Over the weekend, I used an Ontario RTAKII knife to clear about 2,000 sq. feet of overgrown weeds, tress, vines, and brush that had been growing wild between my house and neighbor's houses on both sides.

The RTAKII made quick work of everything under 2" thick but the blade edge is nicked and gouged.

I'm looking at maintenance recommendations, both sharpening and rust prevention and recommendations for a sheath to attach to a molle ruck, and any tips on use.

Not mine:

I remember being in a hardware store in El Salvador in the 70s and watching a guy buy a new machete. He spent half an hour checking out a pile of identical ones before he made his choice.

Probably worried about variations in manufacture.
Consistency with Ontario will be better.  
Ontario may not be better than best El Salvador.
I need people with this kind of shit so I can practice perfecting my skills on 1x30 grinder.
Ontario commercial lines are good quality simple blade designs.

       Wear gloves and don't worry so much about maintenance. Machetes are to be abused not pampered. I say wear gloves because you'll smack your hands i to a lot of shit and thorns can suck a dick if you happen to swing into them. If you're going to be using it a lot you're better off getting a long handled brush hook. Keeps your hands safe, better reach and better swing power. I call my brush hook a Somali hockey stick.



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It arrived, while nicely balanced,the handle is chunky and slick, I'm thinking a thin electrical tape wrap. going to cut my daisies down.

Just got an Ontario 1-18 myself couple weeks ago.
Little time with some 60grit and a rat tail file to thin and recontour the grip, and a couple quick passes on the worksharp and I've been very pleased with it's performance and value

Not much to do unless you want to modify the blade shape etc.    If you have a belt sander you can change to a convex edge that will hold up a bit better to abuse .
You can treat this two ways.   As a disposable tool and use a file or a puck style sharpener or you can use a fine grit belt to convex and touch up on the belt or by hand.  
  If by hand you can buy sanding belts and cut them. Use a 2x4 etc tape ( I cut a groove and fold in) the belt with some soft backing for convex ( like thing neoprene) or no backing to maintain a factory style edge.  
  The second way will take a lot less material and make the machete last a long time .
 Lots of ways to accomplish the same goal.
This started life as a 18in Ontario

Here is a Martindale clone  both of these are pretty old when I first started