i remember hearing about really nice knives made in taiwan out of the metal from chinese missiles… anyone know where to find these? or am i just making this up?
Kinmen island is where they’re from. I don’t know of shops selling them here in Taiwan but I’m sure there are some. I got the most amazing Kinmen cook’s knife from a government-sponsored product fair at Bitan a year or two back. Damascus steel. Bloody cheap, too – less than NT$3,000. They also were selling all kinds of sport knives, some of which were stunningly good.
thanks! i’ll have to plan a quick trip down there before christmas than…
Well, the fair was a one-off, I’m afraid.
There’s a guy in Koahsiung that sells them. I believe he delivers worldwide, islandwide for sure. His website is www.jendeindustries.com
I remember seeing some knives advertised as being made from shrapnel in Xiamen on the Chinese side, but I’m assuming they were fake and really crappy.
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i visited one such factory on kinmen a few years back. seems people find the shells, sell em to the knife makers. probably not as abundant as in the past but the things shall continue to be found the rest of our days. i dunno. didn’t look so special to me. looked like butcher knives but the novelty of it all is what sells em.
the factory will let you evensee how one is made: shells cut into blanks and blanks made into finished product.
when i was there there were frenchmen clearing the minefields. the old houses are not to be missed. such a shame to see them fall down but it was kinda cool like walking through a chinese ghost town.
[quote=“thebayou”]There’s a guy in Koahsiung that sells them. I believe he delivers worldwide, islandwide for sure. His website is www.jendeindustries.com[/quote]thebayou -
Thanks for the link.
It isn’t actually a link to the guy, Master Wu on Kinmen who makes the knives, but it has a lot of information about him, the ‘bombshell knives’ and other cool info.
There are some shops in Taipei that sell stuff from Kinmen, like Kaoliang and those knifes.
One is in Guting along Roosevelt Rd., somewhat opposite of the Post office / the entrance to Jinmen Street (what a conicidence, huh?).
[quote]didn’t look so special to me. looked like butcher knives but the novelty of it all is what sells em.
[/quote]
They are extremely special. I have a Sabatier cook’s knife and a Stollingen one. They’re considered some of the best in the world. The Kinmen one is in a different class altogether.
Well done Sandman, I’m sold on them now. I’ll be looking for one next trip back to Taiwan.
HG
I would be remiss not to post a link to a friends shop here in Tainan. One in town and one on the coast road south of town.
Her father is an old time knife maker. They have a line of superb kitchen knives as well as very high quality ornamental and using knives. They also carry quite a number of better quality knives made by well-known, and some lesser known, companies from Europe, Scandinavia and the USA.
If anyone is interested I can put you in contact with one of his daughters who speaks pretty good english and is extremely knowledgeable about knives, swords and edged weapons.
Shoang Siong Knife Co.
ss-knife.com.tw/prod_news.asp
Whoa! My kind of cutter. Really beautiful.
For anyone living in Taoyuan, I found some Jinmen knives in Mitsukoshi department store. Its on Da You road, and go down to B2 at the food court, there is a small shop selling them from 1000 - 3000 dollars.
[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]Well done Sandman, I’m sold on them now. I’ll be looking for one next trip back to Taiwan.
HG[/quote]
Well that was prophetic. because I’m on my way back this weekend and got pondering threads on Jinmen.
Anyone know what a round trip flight from Taipei to Jinmen is over the coming weekend and if two days would be a nice treat? Ms Huang’s seen little outside Taipei,
I plan on buying a few gift knives for a couple of my mainland colleagues. I think it would be a nice gesture.
HG
Actually the quality of the newer knives made from nice imported high carbon steel seems much nicer than the ones made out of the scrap steel. I don’t think the shells were quite the right alloy.
While you’re at it, get a nice (non-ridged, non-textured) steel and a sharpening stone. They’ve got some very nice ones in Taiwan that work magic on all of the knives I have.
No, no, you’re missing the point, I have to give these guys PLA steel. Is there still the real deal, or has China’s rapacious appetite for resources eaten up all its dirty old shells in Taiwan too?
HG
[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]No, no, you’re missing the point, I have to give these guys PLA steel. Is there still the real deal, or has China’s rapacious appetite for resources eaten up all its dirty old shells in Taiwan too?
HG[/quote]
Sorry HG, but rumor has it that all of that steel is US. Captured munitions were about to go off so they decided to use them. Irony eh?
And for yourself HG get yourself a nice pair custom-made sheep shears! The perfect present for an Aussie bastard!!