Seems like a nice machete. Very ergonomic handle. Being a lefty, the sheath isn't ideal. Needs to be ambi. The snap system on it wasn't though out very well either. The top strap is fairly useless. If the bottom snap is undone to remove the blade from the sheath, the handle falls out from under the top one. They could have left the bottom strap off entirely if they had reversed the top one to hold it from opposite direction.

Back in 1994 when I bought my waterfront property in Southwest Florida the first bid I got to (legally) trim my mangroves was $1,000.00. Even then I thought that the price was outrageous and I decided to do it myself. Needless to say it involves a lot of time and and some really good cutting tools (and skills). There's not a lot of room for maneuvering in the wetlands, the footing is hazardous, the flora and fauna always a challenge (most Florida plants either have thorns or some type of poison), and the bugs can drive you nuts. Now that I think about it, maybe the $1,000.00 would have been money well spent.

Now at age 67 the current bid for the same job is up to $8,000.00. Either the workers are a lot smarter or they don't really want to do this type of work. About 10 years ago I had some major surgery and had to hire three people to do the job for me. When I was watching them the youngest picked up and held a very pretty snake for his father to see, causing me to yell at his father to "put it down". I was really surprised to find out that they didn't know what a coral snake was. That hiring experience also resulted in all of my tools being damaged to the poiint of no return. But the real capper was that they cut the mangroves to a height of 4 feet -- when I had specified 6 feet. Fortunately no one reported me to the mangrove police.

So I have trimmed my own mangroves for 22 of the past 23 years, even at my advanced age. The secret is to keep your eyes and ears open, to use adequate insect repellant and sun protection, wear boots, long pants and long sleeves, and an SPF 50 hat. But the key to being able to trim mangroves for up to six hours at a time is to have a really good medium length machete. This CRKT Chanceinhell(CIH) really fits the bill. It has a durable, heavy and sharp blade, a well-constructed rubber grip for comfort, and a decent sheath that you can hang from your belt when you are using a different tool. This machete is blade heavy which gives you better balance for chopping versus slicing.

When I have the room to swing a machete, I rely on an Esee Lite machete (around $80.00), a blade perfect for slicing thicker wood. For the crowded areas where taking a full swing would be impossible (or foolhardy) I find chopping to be more efficient and safer. That is where the CIH hits the mark and is the best tool to use. You might wonder why I don't use a small chainsaw instead. There are a multitude of reasons: the high noise level masks other sounds that I need to be aware of ( like the movement of snakes, alligators and other critters), chainsaws are dangerous even when operating in the best of conditions (which is far from true in the wetlands), the probability of bounce-back or dropping a running chainsaw is pretty much guaranteed, and trucking in and out of the wetlands to refuel sets you up for additional problems.

So this year I'll be heading into the wetlands with my Chanceinhell and Esee, splitting my time between slicing and chopping, hoping to avoid any injuries. One thing that I can guarantee is that the experience is always interesting.

I bought this recently and took it out for its first test today. The test subjects were various Autumn Olive trees which I thought were great for testing. They're invasive, I'm having them ripped out soon, they're still green strong wood, and I had all various sizes to hack away at from 1/4" to 3-4". I also tested it straight out-of-the-box, I have not sharpened the edge additionally.

It did a great job and cut through anything 2" and under usually in one swing. Small twigs on the branches flew off with just a light touch. You can hack through 3-4" trunks if you wanted or were in a pinch where you were left without an axe/hatchet, and while not it's intended purpose with a little work it did as well as I could expect. I cleared out 5 of the Autumn Olives without much effort at all. The second section was chopping back the grape vines that had become diseased that we're removing. Machete and vines? A match made in heaven and there was no disappointment here. The other thing I liked is that our grapes were growing up and through metal fencing, and this knife was easily maneuverable enough to chop what needed, without striking the metal of the fence.

What are we left with at the end after an hour of work? We have a blade that held up amazingly. It will need a sharpen to conform to perfectionist edge standard, but it's still plenty sharp and I can see easily getting more hours out of it without needing to sharpen it again if I were really so inclined. This is a working blade through and through and my initial impressions are I'm very impressed with it.

The biggest thing I've notice? After that hours work I had no hand or arm fatigue. Whatever they did with this handle was amazing and I couldn't recommend it more. I have a bad wrist and not once was that a factor while using this in that hand. If the first hours is any indication, I could have chopped for hours with ease using this. The black coating also held up wonderfully, not a spec out of place.

This Ken Onion Machete is perfect, for the intended use. Not a big log splitter, bt rather a thinner, well designed hacker and lightning fast as a fighting machete.
The angle of the handle is great, and makes that sweet spot on the belly just slice like it was butter I was cutting.
I put a fine, sharp edge on it, and it stil has it, but the steel and the black coating seem to hold up very well.
I'd recommend this to anyone loooking for a really good machete! Not a 5 pound sharpened pry bar, but for what it is, it does it well!
UPDATE: After using this for a few months, and lightly at that, I am quite surprised what a piece of junk it is. At first, it seemed really nice, BUT.. in the handle, the holes were so offset, on several, a lanyard would not even go through. To make it worse, when I tried to drill one out, thinking they were ferruls or hollow rivets that went through the tang, they started falling out, and they were actually little grommets just pressed into the rubber handle on each side, which explains why they didn't line up. Garbage. I'm sure, under more rowdy use, they'd start loosening up...
Reminds me of some cheap Chinese crap... oh, wait.. it IS some cheap Chinese crap!
It is really dissappointing to see Columbia River get ahold of a really nice design, and make it really cheap and flaky.
Not the end of the world. I'll use it for what it is, and give it the respect it deserves, which is NOT that of a real Ken Onion knife.

My new machete arrived in a very well padded and protected box. The CRKT box that houses the machete was pristine as well (for those thinking about gifting). The blade was protected with a plastic film and was also slightly oiled which didn't bother me. This machete is crazy sharp, scary sharp, I'd hate to miss and accidentally chop at myself with this thing. I just had to test this beast on a big sunflower bush that was overgrowing in the backyard. My Mom wanted help snipping/trimming it, so I decided to buy this instead of use gardening shears. With a single air cutting swing I watched the branch fall like a Zombie limb. The action was smooth and nearly effortless. This blade isn't very heavy but it isn't super light either, just about right. I continued to clear the branches of this thorny bush with ease and squared it like a surgeon named Munchies Scissorhands. Who knew gardening could be so fun. :O

This machete would be ideal in clearing a path in the jungle if you were running away from Zombies. It has a nice sheath with belt loop (with a drop down function if you prefer it to ride lower on your leg). It also has a paracord attachment to tie it to your leg, and an extra length of paracord to use for whatever. This is a very nice machete especially for the price, very happy with purchase. A must for your go bag (SHTF Zombie Apocalypse). :-)~