Sad Day for My Pride and My Machax

wasatchdan said:
Yeah, what I wouldn't give for a Ka-bar BK-6. A dull edge on the Parang is not a deal breaker for me. I'm used to the factory edges of machetes being duller than a conversation with my divorced aunts. I was planning to convex the Parang anyway, even if it came razor sharp. I'm weird like that. I'll put hours into saving a rusty, notched, $6 machete instead of just buying a new one. The handle on the Parang does annoy me, but I was thinking that if I like it and it performs well, I'll probably just stipple the handle and duracoat it a color I like. If I don't like it, well, I know a guy who wants one who would buy it from me no questions asked.

And speaking of Duracoat, I like those machetes of yours, CTanner. That snakeskin treatment is cool.
Click to expand...

When I opened the BG and checked to see how sharp it was I really thought there must have been some sort of protective coating. I was wrong. Very dull. But every edge gets a convex edge so it didn't matter.
 
Well, I got my BG Parang today.

First off, it looks ugly with that orange and gray handle. It's even more hideous up close.
DSCN0679.jpg


As advertised, the Parang is dull as can be out of the box. I tried a dozen whacks against a tree branch, and this was the best one of them. Barely into the wood.
DSCN0690.jpg


So off to the belt sander and the Work Sharp for a convexing.
DSCN0693.jpg


Then I tried it against some seasoned wood I had in my backyard. First whack sunk deep.
DSCN0696.jpg


I did some random chores, pruning my peach and cherry trees of some dead limbs. Then I chopped a little more into some seasoned wood. The convex works great. Very sharp and strong. After all that, the Parang would still do this.
DSCN0698.jpg


Not a bad buy at all for the money it cost. It's not going to replace my Machax or King, but it'll be nice to have around when I want to wail on some wood and don't want to waste the edge on my Beckers. Thanks for the heads-up, fellas.
 
Now we'll just have to figure out a way to mod those hideous handles.
 
I think they're just two halves screwed together. I wonder if Tommythewho could be convinced to build some wooden scales for it. The one thing I really didn't like about the grip is that the thumb guard is in the way for any fine work. Fuzzing the stick was uncomfortable thanks to the spike that was shoving itself into my palm. If a set of wood scales was made without the back guard on them, it would actually make the Parang into a great blade.
 
cjr7 said:
Looks like it did pretty good. You still gonna do some comparisons for us?
Click to expand...

Yeah, once my Aranyik blade shows up. It's in Hawaii as of today. It might be here at the end of the week., next Monday at the latest.
 
I think I saw someone at WSS make some custom scales for this parang. This should be an interesting project :)
 
The beauty of stick tang knives (Parang is stick, no?) is you can make the handles into whatever the hell you can think of. You could make becker handles for it if you wanted. If the handles are screwed on its a bonus, if not, not to hard just cut them appart.
 
You can always just use bike inner tube, grip tape for bats or tennis, camo form or even duct tape:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top