Mike Stewart talks about the Bark River Knives' Golok

We asked Mike Stewart of Bark River Knives about the Golok.  This is what he said.

The Golok is an Indonesian design where they encounter jungle like foliage — vines and heavy secondary growth, mostly soft woods. Here in the United States we, of course, have soft woods and hard woods— secondary growth.

People often mistake the Golok for a machete. It is not. It is much heavier than a machete. It will accomplish much more work.Machetes wedge, the Golok forces things apart. It is perfect for making kindling or poles for shelters.

The idea of the Golok is at casual glance the blade appears to be straight, but it is not. There is a slight curve. In use they are draw cutting tools. As you come down on something you are pulling the the length of the blade through what you think you are chopping you are cutting. That is the most efficient way to use something like this. The Golok is as small as we could make it and it be effective. It is an eleven inch blade. The traditional ones are eleven to twenty-six inches.

For the kind of use we see in the United States, this is the right size. It is a very efficient tool once you learn how to use it. You do have to use a draw cut when you are chopping. If you are slashing it does all of the work for you.

This is part of the Bushcraft series and is meant for serious use.

It is offered in about 85 different handle materials.