Making a wooden handle for custom parang from Bidor; Part I

A wooden handle for my Parang Bidor

The first time I visited the Bidor parang maker, besides buying some pre-made blades, I decided to place an order for a custom piece. Of course I didn’t need yet another parang but I really wanted to improve on making wooden handles for parangs. For RM15, I thought I’d just invest on another blade, which was ready and collected in December 09.

Now, somehow this blade turned out to have a really good feeling to it. I re-handled it twice actually. The first time I handle it, the blade was a little bit ‘off-set’ to the left. It did not matter much for general use but when it came to more precise work like splitting bamboo, it became obvious that something had to be done.

I still had some of the Jambu (local guava) wood in my workshop. The first handle was done with a rather small piece. I no longer had large diameter pieces that could be shaped so I had to make do with what I had.

I only had this size of guava wood for the first attempt

As usual, the handle is sealed in with epoxy and a nail used as a pin as a backup.

Left the epoxy for a good solid 12 hours to set

Once set, it was down to the finer details for the handle piece. I can then file the wooden piece down to a smaller size that will fit my hand better, followed by wrap around with copper wires to help give it more strength as well as a rustic look. But bottom line, this parang has to be a user.

I used copper wire to wrap around the new handle as tightly as I can

I was really pleased with this parang handle. It was comfortable to hold and use. It was then only a matter of putting it into use, which I did. I used it a lot on several trips. Clearing bushes to make trails as well as splitting wood for fire. The only set-back was that the ‘butt’ of the handle was a bit narrow. A curve on the butt like a hook would help make the blade more secure in the hand. And of course the ‘off-set’ blade was another thing to worry about. So…I re-handled the parang wood handle few months later.


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