Pakistan, Page 5

The tradition of making knives and weapons from steel in Pakistan dates back to the early Iron Age, roughly a thousand years BC. At that time, blacksmiths struggled mainly to achieve the high temperatures needed to smelt metals, whereas today they are mainly faced with a shortage of quality ore and materials for production. The country's products come mostly from knifemakers who supply their handmade knives to associations of manufacturing cooperatives that supply them to foreign markets. These blacksmiths have great experience and skilled hands, and work mostly with ordinary standard steel, which is supplied by the production cooperatives. The low purchase price and often attractive design is a strong point of knives and blades from Pakistan, and the very rustic and raw workmanship is often the main hallmark of knives from this distant Asian blacksmithing power.