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my parang duku chandong vs the budget chandong parang — 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.

my parang bidor stamp — 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 .

my parang polished spine s — 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.

budget chandong parang handle vs wooden parang handle — 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.

my parang handle 2 — wooden vs plastic parang handle

my parang handle 6 — wooden parang handle length

my parang handle 5 — plastic 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 4 — MY Parang handle length

my parang handle 3 — MY 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.

Ray Mears Parang

So we’ve read and heard so much of the Ray Mears parang , which is actually a parang he used in one of his shows . A clear picture of ” The Ray Mears Parang ” in Mr Mears hand is in the video grab below. Actualy, Mr Mears did not create any parang or sells any parang with his name on it. So why did the name ” the Ray Mears Parang ” come about? When Mr Mears was making the episode in Borneo, he , as expected of anyone who knows what he is doing, would choose the tools of the local people. Say, if you go to the South America, you would use a machete , if you were to go to Nepal, you would use a Khukri , if you came to Malaysia, you would use a Parang. It is as simple as that.

So how did the name “Ray Mears Parang ” came about? Sometimes we see things we don’t know what they are, or what it is called and we give it a name which is easy to connect and understand. Say maybe some people have no idea what a Khukri is, but when you mention – the knife the Gurkhas use , then Aha! It means something now.

Besides that, some people also also have generic names for certain items , like in Malaysia, Milo is the common name for chocolate drinks. Any chocolate drink will be called Milo. Just like baby diapers, it’s called Pampers, which is actually a brand. Some people call all big knives and choppers a Machete. This is actually wrong as a Bolo , enep , khukri or parang is not a machete by far. I hope you get what I mean.

Anyway, back to the Ray Mears Parang, well, if that is what some people like to call it, then so be it. For those who prefer to use the correct terminology, the Ray Mears parang is actually a Duku Chandong . Duku actually means parang in the Iban language, so it basically means Chandong parang. There is no specific shape for the Duku Chandong, as it is a very common knife in Borneo ( also known as Sabah and Sarawak ) , but there are a few distinct points as I will try and explain.

One is the blade angle. As you can see , the Duku Chandong has an up swept blade. If you are holding the handle of the parang horizontally, you will see that the tip of the parang points upwards. Again in some duku chandongs, the sweep may vary . Some have a slight and unnoticeable sweep, while for some, it is more prominent.

Another distinct difference with other parangs is that the Duku Chandong has a sheep’s foot blade tip. It is not pointed as some other traditional parangs and goloks, but has a very strong and robust sheep’s foot. The tip needs to be strong and hardy as it is used quite often to split and flatten bamboo, for prying and digging into wood ( looking for nibong grubs ) .

As you can see from the photos below, all these parangs are variations of the duku chandong or also known as the Ray Mears Parang. Enjoy they photos and we’re glad that you now know the actual name of the Ray Mears Parang. Actually, because of Mr Mears, the Duku Chandong now has gotten worldwide recognition . The blade shape now gets copied by many big knife manufacturers like Condor , and even the local parang sellers have hopped on the bandwagon , using the “ray mears” parang name as a leverage to market their parangs. Whatever it is called, or made, a duku chandong will always be a duku chandong!

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MY Parang vs Budget Chandong Parang

Ray Mears Parang

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