Peace Corps bring back: Modern Cameroon utility/ bush knife/ machete

[Nathaniel]

Hello all,

One of my next door neighbors was in the Peace Corps in Cameroon and this was his utility/ bush knife/ machete he used during his time there. I thought it would be be interesting to share as this is an example of a modern ethnographic blade.

Interesting notes: The handle is full tang and sandwiched by two pieces of wood, which often crack, so local people usually wrap the handle. My neighbor said they use the inter tube of a bicycle for the handle wrap, but this one with the Easton tape and the type of grip makes me think it might be a baseball bat/ or tennis grip. The scabbard does not come with the machete and is separately made of local natural fibers...the blue plastic strips are recycled from a plastic bucket. With the short red nylon cord, locals carry it over there shoulder.

Any comments or additional information anyone could add would be great! Otherwise enjoy

[Nathaniel]

Additional photos

[Nathaniel]

Here is a photo I found online from Cameroon. Note the original wider tip of the blade. My neighbors was well used so after multiple sharpening a the original blade profile was changed.

[Nathaniel]

Additional photos I could find

[Nathaniel]

+

[Sajen]

Very interesting, thank you for sharing! Like the scabbard with the nice basketry.

Detlef

[KuKulzA28]

Good stuff! Looks like what machete aficionados call a tapanga.

I think companies like Ralph Martindale from the UK and Chinese companies make a lot of the machetes for Africa. I have also noticed machetes being popular in Papua New Guinea, and of course in Latin America where they replaced palmwood and hardwood machetes of the Pre-Columbian natives. SE Asia, India, and China seem to stick to their traditional bush knives such as aruval, e-nep, dha, parang, golok, chai dao, etc.

I have noticed that certain machete designs have greater popularity in different areas. What is typically called an El Colin in Puerto Rico or pata de cuche in some places, the stereotypical slim bush machete, is ubiquitous. The panga and tapanga styles seem pretty popular in parts of the Caribbean, Guyana, and Africa. The costeno and colima designs originated and were popular in part of Mexico. There are also various saber-like machetes, and the cutacha which I think was made as a sword for Cubans. I believe the so-called "bolo style" may have come about after the Spanish conquest of the Philippines, though it doesn't look like many of the Filipino bolos - still a useful design however, fulfills the same role as the panga. The history of machetes is a very interesting field (to me). In Trinidad and Guyana, they're called cutlasses in the local creole, which sort of betrays the origins of the machete as descended from Spanish cutlasses and shortswords adapted to fulfill the role of the Amerindian bushwhacking sticks.

[fearn]

I should note that you can get a pretty good sampling of commercially available machetes is at http://www.machetespecialists.com/

Those three grind lines make me think it was ground down from a Wortools Tapanga style machete (http://www.machetespecialists.com/wo...apanga-18.html).

F

[KuKulzA28]

That's a good site for a wide sampling, though I'd say some of the prices are a bit higher than other vendors.

It very well could be a wortools, though i wouldn't rule out Martindales. I think the big red sticker is a martindale. As you can see in the photo of the guy sharpening those tapangas, some of them have the red sticker with the Ralph Martindale crocodile on it.

In my experience the wortools machete was utter crap. Didn't hold a good edge, handle was loose and made of cheap, unfinished wood. I'd take an Imacasa, Martindale, Tramontina, or Hansa... or an old Collins - any day over Wortools. Or a local handmade kukri, or e-nep, or laraw, or itak... etc. The "Made in China" machetes I encountered in Guyana were also of similarly bad quality. Most who could afford them got Tramontinas from Brasil... was stuck using a made in China one (no brand name stamped on it) and had to sharpen it 2x a day

[Nathaniel]

Originally Posted by Sajen

Very interesting, thank you for sharing! Like the scabbard with the nice basketry.

Detlef

Happy to share. The scabbard to me was very interesting...the diamond type pattern is one you see among many cultures...here we see it in West Africa and I have also seen this in South East Asia as well.

[Nathaniel]

Originally Posted by KuKulzA28

Good stuff! Looks like what machete aficionados call a tapanga.

I think companies like Ralph Martindale from the UK and Chinese companies make a lot of the machetes for Africa. I have also noticed machetes being popular in Papua New Guinea, and of course in Latin America where they replaced palmwood and hardwood machetes of the Pre-Columbian natives. SE Asia, India, and China seem to stick to their traditional bush knives such as aruval, e-nep, dha, parang, golok, chai dao, etc.

I have noticed that certain machete designs have greater popularity in different areas. What is typically called an El Colin in Puerto Rico or pata de cuche in some places, the stereotypical slim bush machete, is ubiquitous. The panga and tapanga styles seem pretty popular in parts of the Caribbean, Guyana, and Africa. The costeno and colima designs originated and were popular in part of Mexico. There are also various saber-like machetes, and the cutacha which I think was made as a sword for Cubans. I believe the so-called "bolo style" may have come about after the Spanish conquest of the Philippines, though it doesn't look like many of the Filipino bolos - still a useful design however, fulfills the same role as the panga. The history of machetes is a very interesting field (to me). In Trinidad and Guyana, they're called cutlasses in the local creole, which sort of betrays the origins of the machete as descended from Spanish cutlasses and shortswords adapted to fulfill the role of the Amerindian bushwhacking sticks.

Fantastic! Great to have a name for this type of blade. Good information KuKulzA28! That is indeed very interesting. Thank you for sharing. This is one of the things I most enjoy about the forum...you post something and you learn so much from others.

[Nathaniel]

Originally Posted by fearn

I should note that you can get a pretty good sampling of commercially available machetes is at http://www.machetespecialists.com/

Those three grind lines make me think it was ground down from a Wortools Tapanga style machete (http://www.machetespecialists.com/wo...apanga-18.html).

F

Fern, that is great...very interesting to see what is commercially available!