Condor Village Parang Carbon 18

First of all, great price and superfast delivery from HH. I have a few acres of woodland and also a large veg allotment that I haven't been able to maintain for a couple of years (24/7 caring for my 95 year old Dad who left home at 14 to join the Army using his older brothers ID, to serve King and Country during WW2). When I started trying to clear the brambles and small shrubs and nettles my strimmer couldn't cope. I then struggled on for a while using the £9.99 garden centre type of machete that I found in his shed.... say no more. I decided to buy myself an early birthday present. This parang is a revelation compared to what I had been using. It was very sharp right out of the box. After a few days of abuse I decided to give it a going over with my WorkSharp PPA and (just out of curiosity) took it to 17° and 3000 grit. The result was as sharp as any of my kitchen knives and extremely effective through long grass/nettles/green wood but obviously the edge was a bit fragile. Dinging the front edge on stones, when cutting down low, was annoying. I'm going to rework the edge and keep the first 4-5" near the handle at 17° but will probably go to 20-25 for the main part of the blade. I will also put an edge along the top 4" from the tip so I can flip it over when I need to be hacking down low at roots etc. At this price I can afford to experiment. I have also added a paracord wrap on the handle because it gets a bit slippery with sweaty hands or gloves. This thing is brilliant, a great weight without being heavy and feels very well made. The sheath can be a bit frustrating because the leather is very strong and the retaining straps need to be rotated round, completely out of the way, to get in/out but that's just a niggle, not a problem. All in all, I am extremely pleased and imagine this will outlive me and be in someone else's shed in 40 years time.

I've had mine about 18 months now and it's still one of my fave blades as a looker and user. It holds an edge fine and sharpens easily. Mine came, not from HH I must add, with a slight bend in the blade. I'd already messed around with the handle by that point so I was stuck with it. This hasn't been an issue at all and probably an early production quality control issue. I find it easier to use than my HI kukris. I prefer the balance of the parang. You can do very fine work if you choke up on the handle and chop powerfully if you use the full blade length. It has a distal taper so the blade thins as it progresses away from the handle. I thought this was a bit crap at first but I like it now. It stops it being really tip-heavy.

THIS IS THE ONE AND ONLY CONDOR I HAVE THAT CAME WITH A DECENT EDGE AND I WILL PROBABLY NOT RISK ANOTHER.THIS NOW HAS A POINTIER TIP AND A THINNED HANDLE AND IS A NEAR PERFECT BASE CAMP CHOPPER.YOU WOULD NEED TO BE ON STEROIDS TO WIELD THIS LIKE YOUR AVERAGE BRUSH CLEARER THOUGH.

Only had this a couple of days and already been out in the garden to cut down some heavy tree branches. On first out of the box impressions, its super well made with an excellent quality finish. It balances extremely well in my hand and is very sharp. It chopped through tree branches as thick as my upper arm with easy and after a good 2 hrs of chopping large and small branches up into pieces small enough to put in the green bin there was no ill effect on blade sharpness or any damage marks on the blade. I also feathered some branches with the sharp bit of blade near the handle with easy. Its an excellent all round chopper/multi use knife. Super fast delivery from HH as usual.

Well balanced, with a good weight which is comfortable and controllable in use - and it holds a very good edge. Excellent quality sheath. No down side.

I had been looking to get a large chopper/knife for some time before deciding on this purchase. I wanted something not too long and with a good heft for chopping and processing wood rather than for clearing brush and undergrowth. The parang was the design I had decided from the start mostly as a result of watching and reading works by Ray Mears when I was younger, and of course he uses a parang. I was not at all dissapointed with this tool having now used it for a few weeks. It is an excelent chopper and in my view chopps better than my Schrade SCAXE2, although a different technique is needed compaired to using a hatchet. The blade sharpened up very nicly and recieved no damage even when tacling hard, knotty wood and batoning. It hasn't coroded at all, with me simply keeping it clean with a little bit of oil, and I can just about get feather sticks with the part of the blade nearest the handle ut more practice is needed there. The handle itself is well designed and gives a secure grip with its shape, with blade and handle combining to form a jentle S shape like a traditional parang should. All in all a superb and versitile bushcraft tool, the reasonable price point is just the icing on the cake.

I was contemplating giving four stars rather than five due to the fact there are small cuts on the handle which I noted immediately during first inspection. However, this Parang is going to be used as functional cutlery rather than added to any collection for display only purposes. Now for the positives: Once I decided a Parang was the ideal choice for its intended general use it did not take long at all to conclude the Condor Village Parang is a well made/finished piece of kit which will be robust in the field providing a little tender loving care is given to treating and sharpening the blade when needed. The blade upon receipt did need sharpening but, that's exactly how one connects with any cutlery by the fact you add your own mark at tailoring it too your needs. I cannot praise HH enough for their impeccable delivery service - ordered PM day one, delivered day two am. This is a birthday present and I cannot thank you enough for prompt delivery.

I raw feed my German Shepherd Dog and use this Parang with a wooden board to portion up a months worth of whole chickens, duck, lamb and other things. It's fairly heavy but needs to be to be good at its purpose - chopping. Took me around 20 mins to portion a whole chicken with a Gerber Big Rock (Excellent knife also) but takes around 20 seconds with this and doesn't knacker the edge. Easy to sharpen using 600 grit wet n dry sand paper on a wooden baton. YouTube Ben Orfords video - how to sharpen a Parang. The quality of this tool is outstanding.

Needs a little sharpening out of the box to get razor sharp. But is the kind of knife you'll be sharpening often due to hard use, and I'm glad to say it sharpens easily. Beautifully built, but definitely a user, not a hanger. Tough, well balanced and a pleasure to use. This is my 2nd condor parang, and 4th condor knife over all. Very impressed with this brand. Great knives, great sheaths, great price. And as always a pleasure to deal with H H.