Sam Cade
Member
Formerly built in China, the CS Barong went the way of the Do-Do bird when the Chinese contractor ceased operations.
A few weeks ago the new South African, Lasher tools built "Barong" hit the dealers.
Jumping right in, This is the 18" Barong, compared to an Incolma 18" machete.
The Barong is considerably heavier, quoted nominal thickness is 2.8mm and it has no distal taper whatsoever.
The grip is terribleness.Pure terribleness. The avatar of terribleness.
Possibly not designed for human hands.
It is made of hard, slick polyproplene and very round. There isn't enough clearance in the hook for a proper handshake grip(I wear a Med. glove) so every swing drives your fingers together, the lowest finger rubbing against a centerline ridge inside the hook.
Folks, I have tough hands and 10 min of light work with this thing was enough to start a pinky blister and building heat in my palm. Ouch.
Factory grind was very thick and uneven, huge burnt burr and a burnt tip. :banghead:
I didn't even try using it before cleaning it up on the belt grinder...still it was the best grind I've ever seen on a CS machete.
To summarize via picture:
A few weeks ago the new South African, Lasher tools built "Barong" hit the dealers.
Jumping right in, This is the 18" Barong, compared to an Incolma 18" machete.
The Barong is considerably heavier, quoted nominal thickness is 2.8mm and it has no distal taper whatsoever.
The grip is terribleness.Pure terribleness. The avatar of terribleness.
Possibly not designed for human hands.
It is made of hard, slick polyproplene and very round. There isn't enough clearance in the hook for a proper handshake grip(I wear a Med. glove) so every swing drives your fingers together, the lowest finger rubbing against a centerline ridge inside the hook.
Folks, I have tough hands and 10 min of light work with this thing was enough to start a pinky blister and building heat in my palm. Ouch.
Factory grind was very thick and uneven, huge burnt burr and a burnt tip. :banghead:
I didn't even try using it before cleaning it up on the belt grinder...still it was the best grind I've ever seen on a CS machete.
To summarize via picture: