Cousins is too old <| sep |> There are traditionallymade machetes with blades that could more or less pass as messer or falchion blades , with similar crosssections wedge or convex wedge and taper to the blades . For example , Indonesian and Philippine handforged machetes goloks , parangs , bolos . However , the modern machete is often just a sheetmetal blade with an edge ground on . No taper in thickness , and except at the edge , a flat crosssection rather than wedge . So modern machetes can be light compared to messersfalchions of similar length since the base of the blade is thinner , but are more tipheavy both because the base of the blade is lighter , and the tip heavier . Traditionallymade blades arewere often with weldedon steel edges , or differentiallyhardened . Modern machetes tend to have softer edges and a springtempered body . This lets them get away with blades that would be too thin at the base to support traditionally made blades .