exactly what is a parang?

W

Will

Joined
Jan 4, 2003
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The SAS Survival handbooks praises it, and in the pic, it sort of looks like a kukri. Is "parang" just a general term for a long bladed knife (machete, bolo, golok, kukri...) or is it a knife of specific design? I don't think I have ever seen anything advertised or sold as a "parang" that looks like the pic in the SAS book.

Will
 
Parang is a malay word for a long blade. Something like a machete. The shape of parang varies from region to region.
 
nice one! LOL!!! :D


sometimes "parang" is followed by a province name, indicating it's style. Same thing with golok....many interpretations. I think, generall speaking though...that to be a parang, it must swell toward the tip and often has an upswept profile. While a golok is also upswept, it does not have a pointy tip. And a bolo is distinguished by having a "straight" tip, even if it has a curvy belly.

If you see something that is kukri-ish being called a parang...it's a misnomer.
 
Daniel Koster said:
... be a parang, it must swell toward the tip and often has an upswept profile.
Click to expand...

I have seen malyasian makers call bowies (or bowie-like blades like the Battle Mistress) parangs. Usually with a fairly sarcastic/jibe intent because they are usually far too small for "serious" work. As far as I can tell it just means a basic large blade which doesn't have a dramatic curvature like a khukuri, kris, etc. .

-Cliff
 
It is unfair to have so many good looking blades in the world . I,ll never get to try them all . Cliff? You seem to be making a pretty good effort at it .
 
Yeah, you could spend years just working with the variations of one type finding the best particular implemenation of that style for you.

-Cliff
 
There are definitely a lot of interesting blades in the world! The variations of the parang alone are almost limitless. :)

"Parang" is a really general term that can be used with any manner of wildly different blade shapes. Here's a weird looking Malay parang: Parang Ginah.

The word "bolo" refers more to Filipino blades. It's a parang-type knife, but you don't hear "bolo" used often to describe Indonesian or Malaysian cutting tools.

"Golok" and "parang" are often used interchangeably, but a golok sometimes has a shorter blade. A "klewang" usually has a straight edge and a wide point. Their blades can be very long.

A "pedang" is also very similar to a parang and there's some overlap in terminology there too. Pedang is more of a sword though; it might have a guard and a more acute point for thrusting.

Here's a great page that describes different types of Malay swords and here's a bunch of parangs, goloks, pedangs, etc. to look at from Malay Art Gallery.
 
I asked a very similar question on another forum, prompted by an interest in finding something like Wiseman's parang in his SAS Survival Guide. Closest I know of on the market is the "Parang Bandol" offered by Valiantco's eBay store; blade's about Wiseman's 12 inches, and it's the right shape; but the handle is horn, and the tang doesn't seem to go all the way through, as Wiseman's does. That blade shape should make a "draw cut"--which supposedly can go through a LOT of wood in one stroke--easier than most shapes. If $75 bucks is a bit steep, one can get very inexpensive Filipino bolos at www.reflectionsofasia.com . These latter, in my experience, aren't the greatest quality--but they do cut. Also, that's the "bolo" shape (straighter than the Wiseman or Valiantco parang, and with the blade expanding more on the edge side than the spine side, which gives some bolos something kind of like a mild kukri-like curve), and it's not the backward-curving "parang" that Wiseman recommended.
 
Return of the J.D. said:
That blade shape should make a "draw cut"--which supposedly can go through a LOT of wood in one stroke--easier than most shapes.
Click to expand...

I think the gentle curve might help add some tiny amount of slicing motion to a shearing cut, but this is not the same thing most folks mean when they say "draw cut". In the latter case, the blade is intentionally swung in such a way that the edge is sliding towards the user as it cuts, as opposed to a straight baseball-bat style swing.
 
possum's got it right. A kukri is a good example of a knife that push cuts as well as draw cuts.

But for light duty branch-clearing...vine-removal...etc. I can see where an gently upswept blade would be handy.
 
You can buy a parang in the hardware shop in Malaysia for less then US$10. The heat treatment is good but the finish is that of a rough working knife.

singteck
 
Sorry if I've misunderstood; I'd gotten the idea of that s-shaped parang blade's proclivity for "draw[ing] cuts" from this review of Valiant's Parang Lading:

http://www.oldjimbo.com/survival/valiant2.html

Your comments are solicited, as well as comparisons about the best technique for getting the most out of (1) the s-shaped parang blade; and (2) a kukri blade. (I've long been a kukri fan, but am intrigued, as Will is, by Wiseman's praise of the parang form.)
 
For starters...a parang is typically much lighter and easier to swing than a kukri.
 
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