Bulan means Moon in the Malay language and you can see a slight resemblance of a half or crescent moon shape on the Parang Bulan. The wide belly gives this parang a very wide and effective chopping area. Among the other two recently released models, this parang is much heavier. It excels at larger tree limbs or trunks. it might be slightly on the heavy side for general use and leans more towards chopping work. To chop all day long you would need ripped forearms, but if you don’t have them, they perfect for short hard work.
A prominent belly also makes sharpening the blade easy. Easy of sharpening and edge retention is a legendary characteristic of the Bidor made blades. They Parang Bulan are also sold with the nylon sheath.
Here are some stats for those who like numbers:
– Blade length – 30.5 cm / 12 in
– Handle length – 17 cm / 6.7 in
– Overall length – 47.5 cm / in
– Widest blade – 5.5 cm / 2.0 in
– Weight – 610 grams / 21.5 oz
– Gross weight ( with sheath and box ) – 900 gram / 31.7 oz
Another new model for 2015! This time it’s a very familiar parang shape that most people would recognize. People always refer to the Parang as a “Parang Machete” , so here is our version of the famous Latin American chopper!
MY Parang – Parang Machete
One glance and you will know that this model is modeled after the machete. However, machetes are normally made of thin steel and is usually long. For this parang machete, we made the blade 12 inches, and of course with thicker steel and with a distal taper. The result is a very light chopper which is very quick in the hand, but chops very well. If you are looking for something light and a chopper which you can chop all day long, this one is an excellent contender.
The flat edge makes it very easy to sharpen , and sharpening a Bidor made parang is always a pleasure.
I know some of you will be asking for a longer version – 14″ , 16 ” etc. we may look into that, but for the moment, lets enjoy the 12″ version first. Try it and you will definitely be impressed!
Here are some stats for those who like numbers:
– Blade length – 30.5 cm / 12 in
– Handle length – 17 cm / 6.7 in
– Overall length – 47 cm / 18.5 in
– Widest blade – 5.0 cm / 2.0 in
– Weight – 560 grams / 19.8 oz
– Gross weight ( with sheath and box ) – 850 gram / 30.0 oz
All the other goodies like the Nylon sheath, squared spine, stick tang, distal taper, 5160 high carbon steel , zone hardened , wooden handle with pin are on this parang as well. Not to forget, hand – made.
We are also in the process of making a video on the Parang Machete and we will update the video page once it is done and uploaded.
MY Parang is proud to present to you a new model – The MY Parang – Parang Tangkin. We released this model mid September 2015 and they are now out on sale . We will have a closer look at this new Parang Tangkin in this post.
Parang Tangkin by MY Parang
First thing you will notice is how the blade is angled upwards. Some people may find this quite awkward, but in fact it is very ergonomic . It works especially well when you are positioned low on the ground. Using the parang tangkin in this position enables the blade to hit parallel to the ground , keeping your knuckles safe. This will enable the user to fully use the entire blade or the sweet spot for chopping. Compared to other parangs, you might hit the tip into the ground when cutting from a low position.
Note how the blade lies flat on the ground and the handle is away from the ground
When cutting from a standing or higher position , with the cut at chest or upper waist level, the parang tangkin delivers a slicing cut which is very effective . Try this and you will notice how effective it is.
A slicing cut when used upright
Here are some stats for those who like numbers:
– Blade length – 30.5 cm / 12.0 in
– Handle length – 17 cm / 6.7 in
– Overall length – 47 cm / 18.5 in
– Widest blade – 4.7 cm / 1.85 in
– Weight – 400 grams / 14.1 oz
– Gross weight ( with sheath and box ) – 690 gram / 24.5 oz
All the other goodies like the Nylon sheath, squared spine, stick tang, distal taper, 5160 high carbon steel , zone hardened , wooden handle with pin are on this parang as well. Not to forget, hand – made.
We are also in the process of making a video on the parang tangkin, and we will update the video page once it is done and uploaded.
Here is a list of dealers selling MY Parang in other countries if you are not from Malaysia, UK or the USA.
We highly recommend that you purchase locally as it helps support you local business, reduces the delivery time, less possibility of the package getting lost and it may even be cheaper!
If you can’t find your country listed , you can contact Outdoor Dynamics Sdn Bhd – info@outdoordynamics.com.my . Let them know where you are from and which parang you are interested in and they will reply you with the price breakdown.
MY Parang Duku Chandong compared to the Budget Chandong parang
Recently we have come across some posts in certain knife forums asking why there is such a price difference between the MY Parang – parangs , compared to the previous Bidor made parangs. To answer that question, we will take two simillar parangs – the MY Parang Duku Chandong and the Budget Chandong parang and compare them side to side.
Outdoor Dynamics has been selling the Bidor parang for quite a few years now, and they have had so many requests for wooden – handled parang. Hence, after many years of planning and thoughts, the brand ” MY Parang” was borne . All the goodness of the Bidor parang blades, but with a wooden handle.
The blade is cleaned up , removing the black coating caused by forging and heat treat.
Yes, the blades / blanks are sourced from the same blacksmith in Bidor , but for the case of MY Parang , we take a few more steps to clean the blade up. What we mean by clean the blade is to remove the protective shellac and black coating left after the forging and hardening process. With the black coating removed, we can now see the beauty of a hand forged blade. The forge marks are left intact and not ground smooth . We believe it gives a natural and unique look to the parang. One of the signs of authenticity .
polished myparang spine comparison
We also clean up the spine, which comes from the factory all black and wobbly. We smoothen it down and give it a sharper shoulder so our users can use a fire steel on the spine. As you can see from the picture above, the polished spine looks much better and takes away the roughness from the factory.
The wooden handle vs the plastic handle
Now to the handle . The budget Chandong parang has a plastic handle which comes from the factory. These plastic handles are not the best, but they are cheap and they do work. Some feedback we have received is that they are slippery or feel like holding a candle. We believe the plastic used to make the handle is not virgin material but consists of quite a large percentage of recycled plastics, hence the waxy feeling. The plastic handle of the budget chandong parang is fixed by heating the tang of the blade and sticking it in the handle while it is still hot. Once the plastic has hardened, the tang is pinned using a small wire / pin.
The MY Parang handle is made from Beech – eco wood sourced from Croatia. What we mean by eco wood is that the wood comes from a farm ( planted and renewable ), and not taken off the wild , like many local hardwoods are. Being an imported wood, it does cost a huge amount more to import, cut and shape to a handle, compared to a locally made plastic handle. While the plastic handle comes out the mold ready to be used, the wooden handle still needs work. We still need to do some minor adjustments such as – to fit the collar , install the tang and to dye it a darker colour. We also add in in a much thicker 3.5mm brass pin under the collar to give the parang additional security.
wooden vs plastic parang handlewooden parang handle lengthplastic handle length
The MY Parang wooden handle also has a slightly different shape to it. The Budget Chandong parang handle is slightly shorter and the butt curves down more abruptly. This makes it slightly less comfortable if you are holding the butt of the handle for power cuts. The MY parang wooden handle has a gentler curve and is much more comfortable to hold , either choking up or extended for power cuts. You can see this clearly from the pictures above.
MY Parang handle lengthMY parang handle width ( it is slightly more than 1″ – the camera makes it look like its less )
Above shows some measurements for the wooden MY parang handles. They were made slightly larger to accommodate larger hands, but they work very well even for those with smaller hands.
There is quite a huge difference in the Budget Chandong parang compared to the MY parang . As you can see, the Budget chandong parang is basically sold as it arrives from the factory. The only extra work we do is stick a price tag on it. With MY Parang , it goes through a much longer process and is made with using higher quality material – Copper collar, brass pin, dyed wooden handled and industrial strength epoxy to hold it all together. MY parang products are also packed in a presentable box .
We hope this post will enlighten those who have asked.
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