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Originally Posted by Redbelly52
Thanks to all for the great input. Yes, I think this could be a repurposed machete blade. The thickness is 1/8" which is a bit thin for a knife of this size(IMHO). The knife measures 19 1/4" long. I have not weighed it on a scale but feels like around a pound or so. It has a very good "feel". Well balanced. Not just thrown together, if that makes any sense... The machete picture in one of the responses looks like a good candidate for my knife blade. Any idea the age of that machete?....From the research that I have done, there were several blade manufacturers that exported blades to the US and other countries, beginning in the early 1800's. Robert Mole exported blades, including machetes, (machets as they were spelled early). I have a photo of a Robert Mole "eighteenth century" "Steamer" machete that has a picture of a steamship on the blade. William Hunt also made and exported blades during the same time frame. His trademark was "The Brades" (early 1900's). Both companies offered machetes with the tri-fuller...As stated before, none of the markings, including the crown VR were visible until I put the paint on. The lettering, possibly two lines, appears to me to show a W and an O. I had assumed this was a blacksmith altered knife, using a blade from a machete. I hope that someone might have seen lettering like this before.
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The WO on the blade would represent 'war office' , the appellation used for the Board of Ordnance after 1855. With the VR and those initials, it would appear that this blade was from a machete issued to other ranks by the British government, post 1855.
It would seem likely that these machetes were certainly issued for colonial use in highly vegetal regions, so there are a number of possibilities.