Central American common use
The attached picture shows (left to right) a normal machete used for light-duty stuff including cutting grass, a ``cuma`` machete used for clearing brush and cutting firewood, an experiment of mine (a new cuma cut off to 14 inches), a garden tool made out of a worn out machete (it gets used as a trowel more than anything else), and a file that is the norm for sharpening machetes.
These machetes are made by Imacasa of El Salvador, a major tool producer. I rarely have much use for a machete, but I keep them around for the gardener. The cuma ones seem awkward at first, but they are the preffered thing for up to and including cutting down large trees. Personally, I`d save my wrists and use an axe, but a lot of country folk in Central America don`t have an axe. They have the same thickness of other machetes, but the total weight gives them much more chopping power and they come in 22 and 24 inch lengths.
The experimental jobby is handy—it gets light duty use on kindling and I plan to take it with me on hikes but I have to get a sheath made. The idea is to have the heft of an 18 inch blade in a 14 inch package. Net, net, it`s pretty much like a cane knife which they don`t sell up here in the mountains. If it works out, I won`t have to splurge for one of those Condor (also Imacasa) machetes that tempt me!
The file looks like a triangular one, but on closer inspection it is 4 sided. I don`t know what it is called, I just ask for a file for machetes at the hardware store and they know exactly which one.
Missing in the picture is a forked stick. The gardener uses it to control the weeds or whatever so his hands don`t have to come near the blade. He`s an old guy with all his fingers and toes. A neighbor lady wasn`t so lucky. She whacked her foot about a year ago. 3 surgeries later she still is not walking right and probably never will.
Nosey-won-kannoby wants to know why I am playing with machetes when I should be feeding him.
The 2 machetes shown are by far the most common, but there are a zillion other designs.
http://www.imacasa.com/buscar-all-en.php.
I thought about bring up a couple cumas in my hold baggage, but don`t want to chance it with fatherland security in the part of the airport where you hand carry your luggage thru customs. The folks who keep us safe from Swiss Army knives would really have something to talk about!
...truly good stuff !! 
