I haven't posted anything for nearly a month and I wanted to let you guys know I'm not gone. I've been unbelievably busy with work, the family, and getting ready for deer season. I have had zero woods time other than a short hike up at Chimney Rock while in NC with family, and that's not the kind of bush time I need. At least I should be going up to the SC lease September 10th-12th to sit with my dad in the tower stand, bucks only, though. I'll bring my camera in case anything good happens. The rut won't be until Novemeber.
Hey, in the meantime check out the Brazil episode of Dual Survival. You'll see Dave Canterbury and Cody Lundin using the ESEE lite machete we took a look at last month.
And because some people have asked - the knife Dave Canterbury is using his own design from Blind Horse Knives, the pathfinder blade. Although less frequently asked I believe Cody Lundin is using a Mora 740, which is a discontinued model.
Prep day – work weekend and scouting
Well guys, I got back from the work weekend at my Dad's South Carolina deer lease late Sunday night and have been trying to catch up since then. Finally I got some time to put the videos together. Unfortunately there isn't much video because man we were busy! But we did see some serious tracks and some big rubs. Somewhere out there on this property are some monster bucks!
This video is of the tower stand that we were lucky enough to pick up for $250 from another member who wasn't using it. I had an epic battle with a legion of wasps trying to clean it out but it's good to go now. My brother and I put in a new plywood floor as the old one had some dry rot. Then we put self-adhesive carpet tiles on top of the plywood for heat retention and sound dampening. This should be sweet come the cold weather.
The stand is situated facing (east) down an access trail/shooting lane that runs about 200 yards give or take before it curves sharply to the south. Right at that curve are the big rubs we saw. To the north (left) of our stand is thick pine brush they bed down in, to the south of the stand (looking right and slightly back) is a food plot. Hopefully we will catch them as they move over the trail from their bedding areas to the food plot. There is enough tree cover so that the rising sun shouldn't be an issue with early morning sessions.
Gear Review – ESEE Lite Machete taking abuse and loving it (Video)
ESEE Lite Machete Review - 4.75/5 (My new primary bushcraft blade)
I had been questioning what kind of blade I needed as either a chopper or utility type blade aside from a neck and/or belt knife for several months. I was originally considering the new junglas from ESEE but when I considered the weight vs. utility factor I just didn't see why it was any better than a specialized tool. So I started asking around about hatchets as opposed to large knives and really considering my needs in the bush.
As people started to answer it was evident that large knives were out and the real battle was small axe vs. machete. So I started thinking about my AO and approach and thought to look up some videos on thicker vegetation areas like jungles. That's when I came across Colhane's Youtube Channel. This guy is a machete master! He's a Baptist minister that spends a lot of time in Brazil and leads a kind of outdoor ministry at times that frequents rain forests. Now, whoever of you out there doesn't think the areas I operate in are as thick as jungle, check out the area behind me in the Sitka Review Video. Most importantly from his videos I saw what the machete could do to smaller trees - that is, take them down. I had previously worried about the strength of a machete for serious chopping, but seeing some really thick trees felled quickly with no damage to the blade convinced me enough to try one out. Besides, even the most expensive machetes are half the cost of a good belt hatchet.
I had seen that ESEE was producing a new 18" machete (23" OAL) and being a bit of a fanboy, decided to order one. Add that I had just seen Woodsmonkey's review and was smitten. Let me tell you first, it's an improved copy of the 18" Condor machete and is almost twice the price. ESEE adds their own blade treatment and micarta handle, but other than that it's the same. The reason why I support ESEE regardless of price is outlined a bit later.
So it came and it was of course, razor sharp. I mean shaving sharp (which was an issue later on). The handle is a tad bit long for my hand but is really comfortable. The sheath was a fairly inexpensive cordura type that I'm not a big fan of, but it'll do for now. The whole feel of the machete, the balance and the handle together is just awesome.
Now, I was going to wait until the lease work day to try it out, but I was excited about it and took it trailblazing with the dog in tow. It was great, felling 1-2" saplings with one swing and up to 5" with relative ease, so chopping down frame materials are no issue at all. Clearing vines and palmetto was nothing. I did this for about two and a half hours and had a blast. At least in my AO and for my purposes a machete was going to fit the bill perfectly. But the real test was going to be using it as the only clearing/hacking/cutting tool on the work weekend for our deer lease in South Carolina.
So as promised I took the ESEE Lite Machete to do some trail clearing during our work weekend. We cut pine, maple, trimmed up (hacked of 4" branches) of scrub oak. My dad once stopped hacking with it to say "that's a dang good machete!", and he is not easily impressed. While putting up his ladder stand on a new area he had never hunted he realized that although the area was perfect with two clear lanes, a food plot not far, when he climbed up and looked out he hadn't counted on one single old maple to be blocking about 90 degrees of shooting. From the ground it wasn't in the way, but its leaves at 15-20ft definitely were. My dad thought we could "bend" it back but it was 7-9" thick and we didn't have enough rope to throw over. I said "let's hack it down", now my little brother says there's no way the machete could take it, accepting the challenge of it I said I could do it in less than five minutes. So I started hacking down into the tree at about 54 inches, then started wedging up. I was making good time but got out of breath and dad took over. Within two more minutes the thick maple was down.
We were all sold at that point. The ESEE Lite Machete had taken three hard days of serious abuse taking down hard and soft wood up to maybe nine inches thick and had come out begging for more. I will never need that size wood while scouting or bushcrafting, but it's great to know that this machete's performance will far exceed my needs. I am so impressed with the performance here that I am going to perform Colhane's mods and possibly purchase or make a good leather scabbard for this blade because it's coming with me every time now. The only thing this baby doesn't do is baton and split wood, it's also quite large for delicate tasks. So I'm going to really evaluate what other blades I need. My Izula is utterly unnoticed while on my neck and it takes an edge so quick that its a must have. So the question really is, is my RC-4 past it's prime or do I really need a specific batoning blade?
The issue: The first day I had used the machete I noticed some denting/chipping on the blade. It didn't effect performance but it still concerned me so I emailed ESEE's info address asking if they knew of any bad batches or how they preferred to re-profile the edge. Amazingly the very next day I go an email from Jeff Randall himself (owner) and through the day we isolated the issue to a very severe grind leading to a super thin edge and a possible heat treat issue. He told me how to fix the edge and said he'd send me a new machete immediately. That's the kind of service I like and it's why time again I will order from smaller American owned businesses with a reputation for pride in their products.