[Maurice]

Thank you Ian. Glad I can be of any help here.



Green: How thick is the spine of the blade near the hilt?

PS a mandau has different names in different tribes. You can read it in Shelford (other names: parang ilang, malat or baieng)

But all are referring to a blade where the inner side is concave and the outer side is convex.

As the word Parang is used for sword in English, I think you could call your sword a parang indeed, when the authentic word is unknown. Because the blade isn't convex and concave you can't call it a mandau though, as that would be not right.

Best wishes,
Maurice