Cold Steel Kukri Machete Review

A machete has many uses when camping or bugging out so you should consider getting one for your BOB that is right for your area.

This large, multi-use knife is designed specifically for slashing through thick brush such as those found in forests or jungles. Having one is very useful for clearing a path when traversing trail-less land. A machete is also very handy in clearing a campsite and chopping wood for fire and cooking.

Among the many survival machetes on the market is the Kukri Machete made by Cold Steel and we’re going to check it out in this review.

The Cold Steel Kukri Machete Specifications

• Blade Length: 13″
• Overall Length: 18″
• Steel: 1055 Carbon Steel w/ Black Baked on Anti Rust Matte Finish
• Weight: 16 oz
• Blade Thickness: 2 mm
• Handle: 5″ Long Polypropylene
• Sheath: Cor-Ex™ (Cordura nylon)

What Others Are Saying About the Cold Steel Kukri Machete

The Good

This thing was great for my camping trip! I used to clear an area to set up camp, collect firewood, dig a few holes when my shovel was somewhere else (the handle made a great toilet paper holder), cut down brush and grasses as I went exploring, and to have fun chopping down random plants. The handle is nice and easy to hold on to; it only got moderately difficult to hold on to when my hand would get sweaty.

A few weeks after my camping trip I pulled out the machete to do some yard work and noticed some rust on the parts where the black stuff had been worn away, oops. A sharpening stone quickly got through the rust, got a nice working edge on it, and then I put some Frog Lube to protect the metal. – iofs

The blade shape and forward balance really promote chopping. This property is aided by the fact that the blade is thicker and more rigid than with most other machetes. While it’s not quite a hatchet, if you can only have one tool to do double duty for both brush and larger woody branches, make it the CS Magnum Kukri machete. – Matt Bailey

I purchased mine several years ago (the 13 inch). Mine is easy to Sharpen and holds an edge pretty well. It’s lightweight, but has a lot of chopping power due to the shape and also because you can get a pretty fast swing with it. It makes a great draw knife, and you can actually choke up on the blade itself to use for finer tasks. – joshnstuff

The Bad

The edge of the blade comes dull and coated with the black paint/ protector. So hard to grind it off and sharpen. Very uncomfortable handle material. You have to use gloves. Major blisters chopping firewood. – Jonathan daniels

This is too short to work on vines (especially briers) and on thicker brush, the shape of the blade and the size of the handle will twist this knife right out of your hand. – Nicholas Tettis “the Nick”

Decent handle and blade material, but the edge has a hardened burr all down the length. It’s so bad that I had to use a file to get it to the point that it could be sharpened properly with a carbide sharpener. – Uninhabited_Man

CS’s Kukri Machete is also available in “Magnum” version, which has 17-inch blade. If you want to include it in your bug-out-bag, you can get the Cold Steel Kukri Machete here.