Pair of knives

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by ausjulius

hi actually they dont make any mong or meo knive sin aranyik maybe some wholesalers in the village may have some eneps form north thailand or something some time. but they never stock any non thai stuff.

you can maybe find stuff like these on the thai knife fourms or gun forums some time...

about the chinese influence.. yes its 100% chinese influence.. and in fact chinese them selves historically used such a blade shape, considering meo and mong and many other asian tribal people came from central east china and spread out in the last 1000nd years or so im sure there was a lot of exchanges in knife making..
these chinese influenced blades show up with mong and meo from china and you can find them with very long blades ive seem some in chinese forums with blades more like chinses sabres!...
the fact that older immigrant groups in this area of asia of mong and meo dont really make their blades with fulling or with pin inlay like these, so i can speculate that either it is a style that some specific tribes of meo made or its just that they recently .. in the last 50 years adopted some chinese styles.. or can be another reason.. maybe mong and meo made these styles in their homelands in wht is now china and the others changed their styles when they arrived in new lands and these new arrivals kept the blade decorating styles..

Great information, thanks!

[blue lander]

What about these two? I got them awhile back with a couple other items and sort of wrote them off as souvenirs. The top one looks somewhat similar to the Hmong knife. It's actually quite sturdy with a fairly thick blade with distal taper. It's as sharp as your average pocket knife and seems very usable. The bottom one's blade is very crude and barely sharpened. I have no idea what it's supposed to be.

[Andrew]

I've never seen one like the bottom example.

The top one is an example of knives still being produced in Myanmar/Burma (and, likely, Thailand). About 10 years ago, I was introduced to a gentleman who had a government-approved trip scheduled to Myanmar, where he was spending time with Karen tribes. I requested he bring me back something sharp and pointy if he came across anything inexpensive. He sent me this:

Dha-hmyaung. Myanmar (Burma). Early 21st Century. Brass and rattan fittings. Newly manufactured by Karen Tribesmen.

Overall length: 30 cm
Blade length: 20 cm
Handle length: 10 cm
Scabbard length: 22 cm

[Congoblades]

I have a simular one. Does not look very old.

[blue lander]

How large is that one? Mine's only 20mm OAL, much smaller than the one Andrew posted.

[Congoblades]

The knife 30 cm, total lenght is 33 cm.

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by blue lander

How large is that one? Mine's only 20mm OAL, much smaller than the one Andrew posted.

20 mm ?, you are sure?

[blue lander]

Whoops, you're right. 20 cm. Still smaller than either other example.

[Nathaniel]

Originally Posted by Andrew

I've never seen one like the bottom example.

The top one is an example of knives still being produced in Myanmar/Burma (and, likely, Thailand). About 10 years ago, I was introduced to a gentleman who had a government-approved trip scheduled to Myanmar, where he was spending time with Karen tribes. I requested he bring me back something sharp and pointy if he came across anything inexpensive. He sent me this:

Dha-hmyaung. Myanmar (Burma). Early 21st Century. Brass and rattan fittings. Newly manufactured by Karen Tribesmen.

Overall length: 30 cm
Blade length: 20 cm
Handle length: 10 cm
Scabbard length: 22 cm

Just curious, Andrew...when this gentleman went to Myanmar and stayed with the Karen...do you know what state or area he was in?

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by Nathaniel

Just curious, Andrew...when this gentleman went to Myanmar and stayed with the Karen...do you know what state or area he was in?

It's been about 10 years, Nathaniel. I'll see if my email archives go back that far.

[Nathaniel]

Originally Posted by Andrew

It's been about 10 years, Nathaniel. I'll see if my email archives go back that far.

Oh, yeah, you did mention that...10 years...that is quite a ways back...well, when you have time and only if it takes less than 2 minutes...otherwise not really all that important. Great story to hear though of how you came upon it and which group the guy was visiting. Thanks Andrew!

[Nathaniel]

Originally Posted by blue lander

What about these two? I got them awhile back with a couple other items and sort of wrote them off as souvenirs. The top one looks somewhat similar to the Hmong knife. It's actually quite sturdy with a fairly thick blade with distal taper. It's as sharp as your average pocket knife and seems very usable. The bottom one's blade is very crude and barely sharpened. I have no idea what it's supposed to be.

I have one similar to the first one from the Shan State of Myanmar . I do not know the knife style is specific to a certain group. This one pictured is tourist/ trinket/ kid toys