05 GMT
I've been meaning to get around to this for a while. After cutting the plastic off of my cutlass machete's knuckle bow, I formed a more substantial guard out of 1/8" mild steel plate. The new guard is arc welded to the original knuckle bow, with the teeth roughly in line with the sword edge and the excess guard sticking out to the right to protect the user's outside line. The teeth will make a punch with the guard much more injurious. They could also serve to catch a sword blade that happens to strike the guard in a parry rather than let it skid off and towards the user's body. The machete feels much more swordlike now, with a balance point around 4 or 5 inches instead of the 7 or 8 inches the machete had originally. I tested the new guard by punching a tree several times and chopping down a few saplings, and the welds held on just fine.
Overall, it turned out to be a great little poor man's hanger/cutlass. It looks pretty rough and wicked, and it handles nicely. It's also a very durable and fun sword for $25 and a few hours of tinkering.
