The machete is a members-only item used in the Woodcutting skill. A machete can also be stored on the tool belt; it will already be present on the tool belt for newly created accounts. It can be obtained either from the Jiminua's Jungle Store and Shilo Villagegeneral stores (not the store at Musa Point), trading with another player, buying from Rasolo north of Ardougne, or from looking in Radimus Erkle's cupboard in the Legends' Guild however after the quest is complete you may no longer search the cupboard for a machete and are given the message "You don't think Radimus Erkle would be very pleased if he caught you rifling through his posessions". The machete can be used as a weapon but is primarily used to cut Jungle during the Tai Bwo Wannai cleanupminigame. It has no requirements to wield though cutting Light, Medium, and Dense jungle requires 10, 20, and 35 Woodcutting to harvest respectively. A machete is also required to gain access to Kharazi Jungle. A machete can be used to cut the roots of evil trees (effectiveness unknown).
You can also obtain opal, jade and red topaz machetes, which have a progressively higher speed at chopping down the jungles. To obtain these machetes, you can buy them from Gabooty in Tai Bwo Wannai, or speak to Safta Doc and make an exchange with him.
At one time, when participating in the Evil Tree Distraction and Diversion, a player would automatically use a machete instead of a wielded hatchet when cutting down evil roots. This now happens again if you have both a hatchet and a machete in your tool belt but no hatchet in your inventory, it will use the machete.