UST Paraparang Review
UST (Ultimate Survival technologies) is a popular bargain brand outdoor equipment company you can find in most big box outlets like Wal-Mart. Personally, I’m not a fan of bargain ( aka cheap) gear so I thought I would get one of their larger knives to field test. (Come on its only $24.00) now I've owned and used a lot of UST fire starting products and they are in no way inferior of anything on the market for getting a fire going.
One of my favorite fire starters the UST spark force is always on my key-chain and there wet fire and light me tinder fire starters are in every survival kit, pack and B.O.B. (bug out bag) I own. I’ve used those for years now and they work very reliably and start with usually one strike on my spark force. Me I’m a Knife guy, I like quality and don’t mind spending for it. But I decided to get one of these UST paraparang FS. A Para cord wrapped handle mini machete that includes its own fire starter. It is thin and designed for chopping green vegetation without getting stuck in it.
These models specs are……. 16.25 in. overall 10.50 in. blade 10.6 oz. Black oxide coated stainless steel (it doesn't say what steel but I am guessing 420. Para cord wrapped handle Nylon belt sheath with Velcro and button snap keepers.
UST Paraparang FS
First impression….. Nice and lightweight, looks flimsy and thin. Shaving sharp out of the package. As light as it is I had reservations about how well it could chop.. or sustain damage on its side. So I ran to my local tree dump for some cutting action. Now the packaging says its designed for clearing green vegetation so I started with that.
Most of these were one swing cuts. As long as you used a good wrist snap it cut right threw them, up to about the size of my thumb. Any larger usually took 2 hits. Then I tried a feather stick with it, worked just fine to get nice small curls that would light up easy.
It was during this that I first noticed the handle was a bit uncomfortable. The para cord was slightly loose and the hook at the butt of the handle really liked to dig into my pinky finger. I went ahead and moved onto some dry hardwood to see how it fared. Smaller sticks chopped right in half and it threw nice chips on some wrist sized sticks. But the handle was really getting painful to use, even after putting on the wrist lanyard, I decided to haul some wood home and grab a glove.
After chopping up a decent pile of dry hardwoods I decided to do some batoning. Something I normally never do to anything wider than the blade but I wanted to see if the steel could handle a little abuse. I grabbed a seasoned log and gave her a go.
Quartered the log with no damage to the edge or the blade. I don’t know what the steel is but even though its made in china its holding an edge good for this. I processed enough firewood for a starter fire and really wanted to grind off the hook on the handle, even with gloves a lot of chopping and your hand slips down the handle and hits the hook. The lanyard helped a little.
I decided to test the steel a little. I put a round log on the stump and then smacked the parang on the side of its blade 5 times pretty dang hard. It took it out of true about 2 degrees. But 2 quick hits on the other side brought it true again. Then I tried feather-sticking again and still going good. I was thinking it would be dull by now, soft Chinese steel and all. Probably even some chips in the edge. Well I was wrong. Zero damage to the blade and it still shaved hair off my arm. Not bad for a 24.00$ knife.
This model (like some of their others) has a FS designation. For fire starter, it comes with a magnesium bar and ferrocerium rod. A two part component, you shave off chips of the rod and then strike the ferro rod to light the chips. This is easily done with the spine of the knife. Plant the tip and then just pull the rod back and it peels off nice little shavings.
I built a small fire with the wood and kindling I made with the knife and fuzzed a couple sticks. Then I scraped some shavings onto a leaf. I lit the shavings on the second strike. All only using the fire tool that came with it and this knife.
Final thoughts… I would not bring this knife to a jungle as my primary tool. But it will make a great trunk, backup, tractor knife. It may be cheap but the quality of the steel seems to be good. The handle on the fire rod did come off. Not a biggy but an easy fix with some epoxy. The sheath is secure and easy to draw and re-sheath with the button opening but I did manage to slice the Velcro tab almost off. But still has the snap closure intact.
Pros…. Sharp Lightweight Chops well Good steel Price
Cons…. Very uncomfortable in the hand when chopping. Para cord handle wrap was to loose and unraveled and slid. Fire steel handle came off.
Final thoughts… This is an inexpensive tool that performs well but you will need a glove to use it effectively for comfort.
There are way better tools on the market that will outperform it but not for this price. I can honestly recommend it as a car kit or bob backup tool, it will also work great for clearing vegetation at your camp site or back yard. For 24$ it the steel quality impressed me if not the poor quality of the handle wrap and the fire tool handle coming off. Now ill pass it off to the other ZASC staff members for there evaluation. ~Razor
Other ZASC staff members review
Doc: “This was another piece of gear first impression with about an hour of testing. The paraparang is another lightweight eminently transportable machete/parang style chopper. The blade is decent, long even curve makes for some good chopping with lots of surface area. For its light weight, it actually outperformed the camp axe in my short bit of tests. The paracord wrap slipped too much, it needs to be done a bit tighter with more paracord. A good wrap would make it more usable. A couple of sharp edges slipped through the parawrap. It held an edge just fine as I used it. But again, short test, so it needs further testing. Again, this is another lightweight usable design. But much as the Camp axe, it trades off too much power with the low weight. If you want a very light weight parang style machete, this isn’t bad. Wouldn’t recommend it for long term or heavy usage, but for the quick light hike, it’ll get the job done. Sheath is ok, but the fire steel needs some kind of retention strap or it will get lost.”
