Parang from Kami Tirtha...

[warty]

This is a very comfortable blade to hold and swing. It makes a great machete, I cleared the side of my house (after the pix) of tall weeds easily with it and chopped the flower stalks out of my four yuccas. No damage to the blade at all from the yucca stalks and if you don't know, they are tough to cut. The blade came to me quite sharp already, no just serviceable but just right for a machete. Personally, I don't want those to be like a razor since they tend to stick in a larger, thicker piece of woody weed rather than pass through. When they stick it can be dangerous to try and dislodge the blade so I prefer to try and not let them stick at all.

nice, comfy horn handle...

have a frosty one!

The Parang has a nice weight to it too. It feels good to swing and the handle is made to fit the hand perfectly, at least my hand. It also has a nice balance to it. I have found that both Tirtha and Santosh have the touch when it comes to making a balanced blade. They have the ability to take even the heaviest blade and make them feel like they are light as a feather.

thought I'd add this picture to show all of the "Big Blades" of HI...

{T=>B}
Cherokee Rose Bowie (Vim)
Bamboo Cutter (Young Sher)
Giant Seax (Santosh)
Bob White Bolo (Sher, The Tiger)
Parang (Tirtha)
Jungle Knife (Lok)
Annapurna Bowie (Lok)​

 

[heinlein]

I doubt if it is the most capable of the bunch; but the middle one is the one I like the looks of best. Do you mind sharing the usual specs., what is it, which Kami, length, weight etc..

 

[warty]

That is a Sher Bob White Bolo and I would need to measure it for all the specs of you could work it out via relative sizes...

 

[killa_concept]

Awesome stuff Warty! Did you perchance have a shot of the spine? I believe the DotDs have been listing it as 1/4" - what's your opinion on that level of spine thickness? Funny that I think that to be a tad slender - only by HI standards right?

 

[warty]

no picture of the spine but that seems right... there is plenty of meat there, I think this makes the Parang what it is supposed it be though, nice and light. I think the whole deal is a perfect package myself. The over all weight is just right and so is the balance. This is a great interpretation of a nice blade that I already have a few of in my collection from more traditional sources. In fact, I would wager this is likely the least "interpreted" of all the HI blades taken from elsewhere in the world.

 

[ozbladefan]

Another great review there Warty complete with fantastic pics as always. I do like the look of that Parang, they are certainly a very handy style of blade to have. The one I have is not HI , but has proven its worth on many a camping trip. I think that Bob white Bolo is very impressive indeed.

 

[Yangdu]

Great pix and review,
thank you

 

[warty]

Awesome stuff Warty! Did you perchance have a shot of the spine? I believe the DotDs have been listing it as 1/4" - what's your opinion on that level of spine thickness? Funny that I think that to be a tad slender - only by HI standards right?

sorry this took me so long to do but I finally was able to take a picture of the spine contrasted to my ASTK-V...

Hope this helps. I can tell you that I have been using this a fair bit since I did the review and it can limb a branch like no other blade I own. I had to remove a few more bigger branches from a pine tree and decided after I chopped them out with the parang (which went quite well and was a lot easier than one of the heavier blades in the tight space of that tree) that I would see how well it stripped the branches of their smaller limbs. It was like using a laser on everything 2inches and smaller and anything any bigger than two but smaller than 3 only took two easy swings. Like the tamang, I believe a thinner blade makes things easier when doing this kind of chopping. With the extra weight that the parang brings with it over the tamang, I think of it as the perfect complimentary blade for my tamang. I would like to see about getting a parang with a less shiny, more villager type finish and perhaps a wood handle (though as I have noted this horn one is very comfortable and nice) for variety.

 

[Ugly Duck]

Drool....