A friend of mine in Malaysia told me about a parang that was so strong it could cut through 6 inch nails with a single swipe and without going blunt… it was, he told me, sold as a blank blade (without handle) and could only be found at certain night markets (and only then if your luck was in).
I was immediately hooked by the idea of this ‘Excalibur’ amongst parangs and resolved to find it myself. I never did come across this mythical machete and, truth be told, have become increasingly skeptical of its magical powers and have begun to doubt its very existence.
…but a part me hopes it does exist.
I imagine there are many of us who are interested in bushcraft who have, at one time or another, spent too much on a knife and then had to justify (or lie about the cost) to our very disapproving partners. I know I have.
We rationalize that a tool we use so much should be the best there is and that the measure of which is ‘best’ is the cost or, maybe, an endorsement from some TV celebrity. Deep down we know this isn’t necessarily true – take a look at Mora knives (excellent value for money) vs, say, a John Wiseman Survival knife (so expensive that any truly wise man wouldn’t buy it).
As far as parangs go, my recommendation is to buy one when you arrive (cost about 4 pounds), and in the video below I show a few alternatives and why my preference would be to buy a local one… and buying when you arrive has the added advantage that you don’t have to take your machete with you to the airport!
Local parangs do have their problems and there are a few different types out there; so you need to be aware that some are better than others (I’ll cover all this in the next post) but in terms of value for money they are hard to beat.
…so, until I stumble across Excalibur, I’ll happily settle for my local parang.
“for at his belt hung Excalibur, the finest sword there ever was, which sliced though iron as through wood”
Try visit East Malaysia and you’ll probably be awed by the parangs there. If one is close enough with the local knife smith from the jungle (not those mass produced, sold widely in stores); who knows, you might actually find your Excalibur.
I’d would love to go to East Malaysia for a trip one day (and before all the forest is gone!) but not very likely to be able to at the moment; it would be fascinating to watch a parang being made from the very start by a local blacksmith. I asked Baha why they don’t make parangs like this over here, and he replied – “They know more about parangs in East Malaysia” (!)
I would take it as a true statement; am slightly biased because I hailed from the Borneo where head hunting was famous in the days.
Anyway to share with you this one peculiar parang which was given by my dad (yet to seen any action): http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.468797851638.262353.658796638&l=fd33da78ed
(if you can’t see the pic, let me know and I’ll email it to you)
It’s known as Parang Ilang. Unlike normal blades, this is crafted to be only 1 sided blade. It’s blade is around 16 inch and like most reliable parang from East Malaysia, it’s blade is made from a car’s wishbone spring (it’s the favourable material for parang making in Borneo). It had been in my father’s possession for close to 15 years until I discovered this beauty.
We spent one afternoon restoring it by cleaning of the rust with autosol. Even without sharpening it, it’s still has a very sharp edge, although besides using autosol, we did polish it using sharpening stone first before finishing it off with autosol polish before and after.
In Borneo, there’s always one wise saying stating that one needs to get familiar with his parang, else prepare the wrath of being bitten by it (search Ray Mear’s video on parang from Borneo, I recalled he mentioned this statement as well, although he’s not commenting on this Parang Ilang). This holds true for this parang because like I say; it’s single sided, and the other side is actually a curve. So if the swing is incorrect, it could bounce and hit oneself instead of biting into the target. If the angle is correct, one can get a clean deep bite into the target. This blade of mine can only be used by right handed because if one is left handed the cutting movement would be awkward.
Not sure whether or not I’m going to use this parang, as it’s sort of a collection item which even my dad never used it all these years. But I bet this Parang can do it’s job well.
btw, another local outdoor enthusiast blog I visit: http://www.my-rainforest-adventures.com/ he also had couple of entries on Parang which I think this might interest you as well: http://www.my-rainforest-adventures.com/2010/02/sarawak-parang-gift-from-danny-voon/
Hi Boon,
Very interesting to hear about your one-sided parang blade – certainly new to me! – and it is always satisfying to restore a quality tool back to working order.
Anyway, I am not going to buy any more parangs for a long time as I seem to have collected rather too many already! But they are very versatile and effective tools.
And good reminder about the dangers of parang bouncing off target, a problem that often manifests itself when cutting dry bamboo carelessly.
I do read about Keong’s travels on his rainforestadventure blog from time-to-time and always enjoy them – I particularly appreciate his obvious respect for the environment and the effort he makes not to damage it.
Cheers! Paul
Hi,
Yep, the Orang Ulu Parangs I’ve seen are one-sided – including the one I own (pretty much like b00n’s – very similar, and with secondary knife as well). Had a chance to spend some jungle time with the Penan a couple of years back, and seems that a man can leave the jungle but the jungle does not leave the man .. have to get back one day, hopefully before all the forests are gone. Wouldn’t mind spending some time in other Malaysian jungles as well!
But, had also something to ask. Any advice how to protect the wooden sheath? Didn’t occur to me to ask from the locals. Maybe paraffin oil?
Thanks for the great site!
Hi JoeS,
Many thanks for the comment and support – much appreciated and sounds like you should be heading back into the jungle sometime soon! I’ve never had the chance to go in with the Penan but would love to do so – it must have been a very interesting experience.
Interesting question about the sheath – the locals here tend not to treat the sheaths however there is no reason why you shouldn’t. A coat of varnish or something like teak oil would do the trick. With wooden handles, however, I never varnish them as they get too slippy – instead I just use a few coats of oil (I use teak oil) and recoat them every couple of years or so.
Hope that helps and thanks again,
Cheers!
Paul