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Common Malaysian Parangs

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Common  Malaysian Parangs

other bidor parangs 1Parangs and Goloks have been in our culture for ages, so it’s not surprising to have many skilled parang and golok makers in Malaysia. It is a thriving cottage industry and I must say there are some really good craftsmen out there. Each of the different states in Malaysia will have at least a dozen makers, from part time hobbyist to full time craftsmen.

Some makers only concentrate on making the blades, while some specialize in making wooden sheaths and handles only. Most do both, as it is a convenience to their customers. Some people do buy and create in stages, ie they may commission a parang or keris blade this year, and when they have some excess funds, they will then make the sheath and handle. The price of custom parangs vary widely, from rm 50.00 for a rough and bare one to rm 500.00 and above for more exotic ones using special steel and fancier wood.

While these craftsmen are many , so are blacksmiths who make agricultural tools. A lot if not all the tools used in palm and rubber plantations are sourced locally . They are much cheaper and easier to access. These blacksmiths who make agricultural tools vary in size, some are smaller backyard ones, while some are factories on their own , and can churn out hundreds of pieces every week.

Common Malaysian parangs which you can find are of different brands like A1, Cap Mata ( eye brand ) , 201  and Sam Lee. There are more, and I will add them in once I have found them. Most of them are similar to the Bidor made ones, but one stands out quite a bit.

If you look closely at the one made by Sam Lee, it looks like it has been made in a factory. Like super mass produced. The blade is stamped off a large sheet of metal , as you can see the sheer marks on the side of the blade.

sam lee parang spineYou can also see the edge grinding is probably made by a machine as the grinding marks are very evenly spaced and even. They even have a micro bevel at the edge.

sam lee parang 2It would be nice to check their factory out one day, but I will need to do some research as the parangs they make do not come with any address or contact no.

More parangs to come, so stay tuned!

All Articles, MYPARANG parangs

First batch of Goloks from myparang

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Here is a sneak preview of the first batch of Goloks from myparang.

myparang golok 00009Completed goloks waiting to dry on the hangar

We have finally started assembling the parangs after much delay. The delays are not much due to components or manpower, but mostly due to some fine tuning of the process. The colour for the parang handles needed to be consistent – so we had to make up some colour samples, the copper rings needed polishing , and not to mention the creation of many jigs that is very much needed. Sometimes we need to think, make and rethink again a few of the jigs so they work better and give better consistent results. These all take time, but it is very well spent. We’d rather spend time now to make things right rather than keep spending time reworking as we go.

myparang golok 00001The polished copper rings. as bright as gold!

This post will be pretty short, but there will be lots of pictures. It takes quite a few steps to make one complete parang, but the final results are much what we were expecting, actually even better. As you can see from the pictures, here is the first batch of goloks from myparang .
myparang golok 00006The blanks get a ride on the belt sander to smoothen the spine and clean up the side surfaces.

myparang golok 00008The Beech wood handles fitted with the blanks, ready for the copper collar and first round of epoxy
myparang golok 00010Copper collar inserted waiting for the “drill”

I know some of you will be asking – ” but they are stick tang , the blades will fly out when I use them” Actually no, as we do not take shortcuts. We grind the tangs to bare metal, clean it up with solvents and use industrial strength epoxy. We do not use commercial bought epoxy as we do not have the necessary technical data to make us decide which is the best. We narrowed down two types of epoxy and finally chose one with very high specifications. To add to that, we also have added a 3.0 mm brass pin under the copper collar to add further security and a peace of mind. So IF the tang does come loose, no way will it “fly” out. The brass pin will never fall out as well, as it is held in between the copper collar .  Good luck trying to loosen the tang anyway.

myparang golok 00007The collar installed and the hole for the brass pin being drilled.

myparang golok 00011This is how it looks after the first round of epoxy. We do not skimp on the epoxy in terms of quality or quantity

myparang golok 00004And this is how it looks once we’re done.

myparang golok 00005 Here they are fresh off the second round of epoxy , and waiting the QC check.

The picture below are some of the coming models which we have fixed up and will be going for  a field test very soon. For the time being, we have the golok 125 and 135 done, but there will be many new ones coming soon. If you are interested to purchase a Golok 125 or a golok 135, you can click on Outdoor Dynamics and it will take you straight to the myparang page.

myparang golok 00003     We’re really happy that we have finally completed the first batch of goloks from myparang. We have sent some samples out to our international dealers, so if you want to be a potential dealer,  drop us an email soon!