I own lots - except compared to Jean-Marc..
I love all of mine and Wandi is a great guy to deal with. the blades are traditional designs for the most part and are clay zone hardened at edge only. That means that they are cutting but not prying tools. It's essential with all of the goloks and parangs that a person understands that what they see at first in chopping is not the whole story. These things are set up for the draw cut which will happen by accident even if a person doesn't try to learn it. At that point the blade will sail through wood without slowing instead of coming to rest in the wood as expected. That's when body parts could be removed, so it's essential to read JM's safety guide.
My blades have all seen a tremendous amount of work in clearing - so I figure that they are the most effective tools around.
The Bandol would be a good choice because even though it's a parang, it will be a lot safer than the longer parangs which can be deflected down to legs. I still figure that one of the survival goloks is the better blade to start with until the draw stroke is mastered. They are still incredibly effective but are less liable to deflection than blades with wider and heavier tips.
