Svord Kiwi Machete 18

I bought mine a couple of years ago as a lightweight backpacking machete that could also split wood. It's good for light vegetation and I actually managed to chop through a 4x4 beam eventually but the shock through the handle is cruel when cutting anything thick. The blade does not lend itself to fire wood prep at all as it's is around 2 mm thick and Bendy. It just isn't substantial enough or Comfortable enough in use to cope with that kind of heavy workload.the heat treatment is excellent as is the convex grind. the blade is the only reason I have given this knife a score. The edge retention is good and it's a good looking blade. One point each for each of those! The handle is tough polymer with unfinished mould lines and extremely thin and short With Barely a nod to ergonomics. I wear XL size gloves and and found it almost impossible to grip comfortably. The sheath went in the bin. It's the cheapest quality I have ever encountered hideous to look at, no belt attachment, misshapen so as not to allow the knife in and out easily But just baggy enough to let it fall out. Yuck! In summary it has a poor handle appalling sheath and resembles a kebab shop knife with an excellent carbon steel blade for light work. I regret buying it as you can buy a similar spec to this from Imacasa or Tramontina for a tenner. With a better sheath and handle. So I did

This is without competition the sharpest and lighest (<280 grams!) machete I own. It arrived very sharp, it could actually shave hair from my arm! very impressive. The steel is Swedish high carbon steel, according to knife forums the steel is L6, a very good and extremely tough steel . The Kiwi machete is also useful for other tasks requiring a bigger knife, not just for chopping, that is how good this blade is. The heart of any knife is a good steel and a proper heat treatment, and that is what you get and pay for when you buy the Sv¶rd Kiwi. The handle is plastic (nothing fancy) and somewhat thin but for my hands (size 9) it is sufficient. The sheath is heavy duty (some kind of reinforced, watertight material) but lacks a real belt loop ( it has slots in the sheath). The best and probably intended way is to carry it in you back pack or just leave it around camp. The blade/steel/heat treatment is really great and get five stars from me but due to the lack of a real belt loop on the sheath I can only give it four stars.

I did a field test today with my Svord. The steel is very good but there are three main problems. 1. It is too short to be effective as a machete, the blade needs to be at least 14 inch long. It can handle branches up to 2inches across but struggles on anything thicker. 2. The handle is too thin in diameter which makes it hard to grip unless you have small hands (it is the right length)I have a blister on the pad of my thumb due to incorrect grip. 3. The sheath needs a belt loop fastened on the back because the slots in the sheath mean that when you draw the blade you risk cutting through your belt! I am impressed with the steel and I think the small Svord knives would be very sharp but this is not the right length for anything but small jobs and not for prolonged use.