Martindale Golok vs Cold Steel Latin Machete

Some time ago I had the pleasure to appear on a the Blue Mountain Bushcraft and Outdoors YouTube channel showing and talking about two inexpensive machetes, their history, origin and pointing the pros and cons of each design.

Cold Steel Latin Machete Martindale Golok

I talk a lot and show a lot so you better watch the video if you wan to know what’s good and bad about these two machetes.

Here are some specs
The Martindale Golok
Design Origin: South East Asia

01 Martindale Golock

Blade length: 13″ (33 cm)
Thickness: tapered blade – 4mm down to 2mm
Weight: 1.1 lb (500g)
Blade material: 1080 High Carbon Steel
Handle Material: Beech Wood

 

The Cold Steel Latin Machete
Design Origin: Latin America
Blade length: 18″ (46 cm)
Thickness: 2mm
Weight: 1.1 lb (500g)
Blade material: 1055 High Carbon Steel
Handle Material: Polypropylene

 

DC4 Knife Axe and Machete Field Sharpening

Fallknive DC4The DC4 pocket sharpener is a cool little stone with two sides. The diamond side is coarser but, unfortunately, doesn’t last very long. I hear this only applies to new models. I only have a relatively new one and can’t speak for the earlier ones. I use the other side – finer ceramic – for all tasks and I find it sufficient for every type of field sharpening from rough edge restoration to honing.

Fallkniven DC4 sharpener

The sharpener is 10 cm (4″) long, 3 cm (1.25″) wide and 7 mm (0.25″) thick. The size makes it very versatile as it allows you to sharpen blades of all sizes relatively quickly without the need for soaking the sharpener beforehand and drying it afterwords. It is hard and does not get worn down too fast, which means you don’t need to flatten the surface every time you sharpen a knife. It doesn’t get damaged easily either. In the video below, I show a few techniques that you can use to sharpen different tools of various sizes such as a Mora Light My Fire knife, a Gransors Bruk axe and a Martindale Golok No 2 machete.