Review of the Gerber Bear Grylls Parang

One of the basic tools for wilderness survival is a good chopping tool. I received a Gerber Bear Grylls Parang for Christmas. According to Gerber, the Parang boasts a 13 inch long blade, with an overall length of 19.5 inches. Its weight is 19.4 ounces; 25.4 ounces with the sheath.

Parang - front side

Parang - back side

As you can see from the photographs above, the Parang comes with a padded nylon sheath. The Parang is secured with a nylon strap that fastens closed with velcro. The belt loop is right at the width of a typical belt. Like many other of the Gerber Bear Grylls products, it comes with a water resistant sheet of instructions on certain basic survival skills. On the back of the sheath (see second photograph above) there is a small label with emergency signaling instructions printed on it. I appreciated that it was only stitched on three sides, making a small pocket for the survival instructions to fit into it when folded. Finally, there is a lanyard that is intended to fit around the handle (see above)--you slide your fingers underneath the lanyard when gripping the handle.

I'm not someone in the financial position to torture test a tool to failure. Besides, it is not in my nature to abuse my tools. I thought, however, that a performance test was in order. I decided to compare the Parang to other chopping tools: a Gerber camp axe (essentially a hatchet), a Kukri, and Cold Steel's Kukri machete. (See below).

Cold Steel's Kukri Machete

Kukri and Gerber camp axe

The Kukri features a 12 inch blade, with a 1/4 inch thick spine. The Cold Steel Kukri machete has a 13 inch blade that is 2 mm thick. The Gerber camp axe is the original model, which has been discontinued. However, other than a slightly thicker head and polymer/fiberglass handle, I thought it would be representative of a traditional hatchet.

My test subject - a stand of poplar

I decided to test the various tools against a stand of poplar, featuring shoots/branches of between 1 and 2 inches in diameter. The first test would be to chop a free standing shoot down. The second test would be to chop through the shoot while resting on a stump. Obviously, such a test is inherently subjective since it depends on my ability with using the tool, and the fact that there will be some variance between the thickness of the poplar shoots. I decided on this test because this size of wood was a size that might be used as poles for building a shelter or spear, or for wood for a fire (keeping in mind that wood used for fueling a small fire should generally be no thicker than a man's wrist).

The Camp Axe/Hatchet

Axe - the wood after being chopped down

Cutting the wood on a stump

The poplar shoot I cut down with the axe ended up being two inches in diameter at the point it was cut down. It took 40 chops to cut through it, although I believe that part of this was because the wood split about half-way through the process, allowing it to flex more readily, absorbing the energy. Also, I didn't alternate directions like I should have, which probably slowed the process.

On the stump, it took 4 chops to cut through the wood. However, it measured as 1 inch in diameter at that point. I subsequently tried a different piece, which was about 1.5 inches in diameter, and it took 5 whacks to chop through it.

Traditional Kukri

Kukri -- after chopped down

Kukri--chopping through the wood on a stump

The shoot I used for the traditional Kukri was approximately 1.5 inches in diameter. Cutting it down took 42 chops. Cutting it on the stump into a shorter piece took 10 chops.

Cold Steel Kukri Machete

 Cold Steel Kukri machete -- after chopping down the shoot

Cold Steel Kukri machete -- chopping on the block

The Cold Steel Kukre machete has a much thinner blade than the traditional Kukri. It took 25 chops to cut down a shoot that measured 1.75 inches thick. When cutting it to a shorter length on the stump, it took 12 chops, and the wood measured about 1.5 inches thick at that point.

The Gerber Bear Grylls Parang

Parang -- after chopping down shoot

Parang -- after cutting the wood to a shorter length

The Parang performed much better than the other tools. It only took 8 chops to cut down a shoot that measured 1.5 inches in diameter. It took 5 chops to cut through the poplar shoot when placed on the stump. Obviously this was excellent performance. I would also note that I was very impressed with the handle on the Parang that allowed a good grip while wearing light-weight gloves, and seemed to absorb the shock of each blow better than the materials used on the other tools.

I must confess that I was surprised by the results. I already knew from prior use that the traditional Kukri was not as good of a chopper as other tools. I thought that the machete would be less effective than the axe, but seemed to work better for chopping down the free-standing shoots. I expected that the axe would have difficulty with chopping down the flexible shoots, but thought it would perform better than it did. I expected the Parang to perform about the same as the machete, but it actually worked much better and, overall, was the best of the tools on this particular test.

Update: 

Traditional Hatchet and SOG Tomahawk

 I decided to add a couple other tools to the mix: a standard, traditional hatchet; and SOG's tactical Tomahawk (see photo above).

In my initial test, I was actually surprised and disappointed with the performance of my Gerber camp ax--essentially a lightweight hatchet. One of the distinctive characteristics of the Gerber axe is that the cutting edge is straight. I wondered if a typical hatchet, with a slight curvature to the blade, would work any better. Putting it to the test, it did indeed work better. Cutting a branch, this time, it took some 11 strikes to chop through an approximately 2-inch thick branch. For the test of chopping wood on the block, I used a segment from my earlier tests that was about 1.5 inches in diameter. It took 3 chops to cut through.

I borrowed the Tomahawk, just to see how it might compare since it has a shorter blade than the Gerber ax, but a longer handle. It made short work of taking a 1.5 inch diameter branch off of a poplar stand: 8 whacks. However, it took 15 chops to cut through the wood segment (again using one from my earlier tests) when placed on the block. Thinking that there was something wrong, I tried another section of the wood, which this time took 11 chops to get through. So, still somewhat surprising of a result since none of the other tools took more chops to get through the wood on a block than when chopping it down in the first instance. I can only surmise that the branch cut off the stand of poplar was softer than the wood used in the block test.