O'Katz Handmade Parang Lading

[mohd]

Everything started when Harun one of my knife collector buddy connected his Fb to O'Katz's one.
And both of their Fbs were already connected to mine not long after I open my Fb account.

.. actually I'm still looking for a bladesmith who can replicate your parang lading... U think uncle katz can do that?

Here is the picture of my Parang Lading made by Mang Ako from Tasikmalaya, Indonesia.

The exact name for this sort of Parang Lading is 'Parang Lading Betina Tanggung'. Anyhow it can always be referred as 'Parang Lading Betina' or as 'Parang Lading Tanggung' or just as 'Parang Lading' or as 'Parang Tanggung' or simply as 'Lading' or generically as 'Parang'.
After a short discussion via Fb and emails in between of Harun, O'Katz and I then O'Katz show his interpretation of Parang Lading which was drawn base on my design .

mohd

 

[Lorien]

that's really nice!

 

[JayGoliath]

Magic in the making!

 

[mohd]

that's really nice!

Thanks Lorien
IMVHO the Parang Lading has a nice lazy 's' flow in the design itself.

The traditional Parang Lading is normally built with a rat tail tang embedded about half way of the handle. The one made by Mang Ako was built with a rat tail tang which was peened to the pommel. Anyhow this time we were planning from the very beginning to come out with a Parang Lading that has a full tang with few pins and a lanyard tube on it .

mohd

 

[mohd]

.. Magic in the making! ..

Hi Jay .. you kind of reminds me of the phrase that says 'everyday holds new magic and new wonders to be experienced'.

What is a Parang Lading?
In my understanding to what is written in the authoritative Malay Dictionary (i.e. Kamus Dewan), a Parang Lading is a category of Parang with a narrow and thick ricasso which progressively flared out into a wide blade towards the tip and with a slightly curved shape in the middle part of the blade length.

It is an agricultural implement meant for cutting and light chopping. Anyhow back in Sumatra it's place of origin (i.e. I strongly believe so) a Parang Lading is also considered as a weapon. In Aceh it is called as a Kelewang Lading (i.e. Gliwang Ladieng). And it contributed an important role in the resistance against the Dutch colonization in the late 19th century.

As for me, a Parang Lading is a dear Parang. It reminds me a lot about my family members and friends back in my Coconut plantation field village in Sabak Bernam in the state of Selangor in Peninsular Malaysia. The short length version of it (i.e. we simply called it as Parang Pendek) was used especially in the kitchen; the medium length version of it (i.e. we simply called it as Parang Tanggung) was used around the house and in the garden especially for cutting and light chopping; and the long version of it (i.e. we simply called it Parang Panjang) was used for cutting long grasses (i.e. 'lalang'), shrubs and bushes in the fields. Anyhow in many occasions I used the Parang Lading to cut dead large pythons (i.e. body length ~ 15' with widest diameter ~ 5") which came at night and killed our chickens in our chicken coops especially during the rainy seasons.

mohd

 

[naturalist]

Happy to wait the result

 

[mohd]

.. Happy to wait the result ..

Thanks for your reply Anton, how's everything there in Central of Kalimantan? I always follow your story in Going Back to the Forest.
Kindly deliver my regards to Pak Agus and Ibu Meryl.

Back to the Parang Lading project, it seems this project really attracted few 'crazy fellas'!
What was started with a piece but suddenly it ended up with four pieces of Parang Ladings!

The first one is for Harun and the other three are for me, Nik and Ooi!
And O'Katz also seems so excited about it.

.. I just went out to weigh the cut-outs and they weigh between 700 to 750 grams. So I think we will to make the 680 gram target .. 19 inches .. I am equally excited about the whole project ..

.. The POB (i.e. point of balance) shouldn't be too far from the plunge .. maybe ~ 1" to 2" in front of the plunge .. or maybe exactly at the plunge ..

.. Yes, I will constantly check the balance as I go along. Serious grinding will commence tomorrow. Wish me luck. I hope I strike top form ..

.. the way to check the balancing of the Lading is by holding the ricasso part near to the plunge. The reason is because we used that sort of hold when doing light chops ..

mohd

 

[mohd]

O'Katz just has simple tools in his workshop. He seldom hammers because it's too heavy for his age already. So mostly his works comes out using stock removal technique using a Bosch Angle Grinder. His finishing also just a hand grinder finish. Nothing special except he dares to work on new designs and he differential-heat-treats his works nicely to about 60 HRC at the cutting edge.

Here is the first blank of Parang Lading that O'Katz already ground with a saber grind on it. It took him 5 hours just to finish the grinding of this first one.

As per our discussion the old maker kept on monitoring the weight and the balance of the blank while grinding it and the first blank ended up with just the right weight for the size.

.. It now weighs in at 660 g. with sabre grind. Balance feels ok . Center of gravity is one inch in front of the Jolie plunge ..

And this is what both of us hilariously called as an AJ plunge or a Jolie Plunge

If you kindly check any of Pisau, Golok or Parang that were traditionally made in Southeast Asia then you'll find out that mostly were built with no distinct plunge line on them.
The Parang Lading made by Mang Ako which was shown in my first posting in this thread does have a distinct plunge line just because I asked for it.
And O'Katz is one of the very few makers in Malaysia who are fond to have this sort of plunge in their works

mohd

 

[philllll]

Mohd, it has been a pleasure to watch the progression of the parang ladings!

 

[mohd]

.. it has been a pleasure to watch the progression of the parang ladings! ..

Hi Phil, I consider myself lucky because O'Katz likes to email me pictures of his works while in progress. That way we can always discuss things. I always shoot ideas about flow, specs, finishing, handle materials etc etc. And O'Katz always open to positive critics and crazy suggestions

Here are the first two blanks which were already ground with bevels.

.. It was the first one that took up most of the time. The second one was not too bad and both ended with 660 grams exactly. Hmm, I am getting to be like a machine doing production knives .. Now abit tired ..

I know it's not easy for this senior citizen to grind steel using just a hand grinder. It needs serious concentration while doing it. And it always needs visual as well as hand rub checking from time to time. I don't think I can do that. I really salute O'Katz for being able to do all that at his age!

Couples of days later O'Katz send me the picture that shows all four blanks with nicely ground bevels on them.

IMVHO all blanks share a very nice flow. The shape of the tip is just great whereby it's not too pointy and it's not too stumpy. The shape of the handle is mildly curved down towards the butt end so that the whole thing has a lazy S shape. The ricasso part is untraditionally wide to eliminate weakness in the traditional narrow ricasso.

.. Next have to drill the pin holes ..

Anyhow both of us were a bit confused about the placement of pins and the lanyard hole. Take for example, Ooi preferred to place the lanyard hole at the middle part of the butt end; O'Katz suggested it to be placed at the bottom part of it while I like it to be placed at the top part of it. Ooi also pointed out that the traditional Parang Lading doesn't sport any lanyard hole but O'Katz and I think alike that lanyard hole is good for many purposes

Finally we agreed on the placement as shown in the above picture

mohd

 

[gregorio]

I like the looks of those. Never been fond of the stick tang construction, and I really like the full tang. The only bonus would be if the tang was tapered on these to help with the balance.

 

[mohd]

.. I like the looks of those .. and I really like the full tang. The only bonus would be if the tang was tapered on these to help with the balance ..

Hi Greg, thanks for your reply!
At first I had a thought of building them with tapered tangs as well. Anyhow the balance check during the grinding ended up with the POB somewhere nearby to the plunge and that is the ideal POB for a Parang Lading especially. So we discarded the idea of a tapered tang for this batch of Parang Ladings.

Actually there was an issue about the length of the handle for these Parang Ladings. How long it should be for this batch? I said a 4 3/4" long handle plus a 3 1/4" ricasso is good enough but O'Katz preferred a 5" handle plus a 3" ricasso while Ooi suggested a longer handle and a very short ricasso. FYI a Parang Lading is one of the large knife that has a very long ricasso which is about 3" to 4" depending on the OAL of it to enable both hands make a grip to apply a controlled cut. And the second reason for the long ricasso is to enable the front of handle grip at the ricasso itself to apply light chops as was shown in the picture in posting # 7.

Then O'Katz sent me an email with this picture.

.. Anthony's suggestion of a handle like this is rather nice. What say you ? ..

Something new! The frontal grip will be more comfy with the elongated handle to the ricasso. I never saw a Parang Lading with a long handle before! So why not we come out that way for this batch of Parang Ladings. After all it's not a problem to fix long handles when we deal with full tangs! O'Katz just need to drill new pin holes. And here is the new set up of the pin holes to fix the long handles.

And now those Parang Lading blades are ready for the heat treat.

mohd

 

[mohd]

.. And now those Parang Lading blades are ready for the heat treat ..

The first cycle of heat treatment was successfully done to those Parang Ladings by O'Katz :thumbup:

.. Forge is lighted and ready to Rock n Roll. The piece of steel in the fire now is to preheat the quentchant oil toa certain temp ..

.. Preheating the first piece before turning on the blower. Note the edge is facing upwards becos the spine has to tahe up the heat first. This is to prevent warping of blade ..

.. Fire in full blast now. When reached critical temp. then, its time for it to soak ..

.. Quenching ..

.. Round one perfect !!! ..

.. Cooling off . Waiting for second round ..

.. They are ready to go first round of tempering. They look clean becos i have given them a scrub down with sandpaper and soap ..

mohd

 

[Burl Source]

I am enjoying this thread.
Thank You for posting the photos and information.

 

[naturalist]

Thank you very much Pak Mohd to showing us the progress and always look at the up date of our orangutan reintroduction program, the largest great ape reintroduction program in the world.
I love the idea of lanyard hole. I guess it will very useful. I do believe that Pakcik O'katz will do his best. His butcher knife that you gave me couple years ago is a proof of his talents.
Again, can't wait to see the final result. Pak Mohd, what kind of sheath will be made? Traditional wooden style or leather? Thinking of curly mango wood.

 

[harun]

Thanks for documenting the process Pak Mohd, O'katz really put his best to on this project, I'm loving mine :love_heart: . Hi Naturalist AKA pak Anton

 

[philllll]

Great post, Mohd. I love seeing the photos of O'Katz at work, especially the forge photos!

Welcome to the forum, Anton!

 

[nepki]

Thanks for posting and documenting the progress Pak Mohd! Looking forward to handling mine soon! Cheers!

 

[mohd]

Ah .. so sorry for the late update pals!
IIRC my previous post was done on Friday 5/16.
Then I went to Alor Setar to visit my father in law who was warded for heart problem.
And with a complication due to virus infection he was just not strong enough to fight it.
He returned back to the Maker on Monday 5/19.
And I just arrived back in KL today 5/25.

.. I am enjoying this thread ..

Hi Mark, thank you very much
I visited your website and you have all sort of beautiful burls that makes me drool :thumbup:

.. His butcher knife that you gave me couple years ago is a proof of his talents ..

Pakcik O'Katz surely is grinning from ear to ear reading your nice words on his works!
BTW, I remember that I got confuse of the sort of knife that practically suit your working environment.
It shouldn't be too heavy because you'll be carrying it for a long time in your jungle travel.
And I remember that you don'f fond of a knife that has a handle heavier that the blade.
So I just hope that the large Nessmuk with a rather thin blade might function right for you!

.. what kind of sheath will be made? Traditional wooden style or leather? Thinking of curly mango wood ..

O'Katz is not a sheath maker!
And I'm still looking for a local sheath maker who professes in making a practical sort of wooden sheath.
Most of local sheath makers are more interested in making a very artistic type of wooden sheath for display purposes.

.. O'katz really put his best to on this project, I'm loving mine ..

Hi Harun, welcome aboard to you.
I'm glad that you like the Parang Lading.
Maybe you might want to post your review later on.

.. I love seeing the photos of O'Katz at work, especially the forge photos! ..

The same here Phil!

.. Looking forward to handling mine soon ..

IMVHO you'll be surprised when you see the finished knife Nik!
It's a keeper Nik!

And now, here is the update.

.. After returning from the north pole. Almost ready to go to the Sahara for another experience ..

.. Emerging from the "Sahara" all dark and tan. . This completes the whole process of heat treatment. Very satisfied with the visual out come. Tomorrow have give them all a proper shine, sharpen and test chopping on cengal logs ..

mohd

 

[naturalist]

Deep condolences Pak.
May Allah gives peace.