Cold Steel – Chinese Sword Machete with Sheath
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$49.99
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- Class
- Battle Ready
- Blade
- 1055 High Carbon Steel
- Overall Length
- 38''
- Weight
- 2 lb 10.4 oz
- Brand
- Cold Steel
- Culture
- Chinese
Overview
Cold Steel - Chinese Sword Machete with Sheath
Cold Steels Dadao Machete is an excellent way to harness the ferocious cleaving power of the Chinese Dadao at a budget price; the blade is tempered 1055 high carbon steel and it possesses a sharp edge and a black, baked-on rust-resistance finish. The full tang is fitted with a tough polypropylene handle with molded cord detailing for an improved grip. The sword comes with a nylon Cor-Ex sheath with buttoned retaining straps and a hard impact plastic tip. It has a long, adjustable strap which allows it to be worn on the back.
Practical and utilitarian, the Dadao had its origins as a no-frills peasant tool and weapon designed to chop into and split a target in a single, powerful blow. A favorite weapon of Chinese peasant militias and rural patrols, the Dadao naturally found itself wielded as a standard weapon of the Chinese forces resisting the Japanese Army in the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945).
Making the most of their territorial knowledge, the Chinese found the Dadao to be exceptionally useful in ambushes and nighttime raids where the harrowing close-combat capabilities of the Dadao could be used to full shock effect. In these situations, soldiers with Dadao sometimes found themselves crossing blades with Japanese officers armed with Katanas.
Specifications
Every measurement that matters
- Brand
- Cold Steel
- Culture
- Chinese
- Pommel
- Integrated
- Overall Length
- 38''
- Blade Length
- 23 1/2''
- Blade
- 1055 High Carbon Steel
- Weight
- 2 lb 10.4 oz
- Edge
- Sharp
- P.O.B.
- 5 1/4''
- Thickness
- 2.9 mm - 2.8 mm
- Width
- 46 mm - 83 mm
- Grip Length
- 10 1/4''
- Class
- Battle Ready
- Country of Origin
- South Africa
- Type
- Dadao
Reviews
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The Maker
Cold Steel
Cold Steel was founded in 1980; a stalwart of the knife community, Cold Steel also has a large selection of swords and daggers which are sourced from all over the world. Functional and competitively priced, Cold Steel products showcase a substantial variety of offerings and they cover martial arts weapons, historical swords, and robust tomahawks and practical machetes.
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Mandatory gear for blade geeks!!!!! You must have one. Only owned mine for a few years. Like my Cutlass, we had to learn to love it.
Primo machete/axe/off road sword. Chops down hardwood trees, splits wood, will take enough of an edge to make a fuzz stick for firestarting or otherwise shave tinder.
Sheath is functional, easy to wear. Blade can be drawn slowly carried across back, tang down on weak side.
The sheath can also be worn across the chest and is easy to walk with.
Lighter than a traditional Dadao, personally we would go to great lengths to avoid getting tagged with this blade.
In addition to hacking and chopping, if you take care of it the blade will also cut and pierce.
Handle may need your customizing, ring pommel benefits from password wrap.
Also use mine as a comically oversize gauche with my cutlass oftimes whilst trimming hedges. Good work out.
You need this.
KoA had the wisdom to order themselves a stock of these before production was changed to china
and the steel switched to 65Mn
this is indeed, as advertised, still the african one
i just unboxed mine (August 7th, 2025) and used it on vines in my backyard, clearing out some fences
one of the vines was about 4 inches thick
i like the balance when swinging and aiming just above maybe 1/3 from the top for it to connect
it swings itself feels snappy and is just a great tool for doing yardwork with
it chops things apart like an ax but it’s a sword so it’s swifter and really surprising it just slices thru things with ease
it makes me feel ill-at-ease with the thought of getting hit by it .-.