Central Asian Knives

[ariel]

Originally Posted by blue lander

Here's my pichok from Uzbekistan. It's completely brand new.

........

2: I struck up a conversation with an Uzbek man at a bar and mentioned I had a pichok. Long story short, he said they were made of junk metal and he'd never use one.

Generally, he was correct: anything made by a multitude of mom-and-pop outfits for souvenir purposes is likely to be junky.
There still are real and acknowledged masters in that part of the world, who make first class examples, but they are few and far between.
That being said, I am wondering whether your bar acquaintance used the same criteria as the old native users: yes, the blades are soft and the edges turn relatively easily, but that was local preference. Soft blades did not break easily, and that was what the shepherds wanted. And there was no lack of ceramic pialas around:-)