Golok machete Build... or Rebuild???

[mckutzy]

These last few months of no work have taken a bit of toll on the mind.. So trying to keep busy doing somethings.. one was an Indonesian Golok style machete...
This is my take...
Ive seen a number of makers on the YT, all across Asia... and their own traditional styles(of course their respective traditional names aswell), and wanted to try my hand at one myself.
I dont fully have a forge made as of yet so im not going to forge my blade.. but I do have some already made machete's i had from years ago...
I traded a bunch of reloading components for a couple of these Tramontina, Brazilian made Bolo machetes. I got an 18" and a 24"
It didnt come with sheathes. I had used the 18" one more often than the other, as it was a better length and was lighter...

After cleaning out and moving junk around... I though hey why not make one for these as I have all that nice oak wood readily available...

Recently I had found a bunch of crate frames From an industrial area that just throws them out... all made of mahogany...
I also got an electric hand planer....
After disassembling the wood frames, and removing the nails... this is some nice stuff...
I tried out the planer and it was really nice looking...
So Im going to use Mahogany for the handle and the Oak for the sheath. A two-tone look.. Iv also seen this alot aswell...so im going with it...
Im going to use brass rod for the handle pins, all epoxy glued and peened over when Im at that stage... I also inset the blade into one handle scale as this will keep it flat to eachother, as this is a full tang.
I needed to trim the blade to give it a more flat backed edge, as the stock profile had more of a upward swept point. this way I wont have to relieve much into the sheath, and it will have a straight back edge...

Heres where im at....

Not all the pics are loading right...

 

[Kartorbust]

What alloy of steel are you using? Looks like a fun project.

 

[mckutzy]

I have no Idea what it is honestly ....It just an 18" Tramontina machete....
I originally didnt really like the handle... It worked.. but felt flimsy...
So Im doing a redo in a slightly different style...

 

[itsid]

Not all the pics are loading right...

You can't have all the uploaded images have the same name or they'll overwrite each other whilst uploading.

A common issue with some earlier ios versions
which I thought was fixed by now..
anywhoo.. I think chrome for ios did not have that problem
(and with that firefox and opera should work as well...)
I can't remember android sharing that issue.. still chrome/opera/firefox should be able to resolve that for android smartphones just in case.

Or just upload the images to your computer first, then attach them here..
that'll certainly work

'sid

 

[mckutzy]

OK... thatll explain that.. I do have my Ip4 still in a WAY ancient Os(which I refuse to upgrade to). It has previously had been not a problem and had been different id's for each pic.. but I guess not now...

In any case Thanks for correcting it Sid...

 

[mckutzy]

So after the last couple of days ive been busy on this project...
I got the tang drilled out a bit with the Dremel tool, to accept the brass pins.
I dipped the pins in wax, to act as a resist to the epoxy, but for alignment when I clamp the scales on... Used 5 min epoxy... worked great to hold it fast.

I clamped it for a couple of days. Yesterday, pulled out the pins with a tap of a punch....
Today I got down to looking at some of the pics on style of handles, decided on a cool look and went with it...

Laid out some lines, made a few depth cuts, drilled a few relief holes. Used a hacksaw to remove the inner bulk, and shaped the rest with a rasp and half-round file.
Im glad I bought some new tools a little while ago... makes a big difference with a sharp file and rasp. I will do a little more with the file and clean up some of the lines, go over with the carving knife to refine the grip and rubbing points.
I do intend to actually use this later in life as I already have, it was a serviceable blade... The right length and weight... I just made it look and feel better...

Stopped when It got a little dark out, and hard to see....
Not too mention I think i spent about 3-4hrs on this... so I was a bit tired....

At least now I have a better reference point for the sheath...as the grip is pretty much dialed in....