Scott
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Post by Scott on Dec 27, 2020 7:51:14 GMT
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Post by randomnobody on Dec 27, 2020 8:47:08 GMT
Well, shoot. I haven't heard about Valiant Co in years, and their site has been down even longer. Didn't know they had an eBay store.
Pity, they had some neat stuff.
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Scott
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Post by Scott on Dec 27, 2020 9:32:39 GMT
I only found them by chance. I suspect he only set up the eBay store to get rid of the remaining stock.
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Post by randomnobody on Dec 27, 2020 11:53:15 GMT
I suppose that's possible. I checked it out, and while there's a good amount of stuff and it's all pretty reasonably priced, nothing really grabs me as anything I need to have, that I can afford right now.
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pgandy
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Post by pgandy on Dec 27, 2020 12:48:10 GMT
Like random I lost track of Valiant, and haven’t heard of them in years. In the past I had started to order a couple of times but it seemed there was a question of his dependability. And then no web site. There are a couple of things that catch me eye but the mad money is gone for the moment. The bolo and pinuti both catch my eye but as it stands I might have an issue importing as he describes then as machete/weapon. Being a small company that is probably flexible he might revaluate his opinion and call them machetes. I would prefer one of his to TFW. Not because they are better but TFW tends to be geared towards the American market and I believe what Valiant is selling is more traditional. I’ve bookmarked the ad and maybe. Thanks for the heads up.
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Post by mrbadexample on Dec 27, 2020 15:01:44 GMT
For comparison between TFW and Valiantco, I’ve been much more impressed by the latter’s edge geometry. I’m tempted, but I have the same mad money issue.
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Post by Stromlo_Swords_USA on Dec 27, 2020 23:39:29 GMT
Thanks Scott , how well does the steel hold up on yours?
Cheers!
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Scott
Member
Posts: 1,675
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Post by Scott on Dec 28, 2020 2:46:55 GMT
Thanks Scott , how well does the steel hold up on yours? Cheers! Just fine. I've got a billhook ( probably called something else but I don't know what) from them that's seen many years of gardening and bushcare and it's still going strong. I've heard of some problems but they all seem to come from pushing the blades too far.
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Post by notthesharpest on Apr 29, 2021 23:16:19 GMT
Dusting off an older thread...
I am sorry to hear that ValiantCo is no longer. I thought that their products offered just about the best value for blades from that part of the world in my experience. And I always found Wandi, the man who ran the outfit, very easy to deal with.
I currently have six of the seven ValiantCo blades that I bought (I think) somewhere between 1999 and 2004.
Of that number, I only ever had real problems with one of them - a clurit (sickle) that tapered down to nothing and was also soft. The tip rolled badly after a fairly light contact with the wooden side of one of my raised garden beds. I still use it to cut down old stems at the end of the season, but it is a pain to keep sharp, so I quit trying. I never raised it as an issue, since I thought that Wandi had been over-generous to me on another purchase.
I finally bid goodbye to my first ValiantCo golok about 5 years back. I used it at least once per week for yard work, drilling, and practice cutting from the time that I got it until the time I binned it. Unfortunately, the hardened edge turned out to be very narrow. I only sharpened it a handful of times over the whole time that I had it, but that last sharpening got me into soft steel along much of the edge. I am not sure if that counts as a "problem", since I have run into that on another SE Asian blade that I owned - but I did find it disappointing.
I managed to badly chip two more ValiantCo edges over the years. Both were my fault - I knew I was pushing it on one, and I was stupid on the other. One of the chips went through the hardened area, so I could not fix it. I have never taken the time to check the other, but need to. I still use them on light work.
My others are chugging along fine. Someone asked a daisho question on another thread and I said "golok and pisau". That golok would be a ValiantCo SGL Medium - patinated as heck, but with an edge still shiny from use.
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Scott
Member
Posts: 1,675
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Post by Scott on Apr 30, 2021 0:37:11 GMT
Dusting off an older thread...
I am sorry to hear that ValiantCo is no longer. I thought that their products offered just about the best value for blades from that part of the world in my experience. And I always found Wandi, the man who ran the outfit, very easy to deal with.
I currently have six of the seven ValiantCo blades that I bought (I think) somewhere between 1999 and 2004.
Of that number, I only ever had real problems with one of them - a clurit (sickle) that tapered down to nothing and was also soft. The tip rolled badly after a fairly light contact with the wooden side of one of my raised garden beds. I still use it to cut down old stems at the end of the season, but it is a pain to keep sharp, so I quit trying. I never raised it as an issue, since I thought that Wandi had been over-generous to me on another purchase.
I finally bid goodbye to my first ValiantCo golok about 5 years back. I used it at least once per week for yard work, drilling, and practice cutting from the time that I got it until the time I binned it. Unfortunately, the hardened edge turned out to be very narrow. I only sharpened it a handful of times over the whole time that I had it, but that last sharpening got me into soft steel along much of the edge. I am not sure if that counts as a "problem", since I have run into that on another SE Asian blade that I owned - but I did find it disappointing.
I managed to badly chip two more ValiantCo edges over the years. Both were my fault - I knew I was pushing it on one, and I was stupid on the other. One of the chips went through the hardened area, so I could not fix it. I have never taken the time to check the other, but need to. I still use them on light work.
My others are chugging along fine. Someone asked a daisho question on another thread and I said "golok and pisau". That golok would be a ValiantCo SGL Medium - patinated as heck, but with an edge still shiny from use.
There are still a few left. I'm tossing up buying another one, or two. I don't really need them, but they are nice blades...
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