The H'mong knife - from Vietnam

MilliePop said:
Nice handforged Hmong knives are hard to find here in America nowadays. It seems all the bladesmith's have retired. Now most Hmong people are starting to gravitate towards more modern designs and produced Hmong knves. But they are not the same.
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Sounds like the situation that HI was created to prevent, in Nepal! Maybe the Hmong need to try something similar: they could create hand-crafted, top-end knives and traditional firearms for export. Or is it too late?
 
Nicholas said:
Sounds like the situation that HI was created to prevent, in Nepal! Maybe the Hmong need to try something similar: they could create hand-crafted, top-end knives and traditional firearms for export. Or is it too late?
Click to expand...

You know I've actually thought of that but I'm not sure if the Hmongs in Vietnam's supply and quality of steel is consistent. Besides it'll be a big endeavor for myself as I live in the States...maybe Hung might present them with the idea.
 
I'm currently travelling and don't know why I couldn't post from my mobile. This time I bet with luck!

The goverment is not doing good in preserving these things. They said they have meny other things of higher priority like reducing poverty, enhancing education and medication.

Even the PhuQuoc dog is still in the edge of extinction. We did tried to set up the national kennel club but couldn't do much

The future of the H'mong knife is not at its cradle but somewhere like the US.

We also need an 'Uncle Bill' here...

MilliePop said:
You know I've actually thought of that but I'm not sure if the Hmongs in Vietnam's supply and quality of steel is consistent. Besides it'll be a big endeavor for myself as I live in the States...maybe Hung might present them with the idea.
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Hunglvq, thank you for posting these specs for the Hmong knife. It is very interesting. I am of Hmong descent and have possession to many Hmong knives as well. These are multipurpose knives because in Laos and Thailand steel is hard to come by and therefore multipurpose knife are crafted to meet the everyday lifestyle.
 
I have a Hmong knife from French Guyana. Gotta dig up a picture. It's a great knife but the edge is a bit too hard for my tastes. It chips on bones or knots in wood.

Edit: found a picimage.jpeg
 
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Blue, get some heat sink paste from Brownell's and do a little heat treat on it without taking it apart. I've seen those knives in Vietnam. Brought one and a cross bow home in '69. Wish I knew what happened to them.
 
Ah, Great idea, I had hubby do that with one knife I loved that was a touch more brittle than I liked. He claimed it was pretty straight-forward, but since I didn't see him do it, I have no idea how complicated it really is. Just put the heat sink paste all over the grip and anything else you don't want to burn up, then re-temper the blade hold it there for a couple hours? Shouldn't that draw it back to a decent hardness for a fairly versatile knife? Or and I completely confused and it needs to be done another way? Sure would love to learn the details ;)
 
If its not too thick you might be able to just clamp it in a smooth jaw vise between a wet rag and torch the spine. I doubt the wood would burn but it may need to be reglued?
 
Since the guy who made this stopped making new knives and his sons aren't following in his footsteps I'm probably just going to leave it alone. The only thing I use it for is splitting coconuts. I'm keeping an eye out for another Hmong knife that I can beat on because it really is a great knife pattern
 
My wife is Hmong and my father in law got me this for Christmas!

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WOW! - Magnificent!

what are it's measurements? looks huge.
 
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