Anyone know about parangs?

[novembeRain]

I'm considering making myself a parang, I've done a handful of knives but nothing on this scale so it's a new challenge for me (mostly keeping it straight during heat treatment, I expect).

Anyway, I'll most likely use a 500mm length of steel (so, about 16" blade) unless anyone knows a reason that's not ideal? But the width has me stumped for now; I can see there'll be a lot of waste already but will 75mm wide be big enough to cut the blank out of or will I need more (because of the unusual curve)?

Funnily enough, I've found machette's etc are of limited use in bushcraft, this one's specifically for when I'm building hides for pigeon shooting and need to clear a bit of a jungle first. It's as much a project to keep me reasonably sane for a while at this time of year as anything though

 

[spandit]

Machetes are generally quite light. My view of a parang is a much heavier blade. Your piece of steel sounds big enough - just design it to suit

 

[woodstock]

Have a look at Condor Village parang I got one in a swap and it is one of the useful tools I have very multi tasking.

 

[Dave Budd]

it all depends on the shape parang you want to make and whether you are making a stick tang, which allows you to bend the tang downwards and save wasting a lot of steel on a wider bar. I've never made one by stock removal, it's just much easier and more efficient to forge bendy shapes

 

[Toddy]

I know they make a hell of a thud when the postman pushes the parcel through the letter box

Then one is accosted by the other half when the parcel is opened and there are comments like, "Do you not think the knifeage is getting a little out of hand ??"

Shape and weight, and the handles are generally carp and need fixing so that you can use them without blisters from unsmoothed or inconvenient edges and nuts on bolts.
Otherwise, they'e fairly cheap, and are the beesknees for nettles and bracken.
That said, genrally for here a billhook's better tool I find, and you're less likely to have to explain.
Each to their own.

M

 

[novembeRain]

Some good points there, things I hadn't even considered; I was thinking parang because I've tried most other cutting tools (for this job, that includes a steel blade on a petrol strimmer), I'd forgotten all about Bill hooks though I'll not be far behind you at this rate toddy

 

[uncleboob]

I know they make a hell of a thud when the postman pushes the parcel through the letter box

Then one is accosted by the other half when the parcel is opened and there are comments like, "Do you not think the knifeage is getting a little out of hand ??"

Shape and weight, and the handles are generally carp and need fixing so that you can use them without blisters from unsmoothed or inconvenient edges and nuts on bolts.
Otherwise, they'e fairly cheap, and are the beesknees for nettles and bracken.
That said, genrally for here a billhook's better tool I find, and you're less likely to have to explain.
Each to their own.

M

I'm with you on the billhooks...bought a parang because I though I'd use it but have continued to use a combination of billhook and old battered hatchet for most jobs

 

[Toddy]

Here.....Buy British

http://www.ralphmartindale.co.uk/ralphmartindale/general.html

Everything from teacutting knives to rubber to sugar cane cutters.

 

[Janne]

Toddy, the name is not sugar cane cutters...

In Jamaican, the language of Heroes, it is a ‘Cutlass’ !
I joke not!
Cutlass. I asked one my gardeners why, and the answer is that it cuts, so it is a Cutlass!



I second a bill hook.

 

[Toddy]

Ehm, no, a cutlass is the sword used by British sailors

You're right though that in the British caribbean it's the name given to their 'sugar cane knives'......which Martindale still make and sell
Top of this page...
http://www.ralphmartindale.co.uk/ralphmartindale/gen-knives.html

To me, and I suspect most here, that's more a machete than a 'knife' though.

 

[Janne]

Yes, it is a Marine ‘sword’, that is why I found his explanation funny!
We can buy machetes here everywhere, made in south and central America, So so quality. Soft steel.
Will check out Martindale!

 

[Toddy]

Some good points there, things I hadn't even considered; I was thinking parang because I've tried most other cutting tools (for this job, that includes a steel blade on a petrol strimmer), I'd forgotten all about Bill hooks though I'll not be far behind you at this rate toddy

One of the most useful tools I have is a sickle.
Jojo made it for me as a steel copy of a bronze Bronze Age replica that I had been using.
It's an excellent tool, incredibly good edge on it, and it's just such a brilliantly good tool for everything from cutting rushes to brambles, nettles to ivy, pruning the apple and geans, it even neatly cuts off willow and hazel rods.
It's not huge, not any great effort to work with, just a bit of care and forethought and it's better than a knife for most things.

M

 

[C_Claycomb]

Here.....Buy British

http://www.ralphmartindale.co.uk/ralphmartindale/general.html

Everything from teacutting knives to rubber to sugar cane cutters.

Don't bother with Martindale. Number one, they have long had a policy of not selling more than a couple of their bladed tools in the UK (Golok and Para knife) due to fears of political backlash and their steel is very soft and does not hold an edge worth a darn. I bought one of their Jungle Knives, at an absurd price, in the US and while the design is innovative, the steel....

If you need to cut soft vegetation like brambles and thistles, along with twigs and some thicker hard wood, I think that a billhook is going to be a bit too heavy and a parang is probably the tool to use. I have three, two that I use a fair bit, an 18" blade modelled on a Penang parang, and a Condor Eco Parang, which is much more handy, but much less comfortable or efficient for clearance.

I agree that a hidden tang is the way to go. You may find that your first handle attempt isn't comfortable or secure in use, if it is a hidden tang, you can remove the old and start again. If you do a full tang, you better be right first time because all you can change is the thickness (or start converting it to a half or hidden tang anyway).

Eco Parang in my own sheath
. by Last Scratch, on Flickr

No picture of the blade on this one...
Parang+sheath by Last Scratch, on Flickr

Chris

 

[Toddy]

I've got a Martindale machete though, and I'm pretty sure it was bought in the UK. I wouldn't have spent the money on a Golok for all the use I'd give it. Russ altered the handle to make it a better fit for my hand. It's excellent for that long arm slash of getting through overgrown vegetation. I don't sharpen it per se, I just strop it, and it's been fine.

I know it's not a quality that suits you Chris, but for what is pretty much just a garden tool, it does the job very simply.

It's becoming more and more irksome that we can't easily buy gardening and agricultural hand tools because some numpty decided to use them agin folks and the knee jerk reaction is to ban them all for everyone.

M

 

[C_Claycomb]

At odd intervals I have looked around on-line to see if anyone is selling any of the other Martindale bladed tools in the UK. I have yet to find anywhere that hasn't been re-importing them from the US. When shopping for their Jungle Knife I spoke to someone at Martindale and they told me about their policy. That was back in 2004, and it wasn't new policy even then.

 

[spandit]

I bought a Martindale cane knife... in Mauritius

 

[snappingturtle]

This is mine, I made this from a car spring, Its heavy-ish because its mainly for wood but I make the blade wide enough to be gripped all along the blade so as to be able to do some finer work.

 

[Laurentius]

I find a slasher to be very useful. Essentially a bill hook on a long pole. Mine has a relatively thin blade, like a machete, without the heft of a traditional heavyweight bill hook. Noneless because of the leverage behind it, it is an awesome cutter, especially against undegrowth that fights back, like brambles. You could easily cut a small tree down with it, I have. I have also been using a condor lochnessmuk recently with a customised blade profile. I really like it because it fits comfortably in my hand, is not too heavy and bites deep.

 

[spandit]

I have a Stihl brush hook - like a billhook on a sledgehammer handle. It's pretty good for thicker stuff. Just ordered a couple of dirt cheap slashers with angled ends for cutting brambles at the base.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00XER6Q54/

They say "professional quality" so must be good