At the suggestion of one of my buschcrafty friends, I picked up a Condor Parang. This is my first Condor knife. I found a pretty good deal on it. So, based on my friend's recommendation and the relatively low price, I thought I would give it a try.
The Parang knife (technically not a machete) is commonly found in Malaysia and Indonesia where vegetation is more "woody" than Southeast Asia and South America where the machete is more common. The brush here in Nebraska and most of North American is also "woody" in nature making the Parang a good fit for us Northerners as well.
The Parang is optimized for a stronger chopping action with a heavier blade and a sweet spot farther forward than that of a traditional machete. The blade is also angled more obtusely to keep it from binding in the cut. A Parang blade is typically about 12" long. Condor's version has a 17.5" blade with a 24" overall length.
The curved blade enables maximum effort to be applied when cutting timber. The blade arrives before the knuckles giving them protection. A Parang has three different edges, the front is very sharp and used for skinning, the middle is wider and used for chopping, and the back end (near the handle) is very fine and used for carving. It also seems well suited for making feather sticks from kindling for fire starting.
Given the longer length of the Condor version, it would be rather difficult to utilize the front end of the blade for skinning. Since skinning is not my primary purpose for this knife, I'm OK with that.
My initial reaction, when I pulled the machete out of the box, was that this thing is a hefty piece of kit. It's a full-tang knife with a 1/4" thick carbon steel blade. Some people don't like the balance of a full-tang machete but my personal opinion is that this one swings nicely.
The handle is made of hardwood. It's a tad rough out of the box but a little time with some steel wool will smooth it out. The handle has a nice feel in my hand - a good fit. I added the paracord wrist strap.
I spent a little quality time with the Condor Parang at my knife sharpening station (AKA belt sander) yesterday with fairly impressive results. It'll slice paper and shave hair from your arm with a little pressure.
All-in-all, I'd say the Condor Parang is a pretty good buy for a heavy bushwhacking knife. They list for $64.98 MSRP and come with a decent leather sheath. With a little online bargain hunting, I got my price down to just under $50 with the sheath.
Happy bushwhacking!
The Parang knife (technically not a machete) is commonly found in Malaysia and Indonesia where vegetation is more "woody" than Southeast Asia and South America where the machete is more common. The brush here in Nebraska and most of North American is also "woody" in nature making the Parang a good fit for us Northerners as well.
The Parang is optimized for a stronger chopping action with a heavier blade and a sweet spot farther forward than that of a traditional machete. The blade is also angled more obtusely to keep it from binding in the cut. A Parang blade is typically about 12" long. Condor's version has a 17.5" blade with a 24" overall length.
The curved blade enables maximum effort to be applied when cutting timber. The blade arrives before the knuckles giving them protection. A Parang has three different edges, the front is very sharp and used for skinning, the middle is wider and used for chopping, and the back end (near the handle) is very fine and used for carving. It also seems well suited for making feather sticks from kindling for fire starting.
Given the longer length of the Condor version, it would be rather difficult to utilize the front end of the blade for skinning. Since skinning is not my primary purpose for this knife, I'm OK with that.
My initial reaction, when I pulled the machete out of the box, was that this thing is a hefty piece of kit. It's a full-tang knife with a 1/4" thick carbon steel blade. Some people don't like the balance of a full-tang machete but my personal opinion is that this one swings nicely.
The handle is made of hardwood. It's a tad rough out of the box but a little time with some steel wool will smooth it out. The handle has a nice feel in my hand - a good fit. I added the paracord wrist strap.
I spent a little quality time with the Condor Parang at my knife sharpening station (AKA belt sander) yesterday with fairly impressive results. It'll slice paper and shave hair from your arm with a little pressure.
All-in-all, I'd say the Condor Parang is a pretty good buy for a heavy bushwhacking knife. They list for $64.98 MSRP and come with a decent leather sheath. With a little online bargain hunting, I got my price down to just under $50 with the sheath.
Happy bushwhacking!
