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The Martindale Golok / Machete modded for survival.

I will look for one but it's going to be months before I'm out and about. You may be better buying a new one direct from the internet, they're not expensive Just bear in mind that although Ralph Martindale is a British company they manufacture all over the world these days so the steel quality is variable. If you can get one with the national stock number and a military issue date it is more likely to have been made in Britain and not Ghana or Thailand.
Co-incidentally Martindale also own the brand name Elwell, my favourite axe maker.
 
If you want a ā€œmartindale Golokā€ then be wary of the wording on many of the military surplus shops which tend to use British army ā€˜styleā€™ to sell non martindale items; if you just want a machete then it doesnā€™t matter.

One of the giveaways is the scabbard; the issue one was originally brown canvas with rivets at the corners; the newer scabbard is DPM with a waist strap and sharpening stone pocket.


A lot of the replicas come in the PLCE bayonet frog cover which is obvious by the large fastex clip at the top and which is too short for the genuine martindale item.


Happy hunting.

38
 
Just picked this up. Pretty stoked.
Blade is 10 1/4" what can you tell me about this?
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The question you need to ask is do you want a martindale golok or a tool that works?

If itā€™s the latter and it does happy days; if itā€™s the former then Iā€™m afraid youā€™ll be disappointed as it doesnā€™t appear to be the genuine article, the blade is too short and thatā€™s a PLCE bayonet frog cover (which the genuine article doesnā€™t fit!).

If it works as a tool then thatā€™s all you probably need.

38
 
The national stock number is correct but that's about it, I don't think it's a Martindale but there were other makers supplying golock type tools to NATO. Does it have any other marks?
(My personal preference is to carry a sharp knife and an axe instead of a golock as the golock lacks the weight to be a truly efficient chopping tool and the grade of steel doesn't allow for an acute enough edge to be an efficient cutting/slicing tool. The golock makes a bad job of replacing either the axe or knife and as such is only much good for battening kindling)
The bolo is a better weight and can be slimmed down to resemble a butcher knife but the steel is still crap.
 
Mines has been very handy as of late after a few dead trees had to come down, hacking off all the smallish brushwood does give a good wallop when you give it some welly. fits good on my Molle harness. Could do with a bit of TLC soon .

Not sure if it is genuine mind, have got a green sheath for it somewhere ( it think under some weeds within a couple of miles!!)
 

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