A pair of crudely forged knives for identification

[ausjulius]

Originally Posted by drac2k

I recently acquired these 2 crudely forged knives; even though they aren't very pretty, they remind me of a like forged aboriginal Taiwanese spearhead I once owned.The simple handles, with their iron, ferrules are are similar to examples of Burmese Dha handles that I have and as such could be from that area or they could be Chinese trade tools, sold for export.
The longest blade is 10.5" long x 2.75" wide, with a very thin blade(machete thick), and the other blade measures 9.5" long x 2" at it's widest with a thick spine of 1/4" at the spine.
The cutting edges are facing down.
Any help would be appreciated.

the shapes are both typical cambodian knife shapes. i would say they are cambodian products. just household knives. not for woodworking.

[Ian]

ausjulius,

Thanks for resurrecting this old thread. Yes, these are mainland SE Asian work knives, although the shapes of the blades are fairly generic to the region. The top one, for example, is very common in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos (and probably more widely). The bottom one is a standard chopper for brush, small saplings, etc. and again found widely in the region. The hilts are not of a traditional ethnographic form, but rather are of non-specific, utilitarian, 20th C manufacture seen frequently in Cambodia, Vietnam, Yunnan, and elsewhere.

Ian