AndiTheBarvarian
Member
"Lord of the Memes"
Bavarianbarbarian - Semper Semprini
Posts: 10,232
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Jun 11, 2024 5:59:39 GMT
I bought little rolls of thin lead strips, each ca. 24 g, which I can wrap around grip and guard. Easy to remove and use again, good for testing different balances. When I find the best place I'll try to fix them somehow and wrap grip band over them. 3 at the pommel: Usually just more weight in the pommel isn't a good idea for balancing a sword, but with the Cutlass Machete it works well. 3 on different places: 2 on the ricasso, 1 on the grip, saber balance:
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Post by mrstabby on Jun 11, 2024 6:06:35 GMT
I'd say the blade on it is too thin and not wide enough to get far with reprofiling. Having seen how the steel behaves at 2mm it will get too easily bent, just my take-away from the 2mm Latin D-Guard Cold Steel sells. Since the grip weighs nothing it won't balance itself, PoB is almost in the middle of the whole (around 42%). In my opinion I'd have to add weight either way, I doubt there is enough meat to take on this specific one. Just guessing, being very agressive you could remove 15g before either it becoming much too flimsy or needing to reduce length - very likely not enough for me, could be for others. Putting a better guard on would have the same weight and effect, future projects, for now I just want it to be fun instead of feeling like swinging a brick. I also like it being reversible.
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Post by curiomansion on Jun 11, 2024 6:13:43 GMT
I'd say the blade on it is too thin and not wide enough to get far with reprofiling. Having seen how the steel behaves at 2mm it will get too easily bent, just my take-away from the 2mm Latin D-Guard Cold Steel sells. Since the grip weighs nothing it won't balance itself, PoB is almost in the middle of the whole (around 42%). In my opinion I'd have to add weight either way, I doubt there is enough meat to take on this specific one. Just guessing, being very agressive you could remove 15g before either it becoming much too flimsy or needing to reduce length - very likely not enough for me, could be for others. Putting a better guard on would have the same weight and effect, future projects, for now I just want it to be fun instead of feeling like swinging a brick. I also like it being reversible. It'll certainly be weaker, but for the few dozen hard cuts it can take, it'll be a laser. My good friend thins out Cold Steel machete's and turns them into monster cutters. They are certainly delicate, but many originals took the extreme performance route. I take it you want to use it for a long time and vigorously?
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Post by mrstabby on Jun 11, 2024 6:28:50 GMT
I'd say the blade on it is too thin and not wide enough to get far with reprofiling. Having seen how the steel behaves at 2mm it will get too easily bent, just my take-away from the 2mm Latin D-Guard Cold Steel sells. Since the grip weighs nothing it won't balance itself, PoB is almost in the middle of the whole (around 42%). In my opinion I'd have to add weight either way, I doubt there is enough meat to take on this specific one. Just guessing, being very agressive you could remove 15g before either it becoming much too flimsy or needing to reduce length - very likely not enough for me, could be for others. Putting a better guard on would have the same weight and effect, future projects, for now I just want it to be fun instead of feeling like swinging a brick. I also like it being reversible. It'll certainly be weaker, but for the few dozen hard cuts it can take, it'll be a laser. My good friend thins out Cold Steel machete's and turns them into monster cutters. They are certainly delicate, but many originals took the extreme performance route. I take it you want to use it for a long time and vigorously? I have plans for thinning on a better steel machete, but the cold steels are too soft for that IMHO. After my experiences with the 2mm Latin from CS I would not want it any thinner than 2,5mm even on bottles and it cuts pretty well already. It's not that I plan on hard use, just that I have seen how easily the CS blades can be bent or twisted when thin.
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Post by cerius on Jun 11, 2024 8:10:00 GMT
Ended up with this
Conclusion: Pommel would be the most efficient, but gets in the way. Around 60g added to the D-Guard in any form will reduce the PoB to 15cm/5,9" Also there are a lot of mold seams that get in the way, either need to shave those off or work around these.
I am interested in the weight and balance of the chinese one. Mine was 750g/1,65lbs, 17cm/6,7" PoB
Problem in drilling is that there is flat stock all the way and you can't get that deep, there isn't much material actually. You'd have to drill dozens of holes for one or two BBs, that's far too much work for me to be honest. Plastic on the guard is around 16mm, so you'd get in 1 6mm BB each hole only. 1,25g/BB you need 40 holes at least... There is more meat on the handle, but I don't want to impact structural integrity. I have looked into making a new grip AFIAK you need to drill holes in the steel and (there are holes of 2 different sizes) the handles don't come off that easily, worst is making new ones though - again, lazy. Rather just glue something on that holds well enough.
I have the cutlass in my cabin in woods. Will take measures and let you know when I go there again. Thanks for the pictures. Now I have some idea will try to find something cheap in Obi or Ikea and attach is to the d-guard.
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Post by cerius on Jun 11, 2024 8:14:15 GMT
I bought little rolls of thin lead strips, each ca. 24 g, which I can wrap around grip and guard. Easy to remove and use again, good for testing different balances. When I find the best place I'll try to fix them somehow and wrap grip band over them. 3 at the pommel: Usually just more weight in the pommel isn't a good idea for balancing a sword, but with the Cutlass Machete it works well. 3 on different places: 2 on the ricasso, 1 on the grip, saber balance: Where did you get those strips, Andi? That looks like the right idea!
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Post by mrstabby on Jun 11, 2024 8:40:57 GMT
I think you can get lead foil on amazon. Fishing shops also sell a lot of weights in different forms, although they are heavily renewing their line-ups to non-toxic materials like zinc or tungsten, tungsten is actually a lot heavier than lead, but also more pricey and not re-shapable (although one very fun thing you can get is tungsten putty, behaves like putty so you can knead it into any shape but is as heavy as lead). You could just get a 2cm wide piece of steel sheet (amazon or obi), bend it and glue it to the guard. That's my future plan, the tire weights are for trying to see what is needed (for me). Might need some resculpting of the plastic since it is raised in the middle of the guard.
I have tried putting weights on the blade, but it always interferes with sheathing/unsheathing. You need to lacquer it down a bit, UV nail polish works great for such things.
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AndiTheBarvarian
Member
"Lord of the Memes"
Bavarianbarbarian - Semper Semprini
Posts: 10,232
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Jun 11, 2024 8:52:28 GMT
Yup, Amazon, fishing stuff.
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Post by cerius on Jun 13, 2024 19:43:11 GMT
Great, thanks, will check it.
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Post by cerius on Jun 21, 2024 7:34:09 GMT
So I took measures of the chinese cutlass and it weighs 780 grams and POB is 17 cm.
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Post by mrstabby on Jun 21, 2024 8:25:29 GMT
So I took measures of the chinese cutlass and it weighs 780 grams and POB is 17 cm. Thanks for measuring and confirming that estimation. Looks like the 3mm stock chinese machetes are about 5% heavier than the south african 2,8mm. Royal Kukri and Kukri Plus also are heavier by about that much. 3mm is around 7% thicker than 2,8mm, so all of this tracks - The 2,8mm stock with paint is more like 2,9mm while the cinese ones with paint are dead on 3mm. I don't have any exactly equal blades, but on the Bowies the 3mm feels a bit stiffer, that might be a positive. I wonder, the CS machetes do have a tendency to have pretty hard vibrations in the grip when hitting hard targets that can be pretty painful to the hand, would that be better or worse with a stiffer blade?
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Post by cerius on Jun 27, 2024 18:24:08 GMT
So I took measures of the chinese cutlass and it weighs 780 grams and POB is 17 cm. Thanks for measuring and confirming that estimation. Looks like the 3mm stock chinese machetes are about 5% heavier than the south african 2,8mm. Royal Kukri and Kukri Plus also are heavier by about that much. 3mm is around 7% thicker than 2,8mm, so all of this tracks - The 2,8mm stock with paint is more like 2,9mm while the cinese ones with paint are dead on 3mm. I don't have any exactly equal blades, but on the Bowies the 3mm feels a bit stiffer, that might be a positive. I wonder, the CS machetes do have a tendency to have pretty hard vibrations in the grip when hitting hard targets that can be pretty painful to the hand, would that be better or worse with a stiffer blade? I found this: “When the natural frequency is changed so that it does not coincide with frequency of a specific force input, there is a reduction in the system's vibration. Adding stiffness in order to increase the natural frequency is the most common example of tuning to reduce vibrations” So yes.
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Post by mrstabby on Jun 27, 2024 18:46:33 GMT
That's more for induced vibration in machining for exqample, when a vibration of a specific frequency is put on a specific piece. Stiffness of a sword depends mainly on cross section, hardness and thickness and means how much it will flex. A sword will not get hit with a vibration, a heavy impact makes the blade flex forth and back, how much this is depends on how hard the blade is hit and if the hit intersects with the Center of Percussion (CoP) where most energy will be transferred to the target and only little will result in vibration, and the blades dimensions, thickness and hardness. The Vibrational nodes of a sword normally are somewhere in the grip and somewhere in the last 3rrd of the blade, I doubt this will change. The thing is, if the blade vibrates more it has absorbed all the energy, if it does less, you normally get more handshock. But the CS flex a lot and you get a lot of handshock, so I am not sure what stiffer would do. EDIT: The question is does the bite you feel on a hard hit from a CS machete come from force transmission (then stiffer is worse) or form you feeling tzhe vibration in your hand, essentially getting battered by the back and forth (in this case stiffer means less shock).
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Post by warriorpoet on Aug 21, 2024 2:07:15 GMT
Joe x has begun testing the new Chinese made cold steel machete line with the 65 NM steel blades.
A mixed bag on the cutlass, overall a step down in toughness. It did a couple things better (stabbing into a car door, retaining it's edge) but, it died more quickly and the handle was a bigger issue.
Interesting given the discussion here on the handle and vibrational nodes. Maybe it shakes itself to death.
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Post by mrstabby on Aug 21, 2024 9:55:14 GMT
Joe x has begun testing the new Chinese made cold steel machete line with the 65 NM steel blades. A mixed bag on the cutlass, overall a step down in toughness. It did a couple things better (stabbing into a car door, retaining it's edge) but, it died more quickly and the handle was a bigger issue. Interesting given the discussion here on the handle and vibrational nodes. Maybe it shakes itself to death. They break with a lot of abuse, yes, but they also take a set a lot less easily! The 65Mn also have a lot better edge retention (as far as 50HRC carbon steel goes). Look up the original Cutlass video and see how it took a bad set from bending at the wooden stump while the 65Mn barely had a bent tip. I think he overstates how bad they are because he just hates on "made in china" on the package. The handle material is also the same, it broke on the old one as well in hard use - many instances in Joes videos, that's just the brittleness of the palstic and the design of the whole thing. Maybe the main node is further down, so you don't get battered as much (he says it has less hand shock) but the grip gets all of it, that's why it fell apart more, because it literallly got thrown off? IDK Also he does not make anything scientific, his applied force varies wildly so it could just be he was harder on the new ones because he hates china (in the comments he makes it clear he thinks of everything coming from china as bad).
I never was a fan of the 1055 and much rather have something like the 65Mn, since I very rarely try to cut down an iron rod with a machete.I bet breeaking it in normal use is not going to be a thing (EDIT: the 65Mn loses less edge cutting down shrubbery than the 1055). It took down a tree and the rock didn't break it, so it's by far not as bad as he makes it seem. CS to me always was only good for speciality machete styles nobody offered for a reasonable price, if have the need for more widely used machete shapes like latin, there are much better makers out there.
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Post by Sir Thorfinn on Aug 21, 2024 12:47:48 GMT
Joe x has begun testing the new Chinese made cold steel machete line with the 65 NM steel blades. A mixed bag on the cutlass, overall a step down in toughness. It did a couple things better (stabbing into a car door, retaining it's edge) but, it died more quickly and the handle was a bigger issue. Interesting given the discussion here on the handle and vibrational nodes. Maybe it shakes itself to death. Got a link?
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Post by mrstabby on Aug 21, 2024 13:42:48 GMT
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