Anyone have Experience with Valiant Survival Golok?

[Fletcher Knives]

I'm trying to decide if i want to pick one of these up. I had read a review a long time ago about another Valiant blade and it seemed very nice. Does anyone here have any experience with these or something similar in the Valiant line up? If so, what do you think of it? It looks good and steady for the price point.

This is the model I want.

Blade: 14 3/4" - 1/4" hand-forged-to-shape Spring Steel, tapered, sharpened & hardened.
Handle: Buffalo horn, finger grooved.
Sheath: Ironwood, horn fittings.
Length: 23".
Weight: 500gr; OA = 700gr.
Price: A$75.00.

 

[NaturalWorld]

I don't have any experience, unfortunately, but I thought immediately of Cliff's evaluation: http://www.cutleryscience.com/reviews/valiant_golok.html

I think I remember someone stating the handle started cracking under repeated heavy use, and have since been more focused on the Bark River Golok; however, I tried a quick search, and couldn't find anything on the broken handle. In fact, a google search of "valiant survival golok' brings up a whole list of reviews, all of which seem favorable.
http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9332
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=308687 (US dealer is an eBay shop named 'highdesertwalker'? wow, congrats, if that's you, HDW! If so, I bet you'd be treated right, shopping there. Probably one of the better resources for first hand info, also)
http://outdoors-magazine.com/spip.php?article2
http://www.oldjimbo.com/survival/valiant1.html
http://forums.outdoors-magazine.com/viewtopic.php?t=4811 (not a review on the golok, but discusses it, the BR, and some other choppers)

They look beautiful, and sound effective! I'd be interested to hear more experiences regarding how they relate to HI products (I'm partial to both areas of the world), both seemingly made by a native people through a more primitive means, as well as more on how it compares to the Barky product.
Interested to know what works out for you & goodluck!

 

[Salamander42]

I know someone's got one, but I can't remember who. I kind of start to drool every time they post a pic of it. I don't have any personal experience with anything from valiant but I've heard lots of good stuff about them. I do have a smaller golok similar to this one. . .

I haven't used it a whole lot, but I really like it so far. It goes through smaller green branches like a light saber, and bites nice and deep without binding when chopping larger stuff. I'm still not sure if I like the design better than a khukri, but I definitely like it a lot.

 

[ilbruche]

Talk to HighDesertWalker. He was a Valiant US distributor...I think he will know.

 

[rctk1]

I had one, it didnt last 2 days. I was chopping on a lychee tree limb when i heard a twang, when i looked at the blade there was a large 2" half moon chip in the blade. I contacted the distrubutor that i ordered from and he stated that blades are all hand made and at times heat treat issues arise "overhardening", i could have returned the knife for another, but the dependability issues will always be in the back of my head. Just order a Golok from Brkt and i dont think you will have the same problem.

 

[riddleofsteel]

The issues of hit or miss on heat treatment, handle attachment, handle materials, ect are some of the reasons that once upon a time a blade maker's mark was the seal of excellence. Knives made by some unknown guy squatting in Indonesia can be fun to mess with and I am certain that a good number of high quality knives come out of there. However, if you have limited funds and have to depend on your blades to perform go with a maker you can trust. That is why most of my production knives are Bark Rivers, Fallkniven, older Cold Steel and Busse. If I have a handmade knife by a individual maker it is because I am convinced he is both talented and proven. I don't know anyone from Indonesia.

 

[Fiddleback]

I had a survival Golok. So did HD. He went throuh 2 of them because the handle fractured during chopping. That is horn. Be aware. These are brush clearers, not limb choppers. Sure, they can, but horn isn't going to support that tang 100% of the time. Light chopping they are awesome. I owned one and sold it. Came so sharp it was nuts. I got it from HDW, he no longer sells them though. You'll have to ask him about that.

 

[Myal]

I have one
I LOVE IT , seriously , its awesome , it looks too dam pretty to take out and abuse , but I dont let that stop me
I have used ti to chop iorn bark limbs into manageable pieces for firewood , ive used it to split wood to get the dry inner wood ( tropical QLD in the wet ) , I use it as my favotie knife for slicing wholerump or bigger cuts that I get now and them , due to its length and razor sharpness
its also just cool looking , did I mention its pretty ?
I think its a stick tang , its got a few ripples from being handforged , the grind is convex , the blade diferentially hardened , the cutting edge is seriously hard , mine cam shaving sharp , no choil just all shaving sharp cutting edge


just showing off

just massacred a dead orange tree

doing duty as steak knife

 

[Dave_Markowitz]

Like Myal, I have one and love it. Mine came shaving sharp (which can be a bit scary on a blade this size ). I used it last year to trim some arborvitae in my yard.

It's the only blade I have from Valiant, but based on this one I wouldn't mind another.

 

[akennedy73]

I have one and I love it. The full convex grind bites deep and throws chips like a rabid beaver. Mine has a wooden handle and it's held up to plenty of heavy chopping - but maybe it's more resilient than horn. The horn ferrule has cracked on mine but I don't think it's from chopping stress since it's not above the spine.

Don't hand a valiant golok to someone to play with unless they understand what it means to handle a razor that's over a foot long and a quarter-inch thick.

I understand criticisms that you'd be better served by a BRKT that costs more than twice as much. But personally I'm comfortable carrying a $10 Mora into the field - and I know that they can fail.

 

[HighDesertWalker]

Please allow me to clarify some of the issues that have been raised concerning Valiant Trading Company blades and the US distributorship I formerly managed as an eBay store.

I first became interested in Valiant blades through various blade forums that I joined when I retired in 2005. Many expressed a fondness for Valiant blades, but complained they were difficult to obtain because of the lack of a US distributor. Actually, I have always found Suwandi (Wandi > 1D) very easy and reliable to deal with on personal orders, but I recognized that US sales could be increased if a distributor were available. So I negotiated a deal with Wandi for an exclusive US distributorship and began operation of an eBay store in late 2005.

My profit margin was never very large, and as the exchange rate for the dollar fell from A$1.35 in 2005 to A$.94 in 2008 it became impossible to make a profit while maintaining attractive prices in my eBay store. So the operation was shut down early in 2008.

I really enjoyed working with Wandi and have the greatest respect for his products. However, it is unreasonable to expect that a blade with a rat tail tang in buffalo horn can be as durable as the full tang blades most western users are familiar with. The best piece of writing I have seen on the subject is an article by "James" in Outdoor-Magazine:

http://www.outdoors-magazine.com/spip.php?page=article&id_article=329

Pay close attention to the section on "Using Them".

Concerning the occasional chipped blade, these are due to an error in the tempering process that leads to over hardening. Wandi will replace all such blades as soon as they are returned. He must have the blade back so he can take up the issue with his Indonesian blade smiths and see that the tempering process is more carefully controlled.

My personal collection of Valiants includes a Small Survival Golok, Parang Lading, Parang Borneo, Parang Bandol, Golok Kelapa and a Pinuti. My favorites are the Parangs with upward sweeping blades, which lend themselves to spectacular draw cuts that can easily sever tree limbs up to almost 2" diameter with a single resounding stroke (Whak!).

Cheers,

 

[akennedy73]

I really enjoyed working with Wandi and have the greatest respect for his products. However, it is unreasonable to expect that a blade with a rat tail tang in buffalo horn can be as durable as the full tang blades most western users are familiar with.

And James also points out here that it's a trade-off of comfort vs. durability which I think sometimes gets lost in the discussion:

"The vibration story becomes important after a long use, because I use these things as garden tools despatching trees into smaller bits, what most people do with a saw and axe, just it is 10 times faster with a long bladed tool. I have a few heavy machetes, one HI khukh and two valiants, a bowie and a valiant greco imitation which are flat tang, and I can feel the difference (all reprofiled to a decent profile), but as I said one need to have a LOT of work to do, quite unlikely in general as I doubt a lot of people will cut stuff for more than an hour, and an hour is where for me, I start noticing the difference. After an hour, a full flat tang gets pretty dangerous to me , when I can continue safely with a blade which dampens shocks more (if I started with it, because tiredness canoont be corrected by the blade).

If someone use a tool like that in the field, it is unlikely he will go banging for hours, but 1/2 hour max, after which most people get bored, or have cut all they had to.

Again, this is a question of user choice, comfort vs durability."

That's one of the most attractive things for me about the Valiant golok - I can chop for extended periods without getting worn out.

 

[HighDesertWalker]

Again, this is a question of user choice, comfort vs durability."

That's one of the most attractive things for me about the Valiant golok - I can chop for extended periods without getting worn out.

You're dead on accurate here ak73. I look forward to using my Valiants. It's fun!

 

[Fletcher Knives]

Ok. I was expecting some sort of rant concerning them about to come from HDW from the way FB put it. I'm glad to see it was really just a matter of dollar amounts and so forth. I'm still trying to make my mind up. In the area I live in, having a golok or machete isn't as necessary as having a hawk, hatchet, or axe. This blade would mainly be purchased for fun, traveling to places where it would be more useful than a hawk, and display on the wall when not in use. That's one of the appealing things for me about the Valiant stuff. It's comfortable to use, effective, and it also looks really nice on display. Like i said, I'm still deciding though.