Shoot me a message . My brother in law is ex belagarrh as are a few other sca friends . <| sep |> Is the modern machete fundamentally different from the designs of falchions and messers ? Yes . Utterly . in crosssectional profiles and form , in engineering , and most importantly , in design purpose . They are designed to cut brush and trees , which do not fight back . Falchions and Messers are designed to kill people , who are trying to kill you . that changes thier intent , the thrust of their design purpose drastically . I understand that machetes are designed primarily as agricultural tools . Additionally , they do not have a crossguard or siderings or nagels for hand protection . They are also shorter , generally , I believe . Correct . they ' re also balanced differently they ' re tended to be forwardweighted , to give impact impetus to chop into stuff . singleedged arms tend to be centre or more aftweighted than tools , depending on type , so that you can move them rapidly , not just in a chop forward , but to move sideways , to flick and turn them and defend yourself with them . But as far as blade profile wide and thin with a shallow angle are these not pretty much blades like a messer or falchion ? crosssections are totally different . most falchions are fullered , their distal profiles are extreme and far wider in range than most people think some are machetelike in profile , but others are slender , thin weapons with clippedpoints and complex fullers along their entire length . how they handle is radically different . Saying they ' re pretty much like is a bit like saying a Porsche 911 is pretty much like an old VW Beetle , because they have similarities of design . the handling characteristics of a hilt the additional mass in cross , nagel if applicable , and endcappommel all change how a blade moves . the length of the blade some early falchions are short 55 cm blades , almost the same as a large tramontina machete . but no machete has a pommel counterbalancing its tip , or the same sorts of purpose to them .