[Evandro Kenjy Miyake]

Hi guys, i have some doubts: Were Falchions and Choppers, peasants weapons? And in middle ages, were these same weapons the equivalent of our machetes? thanks in advance.

[Chad Arnow]

Evandro,
Hello and welcome to myArmoury.com. There's no general answer here. Some falchions are very decorated and obviously weapons of the wealthy. Some seem to be more weapons of lesser nobility or semi-well-off men-at-arms. The choppers to generally seem to be on the more crude end of the scale.

Most falchions seem to have been actual weapons of war. The choppers may be more related to some general purpose knives. Some of the splayed tips on them resemble the tips on knives used for cleaning fish.

[Evandro Kenjy Miyake]

Alright, thank you Chad.
I also have one more question: In the 19th century, machetes already existed?

[Greg Coffman]

There has always been a short, single-edged, possibly curved blade which was cheap to manufacture and therefore cheap to purchase. Because they were cheap to manufacture or buy, peasants definitely used them. The seax and to some degree the messer fit into this category. However, falchions and "choppers" were not necessarily any cheaper than regular swords and while some messers were more rudimentary, others were dressed up quite nicely. Falchions and "choppers" were weapons while knives served as tools. Some blades could overlap between weapon or tool, like the messer, but not falchions or "choppers."