Taiwanese knives

Arts & Sciences Culture & History
1

Hello all! I’m new to Forumosa and this is my 1st post. :slight_smile:
I am an American born Taiwanese, currently enrolled in a university and living in the USA. I have only been back to my ethnic homeland 4x, but I hope to go back more often. It IS expensive though. My father is Hoklo ben-di-zhen with some aboriginal blood, and my mother is wai-shen-zhen, but both originally from Taiwan. However, even though my Mandarin is fluent, I cannot read and write. My Taiwanese (Hokkien/Min-nan) is poor at best. My favorite lines in Tai-Yu would have to be “wa bo gong dai yi” and “wa tia bo” :unamused:

I’m also a practitioner of a martial art, and a knife aficionado. I have two knives (formerly 3) from Taiwan. One is a Shiling cutter (士林刀) and another is an Atayal laraw. I had sold my knife made by the Taroko smiths in Tongmen, Hualien (銅門, 花蓮) already. It was my 1st out of 3 Taiwanese knives. I am on a quest to find the best traditional blades/weapon makers on Taiwan, Han and Aboriginal. I have been doing research and examining pictures of antiques, but some research is hard when you are not in Taiwan yourself! My reasons for trying to find these sources of traditional Taiwanese knives are twofold. [1] I am personally very interested in high-quality, authentic, traditional Taiwanese blades. [2] I hope to bring some into the USA and sell them to other knife enthusiast friends of mine who have been asking about my blades. I don’t wish to commercialize their crafts as has happened to many native skills when met with modern economy and tourism… but I think money would definitely help keep traditions alive. A little profit gained from selling these blades will also help me pay for college textbooks and groceries! If people in the USA start really liking and appreciating Taiwanese blades, perhaps I will make it a company. But it’s supply and demand, so unless there is high demand, it’ll just be for my own passionate interest.

I was wondering if there are knife enthusiasts on this forum & if folks know where the best Taiwanese traditional blades are made. :pray:
Knife aficionados in Taiwan are pretty lucky! Taiwan has a rich weapon & martial history that most of the world doesn’t even know about.

Here’s my list thus far, of quality traditional blades in Taiwan:
(or of weaponry related stuff)

Han Blades:
[ul]Shiling Folding Knife: Shilin, Taipei (士林,台北市)
Billhooks/開山刀: ?
Rattan Shields: ?
Best watermelon knives: ?
Best Kitchen Knives: ?
Traditional daggers, swords, etc.: ?[/ul]
Aboriginal blades:
[ul]Atayal blades: some makers in Dasi? (大溪,桃園) I don’t know where in Dasi though…
Taroko blades: Tongmen, Hualien (銅門, 花蓮)
Bunun: ?
Tsou: ?
Amis: ?
Paiwan: ?
Others: ?
Bows and Arrows: ?[/ul]

Also interested in antique swords, etc. but those tend to be pretty pricey. I can’t afford most. That and the Chinese antique weaponry world is overcrowded with loads of shoddy modern-made fake antiques, some of them actually made to be very convincing and almost identical to the true antiques in looks… the heft and balance is often off though.

I know that the other Aboriginal groups aside from the Atayal/Tayal get their knives somewhere and have bows and arrows made… but where? I’ve heard that the Taroko/Seediq/Truku smiths in 銅門 are doing decent off their skills and supply some aborigines and rangers with their cutlery.

And lastly, for those who are interested, I have pics of 3 blades I have gotten from Taiwan:

The laraw is my most prized material possession and I intent to not part with it till the day I die.

I can post up other pictures of other blades I have owned in the past if any of you wish to see, but that would be for another thread/forum… :ponder:

Thanks!

EDIT: if this is the wrong section to make such a post, would a moderator please move this to the appropriate spot? Much thanks!

2

I had one of those leaf-shaped folding knives but it broke. How’s your one for strength at the hinge? Nice knives, but they’re getting harder to find these days.
Those Aboriginal ones are much higher quality-looking that the ones I’ve seen here, especially the one in the last picture. Its beautiful.
Kinmen has by far the biggest reputation in Taiwan for fine blades. My kitchen knives are all from there, but they have some really nice folders and lockblades. My damascus steel cook’s knife is a prized possession.
You can read about it and some others in this thread and you can see Maestro Wu’s website here is knife porn.
Enjoy. Try not get any on the keyboard. It’ll make a sticky mess.

3

Don’t know much about knives, but here are some links:
[ul][li]Shilin Cutter[/li]
[li]Knife and Life[/li]
[li]Ray Gue Hua Knives[/li][/ul]

4

I’ll add this web site: SS Knife

Its mostly a commercial site but this family has a long history of knife making here on the island. They still do some outstanding traditional blade work. Info about there traditional made knives is some where on the site.

Rice_T - Thanks for those links.

5

Thanks for the links guys, much appreciated! Those knives look great, though I notice a lot of foreign imports.
Maestro Wu’s kitchen cutlery seems to have a great reputation. .

[quote=“sandman”]I had one of those leaf-shaped folding knives but it broke. How’s your one for strength at the hinge? Nice knives, but they’re getting harder to find these days.
Those Aboriginal ones are much higher quality-looking that the ones I’ve seen here, especially the one in the last picture. Its beautiful.[/quote]
Mine’s slip-joint is still pretty strong, though I haven’t exactly worked it all that hard. I use it to cut boxes, open letters, and as a small utility cutter when I camp.
The last one was probably made somewhere in Taoyuan near the mountains. Usually only for Atayal folks, but I was lucky enough to get one. It is an excellent machete and would probably make a fearsome weapon, though I haven’t had the chance to use it as such… :no-no: :unamused: :slight_smile:

These are factory-made versions of the traditional leaf-shaped folding knife that Kuo Ming Jang (in Shilin) makes? I may have to get one and compare…

[quote=“TainanCowboy”]I’ll add this web site:

ss-knife.com.tw

Its mostly a commercial site but this family has a long history of knife making here on the island. They still do some outstanding traditional blade work. Info about there traditional made knives is some where on the site.

Rice_T - Thanks for those links.[/quote]Oooh, there’s some real nice traditional stuff there, thanks!

I’ve been searching on the web, and I’ve found these modern-made aboriginal blades…
some rough workers and some amazing Aboriginal skilled craftsmanship…





6

I’ve been looking at buying a nice chef’s knife for a while now. Up to now I’ve been looking at the better known brands (Henckels, Wustof, etc.) in the department stores and waiting until they have a blow-out sale so I can justify buying one.

I just checked out that ss-knife link posted by TainanCowboy and spotted this 7” Damascus blade for NT$1300.
Too good to be true? Anybody own one?

7

Gary, that LOOKS like a good deal, but I really don’t know if it is for real. Perhaps there are Taiwanese knife or kitchen cutlery forums where members post up reviews and give comments on their experiences with different knives?

8

Apologies for lowering the tone somewhat, but I have a cheap (NT$199) shiv-style utility knife that I bought in an all-night hardware market. Chuann Full Industry Co, Taichung. M-355807.

Certainly not beautiful or a “craft” item, but the solid shank design with a chisel-edge and a hollow ground blade-back (apparently Urasuki, a characteristic of Japanese knives, so part of the Taiwan colonial heritage) and a shrink-tube grip looks strong and potentially useful, though I haven’t done anything with it yet.

I imagine the steel may not be that great at that price, but OTOH I don’t really see why crap steel is going to be very much cheaper than good steel, so maybe not. The urasuki seems likely to make sharpening more difficult though.

Haven’t seen anything like it elsewhere (outside prison, anyway) and it isn’t on their website, so its probably out of production, the usual fate of non-bling industrial design that I like.

Anyway, the point has a lot of potential for self-injury and the cheapo plastic sheath (with a bit of tubing as a tip-guard) doesn’t inspire much confidence, so I was considering making something better.

The wood-backed cord sheath (if I’m interpreting the picture correctly) of the above “laraw” knife looks a possible model, but I don’t quite understand why the cord is not cut by the (presumably very sharp) edge.

Forgive the dumb question. Any pointers?

I’ve got a Ghurka Kukri back in the UK that I bought in a junk shop years ago which might make quite a good machete if I ever get it back here. Can’t vouch for its authenticity, but I understand the real things are made from truck springs and pretty cheap so they might not be worth faking. I note there are some “Nepal Scimitars” on Tainan Cowboys site that are very similar, and one on Sandman’s Kinmen site too, so I might shell out for one of them sometime, if I do any more rough-trail bashing. Thanks for the links

9

[quote=“Gary78”]I’ve been looking at buying a nice chef’s knife for a while now. Up to now I’ve been looking at the better known brands (Henckels, Wustof, etc.) in the department stores and waiting until they have a blow-out sale so I can justify buying one.

I just checked out that ss-knife link posted by TainanCowboy and spotted this 7” Damascus blade for NT$1300.

Too good to be true? Anybody own one?[/quote]
I don’t see why not. It’s similar to the price for the Maestro Wu knives. I’ve bought loads of them for family members, and they are outstanding knives.

10

I’m wondering what you get for your money when you buy one of these knives.

I can see there is aesthetic pleasure in knowing the thing was made by a master craftsman, plus one contributes to the skill maintenance, and I don’t knock that at all, but is the functionality any different to a well designed industrially produced item?

Kinmen traditionally produces knives from scrap Chinese shell casings, though presumably the supply of those is finite.

I have an old scar on my palm from a 40-years-in-seawater shell splinter I picked up carelessly when working in EOD on the Maplin Sands, so I know that stuff (at least from Sheffield) can hold an edge, but I wonder if the quality of the steel is really any better than (or as good as) made-for-purpose carbon steel?

11

Yea that shrapnel is hard to handle, doesn’t seem to have a blunt edge. Best not to let the kids play with it. I’ve rolled in a pile of it before, and it was nasty.

To answer your question I think the whole idea of not having many resources on Jinmen but using the shell casings as a source has a real “swords to ploughshares” appeal to it rather than being of very high quality. They developed an industry out of necessity and ran with it. I don’t think they are using old shells anymore either.

BTW Has anyone noticed that the Maestro Wu stuff oxidizes rather easily? I like the lightness and feel of their kitchen knives and cleavers but they rust. I was once interested in making an actual functioning Guan Dao-(the halberd seen held by the God -Guang Gong) and I contacted a Maestro Wu rep. but the prices were outrageous.

Most of the Cold Steel products are made here in Taiwan. I have shovels, tomahawks and knives made by them and I’m a fan of most of their stuff. Ontario- good machetes. Gerber-good knives, and folding saws.
I need tools that work in jungle conditions that won’t make me cry if I lose or break them. I have some other stuff I’ve picked up in Vietnam, Philippines, China, Indonesia, Thailand, etc.

I have 3 aboriginal machetes which are similar to the Philippine “bolo” although they are not a fully enclosed sheath that can be slung on the back like a bolo. They have lesser quality sheaths than the OP’s too.
I bought two on the side of the road in Hualian and took one off a guy who shouldn’t have been carrying it. The sheaths and blades look similar.

Switchblades, throwing knives and axes, an Afghani tribesmen knife that resembles a Bowie knife(made locally)
I got then all here in Taiwan. I’ll stop now or no one will talk with me at the next Happy Hour.

12

[quote=“Bubba 2 Guns”]To answer your question I think the whole idea of not having many resources on Jinmen but using the shell casings as a source has a real “swords to ploughshares” appeal to it rather than being of very high quality. They developed an industry out of necessity and ran with it. I don’t think they are using old shells anymore either.

BTW Has anyone noticed that the Maestro Wu stuff oxidizes rather easily? I like the lightness and feel of their kitchen knives and cleavers but they rust…[/quote]

Website says they still are, “bombshell knife” being the description, but (a) I guess nobody’s legally enforcing that description, and (b) if old shell cases aren’t the best material for the job, maybe one should avoid “bombshell knives” if they are.

Basically you’re saying its a gimmick now, which is, rather depressingly, what I suspected.

Dunno much about knives, but carbon is higher in the electrochemical series than iron, so MAYBE an (especially?) high carbon steel suffers internal galvanic corrosion.