Knives in Vietnam

[Draig]

Hello y'all!
I'll be heading to Vietnam for a month here shortly. I'll mostly be a bit south and west of Ho Chi Minh city for the duration, however I will travel a bit. Has anyone here seen any knife makers of note there?

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

Whoa... The thread title had me immediately thinking about Randall's and Buck 119's.

Reading the content makes more sense now.

 

[MSicardCutlery]

Whoa... The thread title had me immediately thinking about Randall's and Buck 119's.

Reading the content makes more sense now.

Hey, who says a line cook can't use a Ka-Bar, or a Gerber MK2???

 

[Draig]

Those Randall's sure are nice though! I'd change their ergonomics a pinch but I do appreciate them very much.


Ha! I remember my grandpa using his father's issued and brought back ka-bar to fillet some trout out in the mountains for us when I was a boy.

 

[tri.ngm]

I don't think the kitchen knives maker in Vietnam are up there compared to Indonesian or Thailand's makers.

However, there are still an active domestic community.

Personally, I have tried fron these two makers:
- Le Hanh: his knives is quite good, all things considered. Not great distal taper. Just remind him to be quite careful with F&F (e.g: handle installation)
- Hoc Kieu: Much more refined, but twice expensive. Pretty good Kurouchi blades. Used imported 52100?

I don't know how good is there English but you can try Google Translate or I can help a bit.

Also, check out the outdoor knives from the local tribes

 

[Draig]

I don't think the kitchen knives maker in Vietnam are up there compared to Indonesian or Thailand's makers.

However, there are still an active domestic community.

Personally, I have tried fron these two makers:
- Le Hanh: his knives is quite good, all things considered. Not great distal taper. Just remind him to be quite careful with F&F (e.g: handle installation)
- Hoc Kieu: Much more refined, but twice expensive. Pretty good Kurouchi blades. Used imported 52100?

I don't know how good is there English but you can try Google Translate or I can help a bit.

Also, check out the outdoor knives from the local tribes

Thank you very much!

Fortunately, I'll have my Vietnamese girlfriend with me so I should be ok! For the most part. Once I forgot that addressing people older than oneself is different than when they are younger and you can just call them "em" no matter if male or female. So I addressed her mother with "anh" and instantly realized what I had done. Boy was I embarrassed! Fortunately, she thought it was funny since I was at least trying.


I'd love to check out said outdoor knives! Do you know of any craftsman in that area or around Da Lat?

 

[blokey]

I don't think the kitchen knives maker in Vietnam are up there compared to Indonesian or Thailand's makers.

However, there are still an active domestic community.

Personally, I have tried fron these two makers:
- Le Hanh: his knives is quite good, all things considered. Not great distal taper. Just remind him to be quite careful with F&F (e.g: handle installation)
- Hoc Kieu: Much more refined, but twice expensive. Pretty good Kurouchi blades. Used imported 52100?

I don't know how good is there English but you can try Google Translate or I can help a bit.

Also, check out the outdoor knives from the local tribes

There's really helpful information, I'm also kind curious about the knife sence in Thailand since you mentioned it, I know Indonesia have some very talented makers, but haven't heard about much in Thailand.

 

[tri.ngm]

Thank you very much!

Fortunately, I'll have my Vietnamese girlfriend with me so I should be ok! For the most part. Once I forgot that addressing people older than oneself is different than when they are younger and you can just call them "em" no matter if male or female. So I addressed her mother with "anh" and instantly realized what I had done. Boy was I embarrassed! Fortunately, she thought it was funny since I was at least trying.

I'd love to check out said outdoor knives! Do you know of any craftsman in that area or around Da Lat?

Haha, Vietnamese, like many other East Asian languages, has that feature. But you get used to it in no time.
Wait until you hear about how to address uncles and aunts from different sides of the family.

I'm not aware of any maker from Da Lat, but domestic shipping is quite fast so you should be fine.
Also, beautiful town and not too hot

There's this Facebook group for custom knives.

 

[tri.ngm]

There's really helpful information, I'm also kind curious about the knife sence in Thailand since you mentioned it, I know Indonesia have some very talented makers, but haven't heard about much in Thailand.

To be honest, I only know Wanchana from Thailand, but he's quite refined.

I assume the knife scene in Indonesia and Thailand is much better since any makers can ship their knives internationally. Vietnamese makers doesn't have that luxury.
Only "Dao Vua" seems to be able to export but they do it in quite large shipment.

 

[mgardiner]

Dao Vuo was my gateway drug to carbon steel knives (with one exception) and thus responsible for this pricey addiction….

 

[Noodle Soup]

It has been 4 or 5 years since i was there but I found a lot of local kitchen knife brands. All very basic and rough finished tools for folks on a limited budget. Kiwi's from Thailand were considered the good stuff among pros.

 

[Draig]

Haha, Vietnamese, like many other East Asian languages, has that feature. But you get used to it in no time.
Wait until you hear about how to address uncles and aunts from different sides of the family.

I'm not aware of any maker from Da Lat, but domestic shipping is quite fast so you should be fine.
Also, beautiful town and not too hot

There's this Facebook group for custom knives.

I look forward to learning more of it for sure!

That's good to hear about the shipping!

My girlfriend spoke very highly of Da Lat in the past as well, so I am very excited to get to see it for a first time!

Thank you for the link to the page, I for sure need to check it out!

 

[Delat]

To be honest, I only know Wanchana from Thailand, but he's quite refined.

I assume the knife scene in Indonesia and Thailand is much better since any makers can ship their knives internationally. Vietnamese makers doesn't have that luxury.
Only "Dao Vua" seems to be able to export but they do it in quite large shipment.

Have you ever tried a Wanchana? I’ve been following him on Instagram for while - his stuff looks nice (although the cladding sometimes runs all the way down to the edge which worries me) but I’ve never seen any reviews.

 

[Noodle Soup]

I look forward to learning more of it for sure!

That's good to hear about the shipping!

My girlfriend spoke very highly of Da Lat in the past as well, so I am very excited to get to see it for a first time!

Thank you for the link to the page, I for sure need to check it out!

From my one experience, stay away from the local wine they produce in Da Lat. Totally terrible foot wash. I was given a bottle up in Hanoi. Drank about half of it to be polite but left the rest to the boat crew i was with. They couldn't understand that at all.
In the bad old days Da Lat was home for one of the Ranger platoons in my company, not mine. They seemed to think very highly of it from a G.I. prospective.

 

[Draig]

Ha! That sounds horrid! Perhaps it's a good thing I don't drink. Thank you for the tip!

Didn't realize anyone got stationed out there, that's a pretty neat bit of history I didn't expect to hear today.

 

[Noodle Soup]

Ha! That sounds horrid! Perhaps it's a good thing I don't drink. Thank you for the tip!

Didn't realize anyone got stationed out there, that's a pretty neat bit of history I didn't expect to hear today.

Oh we were there and a bunch of other places out near the Cambodian border.

 

[Draig]

Oh we were there and a bunch of other places out near the Cambodian border.

Were things bad around the Cambodian border? My girlfriend told me we'd not be going around it for safety reasons.

 

[Noodle Soup]

Were things bad around the Cambodian border? My girlfriend told me we'd not be going around it for safety reasons.

I'm talking about 68-69. And yes things were bad out on the Cambodian border. Ever hear of the Ho Chi Minh trail? Several branches entered Viet Nam in that area.

 

[tri.ngm]

Have you ever tried a Wanchana? I’ve been following him on Instagram for while - his stuff looks nice (although the cladding sometimes runs all the way down to the edge which worries me) but I’ve never seen any reviews.

Yes, I tried his knife.
It was good and affordable.
I gave my 2 cents in this post (others also chimed in).