>>641432>18"Personally I like 24", extra reach and weight lets you tackle bigger or thornier jobs with less fuss.
Flip side is your arm will get tired quicker and its a bit more troublesome to pack.
On that note, though I like the 24" tramontina, my typical camping/pack machete is a cheap carbon steel chinese machete that I took a cut-off disk to and made 12". Left the new blade tip flat and cut a small hook in the back of the blade, so it looks like a long and narrow cane knife.
It takes more effort to cut harder stuff and has less stand-off when making holes in mesquite thickets but its a lot easier to tote; sharpening is easier too as there's no round portion to worry about. I'm thinking of giving the blade tip a steep but blunt chisel grind so I can use it as a ghetto shovel if need be. Also need to put new grip scales on it, the shit wood ones have cracked.
OP, given the fucking low cost of tool grade machetes go to a swap-meet/yard sale/store and buy a 18" CHEAP machete (<$6) and a cheap cut-off grinder or other metal cutting tool. Use the machete some then modify it bit by bit until you find a length and profile that you like. Think about how often you had to sharpen it or how much of a pain in the ass it was to sharpen. Based off of those things you will have guidelines when you buy yourself you "perfect" machete, with the perfect profile, in the perfect length, made of the the perfect grade of steel, with the perfect hardness.
Then you will have 2 machetes! and be the envy of every 3rd world genocidal tribesman from the Congo to Malaysia!
