Pakistan?

LKJW

LKJW

Joined
Nov 21, 2010
Messages
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Can someone tell me why do many knives (and a lot of traditional patterns) come out of Pakistan??? :confused:
 
Reasonable question. Let us be very careful with the answers.
 
But that could be said of a ton of places. Why is Pakistan so omnipresent? Honestly, I don't get it???
 
And do they make good knives? I have a cheapo Barlow from there that is kind of the equivalent of an old Imperial, but that's it.
 
I used to have a Pakistani knife once. It was one of those omnipresent Buck 110 knockoffs. The blade snapped in two after the first week. So much with Pakistani knives for me...
 
Ive bought two off ebay. One was a big chopper, damascus, with a really cool design, for about $50. Another was a damascus dagger, which had an off center blade when I received it. Still cool looking from afar. Don't use either knife, so can't comment on other aspects.
 
I don't get it. I mean, from the looks of things, they must be wading in knives over there. ????
 
Not sure I can answer the question but I still have a buck lockback clone. The f&f isn't great, neither is the steel but its easy to sharpen (easily loses its edge too) but I still keep it. It was the 2nd knife I'd gotten from my grandfather and I used to use it when my dad and I would go fishing to cut bait.
 
Really cheap labor. Like in really, really cheap labor. Plus no child labor laws. It's not unusual to see a small family melt shop with an 8 year old running a buffer or other machine. But most of all, unlike Asia where they got modernized, Pakistan didn't get the memo. In some places they are still on the level of the last century. China, Vietnam, Tiwan all are coming up in their labor costs. Life is getting better in the Asian countries, and the workers are demanding more money. China is having some of the same growing pains that Japan went through that led to work going from Japan to China. Korea has become a big player in the international market, so labor there is more expensive. Honda just opened a second plant in Ho Chi Minh city and their economy is going like gangbusters. But poor old Pakistan has always been a bit behind the 8 ball economically speaking Life has not changed there in a century, so the ongoing poverty keeps labor rates very very low. They can pound out those Buck 110 clones for pennies on the dollar. So an importer will just keep on producing cheap knives in a poor country.

Knives are not rocket science, and can be made on cheap low tech machines. As long as you have a very cheap labor force, you can keep the profit margin up. Pakistan is a win-win situation for a knife company that only is interested in the profit margin of the gas station 2.99 knives he sells.

Carl.
 
Hello Carl, I agree with some of what you said, but unfortunately amy hands are tied I'm afraid buy debating the points on this subforum, as I would otherwise argue forceably that the difference between Japan's resurgance and what is sadly occurring in China are I believe, two distinctly different phenomenon, one (Japan) very nationalistic and thus bound to suceed, and the other more a creation of group of laborers with no home (farm life) to return to, no voice to protest, and no reasonable future prospects. Thus I think the nature of this question might be better argued on the political forum, as it is surely a fair one but a loaded one. I'm leaving to see my doctor's but perhaps tonighton "political subforum" if the interest doesn't wane too much?

Glad to see questions asked about these knives . I just received a Pakistani "patch knife" which I thought was too interesting not to buy at the price, and which displayed a lot of the rustic features which you so well described and which can be of "value" for their own sake. I don't believe anyone gets "hurt" in such trades which don't disrupt a culture to any degree. Anyway, this should be an interesting post and I look forward to reading more. Regards, Johnny (love my forum knife which my son gave back to me!)
 
LKJW said:
Can someone tell me why do many knives (and a lot of traditional patterns) come out of Pakistan??? :confused:
Click to expand...

Maybe it's because this region of the world has been making knives and working with metal for a long long time.

Father Echon
Rahmathudja Alihodjaev, known as Echon Aka is the kind of man that carries the world: he exudes life, laughter, discipline, honor, craft. He’s the best knife-maker that I will meet throughout Central Asia, a humble king of knives.
Click to expand...
http://silkroadproject.blogspot.com/
Took horrific 13-hour overnight van on the torturous high pass mountain roads past Dir (pocket-knife-making capitol of Pakistan),
Click to expand...

http://www.gorustic.com/bomboret.htm
 
As already mentioned, let's keep the politics out of this thread. There is a place for that; "BladeForums.com Political Arena". If this drifts to far from knife discussion it'll be closed.
Thanks in advance.
 
when I was in the boy scouts i had a pakistan buck lockback that i took camping. it was the best quality knife from pakistan i have seen. I still have it some where.

But most of what i see from there is pretty inferior in quality. My dad bought me 70~ some knives off of the home shopping network and most of them were from there and obviously junk. we did have fun breaking all of them though.

I even made some money selling a few of them
 
I'm not really sure, either. The ones I have seen from there were junk, pure and simple. They were decidedly crude, and possibly made to sell to someone who wanted a cheap knife for some reason. With the vastly superior knives coming from China, now, at basically the same price point, I really don't see the appeal.
 
I own a short double edge dagger made by someone out in Pakistan. Rosewood looking handle, brass butt cap, steel is of questionable quality but it sits in a drawer looking mean. I think the culture of Central Asia is a knife and weapons friendly one so the iron trade workers are there and have been doing their thing for many generations. They must also do swords of all sorts but I have never seen one from there. The world market is open to their products so they earn a meager living doing knives instead of herding sheep and goats only or whatever people do there to keep food on the table.
 
I have no idea, and I'm just guessing, but the more reasonable answer that comes to my mind is that the region is rich enough in iron and that historically Pakistan (or, more probably, some area of the country) have therefore developed some kind of "history" and tradition in ironsmithing, then moved towards steel and cutting tools.
Not too far from the woodworking industry in Scandinavia, to make an example.
But, again, it's just a guess.

Fausto
:cool:
 
The region that encompasses India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan today was sort of a hub of metalworking. The Romans traded extensively with India and Indian steel was the best there was a the time of Christ and thereabouts. Later, the cusaders encounterd "Damascus" steel. They called it that because that's where they encountered it but it came from India (kind of like the Kentucky rifle coming almost exclusively from Pennsylvania for example). So India and Pakistand (and for that matter China) should be able to produce very good steel and knives. It is just that in this day and age, they often do not...at least not that we see here and any that are good are going to cost too much for anybody to buy and still say Pakistan on the blade. In the USA, if it says Pakistan on the blade, it pretty much has to say 5.99 on the pricetag or no sale. I am sure there are some very competent smiths is Pakistan.
 
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