Blacksmith Making Knives in Luang Prabang

In a Hmong village north of Luang Prabang we came across these blacksmiths making knives. We arranged our five day trek through Green Discovery

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• luang
• prabang
• Laos
• knives
• hmong
• blacksmith
• nikthecat
• village
• trek

[boredism07]

anybody else notice he spelled blacksmith like this "blacksmtih in the start of the video

[NikTheCat]

OOPS, Good catch, Oh well, not going to change it now. All the video is out of the computer to make room for other projects. (I am working on three others)

[gswiaczny]

cool.

they have strange anvil. It's so... small... but this knife it's awesome. i want one ;p

[NikTheCat]

The "anvil" is a canon shell from the war.

[2facedninja]

@themanitthe Have you seen the ones with the horn handle? those are much better than the wood handle versions. and you should get the Ka-Bar Heavy Bowie over the Marine Fighter, just a suggestion lol

[sapdeis]

tight werk...

[themanitthe]

@hmonguru

there is another hmong knife design out there, sorry about my harsh judgement. maybe its all these video about the hmong knife and making fun of it and hyping it.

[themanitthe]

maybe my judgement was to harsh but i've seen some hmong knife that has a bowie design. i think that one has more quality to it

[XiongDummy]

Hmong knife, sharper and last longer than most American's kitchen knife.

[hmonguru]

@themanitthe

That's because you bought a cheap "Mung" knife. ;) Make sure you buy the authentic Hmong knife. LOL.

Actually... you're right. The art of Hmong knife making has been lost in Indochina. The quality suffers. I've seen high quality Hmong knives made by skilled artisan blacksmiths in China that are of higher quality. The shape is a bit different than the usual Hmong Laotian style, but it's also more practical, the metal and smithing work is better, and the handle is well made.

[themanitthe]

Hmong knives are shit. They aren't full tang, so that means that the end part of the knife doesnt fully cover the handle. The handle is also very bad. It doesn't absord shock from chopping things like wood. And, have you noticed that every time you chop, your hand loses grip and the handle slides in your hands. The worst part, It cost from $20-50 dollars. Mind as well get a proven and tested knife like the USMC Ka-Bar. I recently got a $50 Hmong knife. But the tip broke off.

[jephboy]

@gswiaczny

You can get plenty of these knives at the Hmong stores in Hmong communities across the U.S. They are the mainstay of Hmong families, as they are heavier duty and last longer than the cheaper kinds you find in Western stores.

[eyal167]

thats cool!!

[TheWaggaBloke]

one of the best shaped knife to go srub with Top Clip.