Are there ANY really good knives coming out of Pakistan?

D

Dr Heelhook

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Jul 24, 2007
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Pakistani knives are pretty famous for fancy designs, but pretty poor quality, especially in terms of heat treatment. I was watching some documentary about Pakistani knife makers though and they do seem to have a bit of a knife making tradition there that goes back pretty far in time. It would be pretty cool if people there would really salvage that tradition and pair that with a high quality product with proper heat treatment.

Are there any makers in Pakistan that do that that you know of?
 
None that I have heard of. I would assume that there is at least one somewhere that turns out a good blade, but I've never seen one and would not risk my money.
 
"Are there any makers in Pakistan that do that that you know of?"

None I've seen or heard of. All the knives imported to the US from Pakistan are brought in strictly to take advantage of the low cost and none I've ever experienced were anything other than junk. I've seen ones that were pot metal that weren't even magnetic and the ones that seemed like real steel seemed to not be heat treated. I have seen none I would pay for and to be honest I'd really have no use for them if given to me for free. I'd take one only to be polite and not hurt somebodies feelings.

They have real machine shops and the ability to make real knives. Perhaps we just never see them here.
 
Given the sheer numbers I'm sure there are a few, but I'd rather not take my chances to try to find out which ones.
 
There's a maker named Gulzan Ahmed, who's company is called Ursa, that has been making replica historic Bowies for a few years now that is well though of - https://www.arizonacustomknives.com/knives-by-maker/ahmed-gulzan-ursa.html .

Also there's another named K Ali - https://www.arizonacustomknives.com/knives-by-maker/forge-master-k-ali.html , imported by a company called https://www.modelldesignllc.com/, that's had good reviews over the years.

Those are the only two that I'd consider high end.

Charlton / Damascus USA has imported some nice stuff over the years, but I think they're mostly Indian imports.

There's no quality modern / tactical makers I've seen.

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One day, we'll probably see really nice stuff from Pakistan, everyone works to the quality level they're paid for after all. But right now, they've sort of locked themselves into that low to low middle range that's hard to break out of. Even if they did try to make higher end knives, very few would be willing to shell out the money to test them.
 
I don't think so. And for many reasons, like : a lack of prime materials, a gaggle of low cost labor, an established market for low quality stuff, and so on. They sure have a history of bladesmithing but today's economic context doesn't allow them to monetize it. The economic context allows them, on the other hand, to monetize cheap, crappy stuff. And this is sad. I'd be very happy to see a great maker rise out and over this. But it will be tough.
 
herisson said:
I don't think so. And for many reasons, like : a lack of prime materials, a gaggle of low cost labor, an established market for low quality stuff, and so on. They sure have a history of bladesmithing but today's economic context doesn't allow them to monetize it. The economic context allows them, on the other hand, to monetize cheap, crappy stuff. And this is sad. I'd be very happy to see a great maker rise out and over this. But it will be tough.
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I think they've done a great job on their part to monetize blacksmithing. They seem to have an endless stream of buyers for their products.

If you're a Popeyes Fried Chicken franchise do you fancy the place up and hope for some Michelin stars or do you crank out spicy chicken sandwiches by the truckload?
 
You crank out those spicy (crappy) sandwiches by the ton like everyone else would do.... I'm not really criticizing the business plan per se, as it is a resultant of an existing economic context. But I will definitely look elsewhere if interested in buying a knife.
 
Anyone have experience with NB Knives or AG Knives? Both seem to be Pakistan made.

https://nbknives.com
https://agcutlery.com

I'm looking for a Frontier/18th Century inspired small EDC knife at a reasonable price. Already own an LT Wright and Arno Bernard, but I'm wanting something more period-like and reasonable around $100-150.
 
I own 3 Gulzar Ahmed knives all large knives. 2 Jessie Clifft bowies and 1 golok. All 3 are superb and I kid you not and the Clifft bowies are true to the original design which is what I was looking for. His prices have gone up a good bit since my purchase's too. Anyways this is my experience with Gulzar knives. I also just bought a damascus knife off ebay that I assumed was made in India/Pakistan but it uses olive wood in the handle so maybe that was made in eastern Europe or the middle east, regardless it is extremely well made too. thanks
 
The production knives are not good. Undoubtedly there are some small shops and custom makers who are diamonds in the rough, but like China, the good makers start from behind the power curve thanks to their national industry's reputation in knives.
 
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