Machete is considered as an ancient tool and weapon and was once a breakthrough in the revolution of agricultural cutting equipment. Nowadays, the tool is replaced by lots of modern ones. However, machete still seems to be the king of knives, more preferred in carpentering and outsourcing wood products.
One thing you should keep in mind is that blunt machete is unavoidable and it’s also ironed but sharpening it will be not too difficult. In this session, we are about to provide more information about types of machetes in woodworking and how to sharpen machete at home in the right way.
Table of Contents
Types Of Machetes
There are more than 10 designs of machetes, which is appropriate for different patterns to be cut and carved. Even though there are modern machines with available and varied carving designs, using a machete is still the cheapest for DIY at home.
In addition, with such a sharp knife, you can boost your imagination to create your own patterns. Now, look at the list of machete types bellow:
| Kukri machete | Heavy | Panga |
| Parang (wave-bladed machete) | Bowie | Tapanga |
| Bolo | Cane | |
| Latin | Golok | Barong |
Out of these types, a Kukri and a parang have the most special blades. A kukri has an arch blade while a parang has the blade like a wave. Because of this design, sharpening becomes more difficult.
The rest has similar blades – flat design for simple sharpening. The machete handle is long enough and is wrapped with wood. Hence, it’s safe to hold it to manipulate on the wood. Due to the difference in blade design, how to sharpen machete at home types is distinguished.
3 Ways of How To Sharpen Machete at Home
Now, let’s see the ways to sharpen a machete properly and safely.
1. Use a Honing Stone
Using a honing stone is a traditional method – also the very first way since the ancient times but it’s kept until the present. In this part, we’ll tell you how to hone a machete with a honing stone.
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To describe, a typical stone to hone has 2 sides, also 2 faces: one rugged and one smooth. The former helps sharpen the knife blade while the latter makes it smooth. Look at the following detailed steps:
- Wet the rugged side of the stone with water
- Use your hands to tap the rugged side and let wet it in 30 seconds
- Hone the machete blades in a straight vertical or horizontal or arc line
- Hone both sides of the blades
- Change to the smooth face of the stone to smooth the blades (insure a wet face)
- Drive the blades like doing with the rugged side
During honing, remember to sprinkle water regular for more effective sharpening. As soon as you finish honing, wash both the stone and your machete in order to remove all the debris from the rugged side.
2. Sharping With A Belt Sander
In modern times, a lot of people prefer to make use of a belt sander for machete honing on the grounds that less effort and pressure is required. In terms of profession and modernity, the belt sander is probably of the best.
The tool only requests light pressure to apply and it’s really a piece of cake to keep the machete with a straight edge. Even when you have an inexpensive belt sander, its working is still perfect and surely comes up to your expectation. Let’s go into details for sharpening steps with a belt sander.
3. What About A Grinding Wheel
On the contrary to the previous method, using a grinder requires experienced people to sharpen the machetes. Actually, the grinding wheel is ideal for eliminating initial machete bluntness so aggressive sharpening ability is equipped. It’s also outstanding in removing dullness as well as restoring a blunt or an old knife.
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About the tool, it’s great but the person who sharpens should also accumulate lots of experience. The adjustment of the machete blade temperature and sharpening lines is of the most importance. With an inexperienced person, using grinding wheels to hone the machete will cause difficulties and much confusion.
Notice that the blade of the machete can be severely damaged and overheated if you keep honing the machete for too long. Thus, to get a cool blade, remember to douse it with water as many times as possible.
The blade becomes hot very fast even though you only hone it for a while. Hence, try to lose its temperature by dousing water regularly. Sharpening machete will be fine soon.
How To Keep Your Machete Sharp
In addition to honing the machete on a regular basis, you had better follow the following tips for keeping your machete sharp all the time.
- Chose machete sharpeners of good quality and durability
- Use the machete as its right usages
- Put the machete aside in a spacy corner
- Avoid sunlight and rain
- Wrap the blade after using is necessary
- Have regular honing
Bottom Line
These are several effective ways to sharpen your machete aggressively. Don’t forget to take care of your machete every day to have fast and sharp cut. As you saw, honing stone is the best way to do it. You can also choose other sharpeners we showed you above and one of them according to your preference is ideal. If you like this article, please don’t forget to share it with other people by using the social media buttons on the right side of this blog.
