Introduction

Dshiflet! my favorite knife is listed as the Condor village parang, came in less than a week ago and right out of the box it was my favorite in all of the collection. This thing is so beautiful and chops like nothing I have ever used
 
Bloodydishtowel said:
Dshiflet! my favorite knife is listed as the Condor village parang, came in less than a week ago and right out of the box it was my favorite in all of the collection. This thing is so beautiful and chops like nothing I have ever used
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Yeah I have that one too, it's sweet. I also really like their golok, that is a gorgeous blade as well and probably my favorite. And if you want something even more a chopper than that parang though...take a look at their engineer bolo. That thing is just an insane chopping beast.

Honestly though, as a fan of big knives and machetes...Condor is just all around amazing. Very affordable, excellent quality, and best of all, they have something for basically any need. Want a long thin machete for brush clearing? The Eco Survivor or El Salvador machete is just the thing. Want a nice sized camp knife? Kumonga or Hudson Bay knife, can't go wrong. Need a beastly chopper? Feast your eyes on that engineer bolo. How bout something that is long and thin, but still packs enough punch to do some good chopping...maybe the Swampmaster or Outback machete is what you need.
 
I've just recently gotten into Condor, absolutely beautiful working tools, I saw that engineer bolo and did figure it was a chopping beast but I wanted to explore the parang design for it's versatility and it looks like it's going to be my 1 tool (maybe included a mora or my bk2) hiking/camping tool. Going to be spending alot of money on Condor over the next year haha, ordering the dundee bowie friday and afterwards the hudson bay (not in a rush cause my bk9 can fill that large camp knife role)
 
Bloodydishtowel said:
I've just recently gotten into Condor, absolutely beautiful working tools, I saw that engineer bolo and did figure it was a chopping beast but I wanted to explore the parang design for it's versatility and it looks like it's going to be my 1 tool (maybe included a mora or my bk2) hiking/camping tool. Going to be spending alot of money on Condor over the next year haha, ordering the dundee bowie friday and afterwards the hudson bay (not in a rush cause my bk9 can fill that large camp knife role)
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Yeah, the parang is more manageable too...the e-bolo is over 2.5 pounds, and 2-3 inches longer than the parang as well, so definitely not a small blade, heh. I'll be spending more on them this yearr too, I generally try to order something or other every payday, and I'm thinking next week a Condor might be in order, just not sure which one. Their regular parang, Hudson Bay, the pack golok, and the lochnessmuk are all calling my name, I just have to decide which one(or which ones, if I can swing more than one) to go with. I'm also really wanting the Boomslang, but it's one of their more expensive ones so getting it would mean it would definitely be the only one I got that week. I've already managed to acquire all these:Golok, Village Parang, Engineer Bolo, Dundee Bowie, Barong, Thai Enep Camp Knife, Tapanga, Swampmaster, Outback Machete, Thunderhead Machete, Kukri Machete, and Bush Knife...but I want so many more, lol.

Also, if you aren't aware of this yet, Condor stuff is made by Imacasa(as are the machetes sold under the Marbles name)...you can also find a lot of nice machetes under the Imacasa name as well. They tend to come unsharpened and rough, but if you don't mind doing a little fix up on em, they're really cheap as well. One of the forum members here, Forty-Two Blades, operates the Baryonyx Knife Company site, and if you order from him(as several of us here have, including me), you can choose the "special grade" option for $3-10 more(depending on the machete) and he'll sharpen em up and smooth em out for you and save you the trouble of doing the work if you prefer. Aside from my Condor stuff, I also have the Imacasa Burriquito, 18'' Colima, Cazanga sickle, and Cane Knife, plus a Marbles Scout Machete, and quite enjoy them as well. They're not as sexy as the Condor stuff(Condor is their premium lineup) and lack the nice sheath, but they're still good blades, and even more affordable than Condor is.

One last recommendation, if you look up Aranyik, they make some awesome machetes and similar tools by hand, and are in the Condor price range. You can mostly only order direct from their website, but they have great customer service and awesome blades. Anyone who's into collecting big knives and machetes owes it to themselves to eventually pick up an Aranyik K-1 enep at the very least(I have several Aranyiks, but this one I absolutely love):
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DAMNIT! I clicked off page and it erased everything I wrote, lemme sum up, I love condor dundee bowie friday, I like imacasa but prefer my two tramontinas (14'' bolo and 14'' latin) have a marble's sheath but it ripped and sliced my up good... umm the enep is FREAKIN BEAUTIFUL but when they were on amazon I didn't see the usefullness of the shapes and they were expensive but since then my price range has ranged and blade knowledge is wider, baryonynx is awesome even though I've yet to order anything (shamefully looking at the magenta mora hahahaha)
 
Hi Steve, I am going to save you a lot of money. Don't buy any knives. Save save save until you have $800-1000. Buy yourself a Chris Reeve Knives Sebenza 25 and a Busse Combat fixed blade (I don't own a busse but there is NOTHING but praise for them.) You're Welcome:)
 
I've got a no.8 haha $500 will most likely never be spent on a folder for me, more of a large blade/ machete guy, I don't have a job that requires alot of folding knife cutting and even if I did, I'd just carry a mora or something
 
Bloodydishtowel said:
DAMNIT! I clicked off page and it erased everything I wrote, lemme sum up, I love condor dundee bowie friday, I like imacasa but prefer my two tramontinas (14'' bolo and 14'' latin) have a marble's sheath but it ripped and sliced my up good... umm the enep is FREAKIN BEAUTIFUL but when they were on amazon I didn't see the usefullness of the shapes and they were expensive but since then my price range has ranged and blade knowledge is wider, baryonynx is awesome even though I've yet to order anything (shamefully looking at the magenta mora hahahaha)
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I don't have any trams yet(it's on the agenda though!), but Imacasa has a lot more variety in their blade styles from what I've seen-sure, you got your classic styles like the bolos and Latins and such, but those I'm not as interested in, you can get them anywhere(such as from Tram, lol). But you also have some regional styles, like the burriquito, cuma, and colima, that you can't find from too many other makers(at least not readily available ones anyway), and that's what I usually go to Imacasa for. And with Baryonyx's special grade option, they're great performers as well. The lack of sheath is my biggest downside...Machete Specialists sells sheathes for some Imacasas, but not all of them. Sucks about the Marbles sheath, mine seemed pretty nice but I'll keep an eye on it just to be sure. And yeah, Aranyik makes some awesome looking stuff. This was the last order I got from them, from top to bottom 26'' Latin Machete, 25'' Thai Saber Machete(with handle wrap), and SE Asian Hand Axe. I know the pic isn't the best but I got a crappy camera, lol. And this whole order, with priority mail shipping from Hawaii to Texas was under $200:
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They posted a new pic on their Facebook page earlier of their full tang Dao, and now that one is on my agenda as well. Their prices and quality are on par with Condor(I have 6 Aranyik machetes so far, plus a couple of small utility knives and a folder that were thrown in as freebies), so when you get a chance, check em out...especially the eneps(the K-1 I posted is their largest, ~19 inch overall length). But order direct from their website, they have a LOT of stuff that they don't list on Amazon.

As for $500 on a folder, well, I've handled a Sebenza before. Yes, it's well made, but in the real world, the likelihood of it's tighter tolerances give you an advantage over the tolerances of even a $100 folder are about the same as the odds of you getting hit by lightning. The tolerances are are there don't get me wrong, the warranty is great, the knives are flawlessly made(though unattractive, IMO) but they won't make a difference in real world performance the vast majority of the time, and are only important if you're an absolute perfectionist. Not worth the $400 to me.
 
One day I hope to feel this. Right now I've enough to impress people who don't know much about blades but it's not enough for me
 
Bloodydishtowel said:
One day I hope to feel this. Right now I've enough to impress people who don't know much about blades but it's not enough for me
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You'll get there. I try to order something every paycheck, and the great thing is, there's so many options out there. If I have a good payday and don't have anything major to worry about one week, I might buy a $150 blade or whatever(right now I haven't payed more than $120 for any single blade, but there sure is some nice stuff out there that keeps calling to me, heh)...but if I got bills or something coming due, and I don't have as much spending money one week, I can still generally manage to at least afford something cool from companies like Mora, Imacasa, Tram, Opinel, Kershaw's awesome budget folders...keeps the collection growing and keeps me happy at the same time. That's the nice thing, there's something for just about every budget!
 
I feel the same way, I haven't spent over $80 (BK9) just sent *company that shall not be named* an email hahahaha I want that Enep pretty badly, my birthday is on the 27th and I told someone that I wanted the windlass Lakonia so if they come through for me I'll be very happy
 
have you ever heard of Gavilan? I picked up a 22'' panga for $10 2 months ago totally oblivious to it's columbian origins, thing is massive but didn't have an edge and I'm inexperienced at using a file to put an edge on a machete so I may have ruined it
 
Bloodydishtowel said:
I feel the same way, I haven't spent over $80 (BK9) just sent *company that shall not be named* an email hahahaha I want that Enep pretty badly, my birthday is on the 27th and I told someone that I wanted the windlass Lakonia so if they come through for me I'll be very happy
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I don't have a BK9...yet. I will though. And man, I want that Lakonia too! I have their kindjal and I like it, their Lakonia and Falcata are both on my eventual to-get list as well. Like I said above, there's something for every budget...the downside is, unless you have funds like Trump and buy anything you want at any time, there will ALWAYS be something or other on your "I want that!" list, heh.

I've heard of Gavilan, but never actually owned(or seen, for that matter) anything by them. I imagine it's fixable though, if you are concerned about damaging it, check your local hardware stores(or knife stores, if you are lucky enough to have one in your area), a lot of them have sharpening services pretty cheap.
 
yeah but that keeps our blade lust on the edge, I like wanting for things if I know eventually I can attain them, $500 sebenza, I couldn't want for that much... a $60 condor knife, attainable and I will have it.
 
I'd have to *really* be crazy about a knife to put aside $500 for it. I mean, I could do it...I mean, even just setting aside $20 per paycheck I could have the knife within a year, and it would still leave me spending money to buy other stuff, it's just that so far, I haven't been that crazy about anything. In all honesty, if given the choice between buying a $500 Sebenza, or buying 10 $50 Condor/Aranyiks, I can easily say I would get more enjoyment out of the Condors and Aranyiks. Hell, given the choice between buying the Sebby or buying a couple of $100 Spyderco's and a ZT 0300, the Sebby wouldn't even cross my mind.
 
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