Located about 30 km from Cao Bang City, Phuc Sen commune is not only a peaceful village nestled amidst towering mountains, but also a renowned "knife-making village" throughout the Northeast region. For hundreds of years, the people here have been intimately connected to the furnace, iron hammer, and red-hot steel bars, forging sharp, durable knives to serve the production and daily life of the mountain people.
The sound of hammers and anvils echoed crisply in the quiet atmosphere of the knife-making workshop in Phuc Sen.
The craft of knife forging in Phuc Sen is mostly passed down from generation to generation by the Nung An ethnic group. Without modern machinery, everything is done manually with skill and long-accumulated experience. Each knife, sickle, machete, etc., forged is not simply a tool but also embodies the spirit, culture, and pride of the community.
The people of Phuc Sen choose steel from old car springs as their raw material – a "discarded waste product" – but through the diligent hands of their blacksmiths, it is given a new lease of life. The knife-making process involves many meticulous steps: heating, forging, stamping, grinding, and assembling the handle... Each step requires patience, precision, and a keen sense of fire and steel. Some blacksmiths don't need watches or thermometers; they can tell when it's time to forge the knife to achieve the desired hardness and ductility just by looking at the glowing embers.
The grinding process requires skillful craftsmanship from the worker.
What's special about Phuc Sen is that almost every house has a blacksmith's forge. The rhythmic sound of hammers echoes throughout the day, creating a unique symphony of labor, where the sounds of iron and steel blend with the chirping of forest birds, the flowing streams, and the simple, everyday stories of the highland people.
Nowadays, despite the increasing modernization of society and the decline of many traditional crafts, the knife-making craft in Phuc Sen continues to thrive, even flourishing thanks to tourism and e-commerce. Phuc Sen knives are not only sold within the province but also throughout the northern and central mountainous regions, and even to China and Laos. Some artisans even accept custom orders for knives.
Besides knives, many products for farming and foraging in the forest are also produced here.
Most tourists who visit choose to buy products for home use.
Visiting Phuc Sen, tourists can witness firsthand the traditional knife-making process and immerse themselves in the unique lifestyle of the Nung An people. The gentle smiles by the glowing furnace and the stories about the ancestral craft, told with pride, all contribute to making Phuc Sen a very unique and beautiful place in the hearts of visitors from near and far.
Knife-making in Phuc Sen is not just a livelihood, but also a "living heritage," where the spirit of hard work, cultural identity, and love for the homeland are preserved through every hammer blow and every piece of red-hot steel. Amidst the modern pace of life, the sound of the forging hammer still resonates here, reminding us that there is a village on the border that is keeping the flame of this traditional craft alive every day.
Performed by Hoang Vu
Source: https://baocamau.vn/thanh-am-thep-ren-giua-dai-ngan-a39547.html
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