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I Forge Iron

Traditional Thai Machete


tanglediver

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  • 5 months later...

No more excuses about not having the right equipment lol. I'm going to make a hold fast like he was using. Reminded me of a shaving bench for wood working. 

Tanglediver, thanks for posting the video I love barbones smithing and the resourcefulness of his smithy. Goes to show it's not the tools that make the blacksmith.  

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  • 11 months later...

His anvil is a sledgehammer head sunk in a log.  That tractor weight (?) is just for cutting and flattening.  The man is talented.  I worked with a Thai farmer/blacksmith back in 1977/78 when I was a Peace Corps volunteer.  The 70+ year old guy made some very nice blades. He had no electricity and didn't even have a hand-cranked grinder.  Knives were forged to near-perfect shape, descaled/refined with a draw knife and a file was sparingly used to do a final edge cleanup.  My blacksmith used a setup virtually the same as these old photos from 1964. I used to work the air pumps for him.   https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/17586

I also worked in a refugee camp for a year or so in 1979/80.  The Laotian Hmong hilltribe blacksmiths made excellent knives. 

I have dozens of knives/machetes I've accumulated over the past 40+ years.  I have two that I helped forge.  Not fun work in the heat of the tropics.  The first two pics are some favorites. Two were gifts and the other two cost me a total of about $7.

my machetes 1.JPG

my machetes 5.JPG

my thai Machetes.jpg

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