What Quality are those Pakistani Damascus knives?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Based on my experience with knives made in Pakistan I'd place that blade somewhere between crap and total crap. $60 can buy you so much more.
 
I have a few of these knives, bought on ebay. In general:
- the blade quality is pretty ok carbon steel damascus. Not stainless, but true damascus, and the ones that I have arrived pretty sharp. The steel of mine is pretty hard as well, but you'll need to sharpen it more often as a modern non damascus steel. Still, no real issue at the price.
- at the price they are already acceptable simply as a neat display knife
- overall finish is a bit on the rough side, but again ok for the price
- the sheats were less impressive to my taste. They rarely fit just right.

I will eventually post pictures of my little collection, with comments. Here is one that I posted before in another thread. This is honestly a pretty ok (and simply pretty I think) full tang knife at around $45. The handle is camel bone. You can see that the handle is finished a bit rougher compared to western production knives, but it's handmade of course. I think there is nothing wrong with the knife unless you have a problem with it coming from Pakistan:

mbh74n.jpg


And my damascus laguiole in the pic is from Pakistan as well. Not as refined as my true french one at the top but actually pretty acceptable. It being non-stainless I do not edc it often and I don't use it on food as I am afraid to create ugly blots on the blade:

2v0ixw3.jpg
 
Aren't the Pakistanis reputed to be 'Blade People'. There was a program on either The Discovery or The History channel about US troops bringing quality, hand made, American tomahawks with them to Afghanistan & Iraq. Apparently the locals were really impressed with the looks of the tomahawks and the troops got some real cred out of it.
 
Many cultures have long been producing quality blades, but that doesn't stop large companies from moving there and using cheap labor to produce lower quality knives. The bowie you linked is by no means a traditional Pakistani design, and I doubt it was made by craftsmen using traditional techniques.
 
> Aren't the Pakistanis reputed to be 'Blade People'.

From what I read and heard from a Pakistani colleague, the cutlery city of Wazirabad can be considered as the regional equivalent to the better known Solingen, Thiers, or Seki City. But in general there will be more low-end handmade products coming from it.

> The bowie you linked is by no means a traditional Pakistani design, and I doubt it was made by craftsmen using traditional techniques.

Indeed, I didn't claim that it was a local design, and neither are their damascus laguioles. But the somewhat rougher finish points to handmade. Both are actually produced by Maan which from the little I could find is a small local company. Agreed about cheap labour, not agreed about lower quality. I think that it's an interesting choice for those damascus lovers on a "credit crunch" budget, and while it's not a -much more expensive- Fallkniven of course, I do think that it's quite acceptable for the price. The same applies to the Laguiole.
And, I think you will agree that at least they look rather nice.

fyi there is Solingen-based German producer who outsourced the blades of 2 damascus hunting blades to Pakistan, made to German standards. These 129 euro knives got a positive review in the no-nonsense German "Messer" magazine. Check here (they are quite pretty):

hk_-_224_dlo.jpg
hk_-_220_dlo.jpg

hk_-_224_dlh_1.jpg
hk_-_220_dlh.jpg
 
Dagon, those are really good looking blades. And I didn't mean to imply that you were implying that the bowie was a Pakistani design. :foot:
 
Welcome to 2016 and there are incredibly beautiful, well made knives coming from Paki for well under $200. for a sweet Damascus Bowie!
I have made knives for half a century, had a writeup in Blade... and I'm telling you that these Americans charging ten times as much for for maybe a 14% improvement on detail.
This one before me is impeccable, and the feathereather pattern along the flat ground blade is such that it will keep on cutting.
Edge was 58-60 Rockwell...
Superb sheath...
Actually, It can be seen here (and I got it for $125. all inclusive);

[EBAY LINKS TO LIVE SALES ARE NOT ALLOWED]

I would be happy to compare it's fit and finish and quality to any $600. American (-s think WAY to highly of themselves) handmade Bowie with a foot of Damascus pattern like that!!

Weight and balance (about an inch in front of the cross-guard) is superb.
Feels great, alive, in the hand.
Quick, solid...
This is NOT of 'cheap quality' no matter where it comes from!

Things do change!
For the price, check out their other knives on the link.
Have fun.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
BladeScout said:
PPFFFFFFHHHH....!

There are so much wrong with your post on so many levels.
Click to expand...

Not least of which is linking to an active eBay auction, which is expressly against the rules.

Also, you can take what you think of Americans and cram it, especially on a weekend when we memorialize our veterans who gave their lives in battle.

And Pakistani made knives are very low quality.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top