Axels Blog

Gerber 22-41576 Gator Machete with Sheath Description:

Gerber Gator Machete sports a 17″ blade. Whack! Clear foliage with a single swipe! Machete also doubles as a saw. Great for clearing shooting lanes. Quality: Tough, black oxide-coated steel blade is 17″l., fine razor’s edge with “toothy” serrated saw on top; Gator sure-grip handle; 25″ overall, weighs 1 lb.; Lanyard hole; Black 400-denier heavy nylon sheath with belt loop. China.; Order Up! WARNING: You must be 18 or older to purchase Machetes. Machetes cannot be shipped to Marin, Napa, Ventura and Yolo counties, CA; CO; CT; DE; D.C.; MA; FL or Puerto Rico. Please check your State, County and City laws for restrictions before ordering Machetes. Gerber Machete with Sheath

• Amazon Sales Rank: #988 in Home Improvement
• Size: One Size
• Brand: Gerber Legendary Blades
• Model: 22-41576
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .0″ h x .0″ w x .0″ l, 3.90 pounds

Features

• Tactile rubber grip
• Fine edge and saw blade
• Riveted, nylon sheath included
• Convenient size of 25-inches in length at only 1-pound
• Made from rugged black oxide coated steel

Customer Reviews:

Nice Looking JUNK!
I will admit that this is a great looking machete. At first glance you would think from a company like Gerber, it would also be high quality as well. Guess again, there blade is less than a quarter tang. This means you have 2 inches of metal in the handle trying to keep the rest of the 18 inch blade from snapping off or coming loose when you swing it at the brush you are clearing. The handle feels great in your hand but it is only a handle, it doesn’t support the blade. To get an idea of how much tang you have, look at the picture of the machete on this site with the blue background and the ruler in it that I posted. In this picture you can clearly see why swinging this “machete” too hard may be hazardous to you and those around you. It is held in the handle by a single bolt with the bottom bolt only holding tension in a slot in the bottom of the tang of the blade. The entire tang, clearly shown in my picture, is only 2 1/2 inches long.

I sure expected a lot more from a company with the reputation Gerber has and this has made me rethink a lot of future purchases from them. Go to the hardware store and get one of their $8.00 surplus machetes. It will serve you a lot better than this piece of junk will. Glad I took it apart before I had to depend on it in the brush.

Broken Handle, Bent Blade, Dangerous Tool
I thought for the price, this Gerber Machete was either too good to be true, or a steal. It’s both, but now that the handle is starting to fall apart, and I’ve disassembled it to see why, I now say it’s a dangerous tool to use.

There is already a customer image showing it disassembled. Look carefully. The tang only goes into the handle a short distance. This has allowed the blade to flex enough to break the front part of my handle, and the handle now is bent up in a V pattern rather than straight inline with the blade.

I was entirely pleased the first few hours of using this tool, nice rubber grip, sharp enough, pretty Gerber emblem laser engraved on the blade. But then the handle cracked, I noticed the blade edge was dented, and the entire blade was bent about midway.

I’ve sharpened it on a grinding wheel, and wow, it’s a very soft metal, the lightest touch to the wheel takes off a lot of metal!!! It was then I took the handle off and to my dismay/horror, the tang is really really short. There is NO EXCUSE for not having a thin bit of metal running the entire length of the handle.

I still will use it for extremely light duty work, but it’s far too dangerous for serious brush clearing, as I’m quite certain the blade will one day fly off into the distance.

As for the soft metal, the bend in the blade, and the lack of edge holding ability, maybe it’s safer than a hard blade that will crack or break, I don’t know. The saw back is for decoration in my opinion, I’ve not used it, as I like to put a little weight on the back side of my hand saws, and, well, there’s a blade on the back of this one.

Straight out of the box, I’d have given this a 5-star for looks. Sadly, in use, it disappoints, and is a real hazard to the user and bystanders.

If only they’d make the tang full or 3/4 length….I can deal with having to sharpen it frequently.

Not what it cuts out to be
I ordered this machette to blaze trees for a property paint line. However right ofter receiving it, I used it to trim a small bush next to my driveway. Although it is as sharp as a knife the metal edge bent easily, and now it is serrated and useless just from cutting < 1/4 inch stems for less than 5 min. I am not sure what type of brush it will cut without getting damaged.

From the Manufacturer
The Gator Machete wields a 15-inch fine edge blade on one side, a 15-inch high performance saw blade on the other, and our proprietary Gator rubber grip for ergonomic control while using either. The riveted, nylon sheath provides safe, durable transport.