How Thai Blacksmiths make Machetes Quenched in Oil

A Thai Blacksmith making traditional machetes quenched in oil. Quenching is the process of rapidly cooling hot metal in water or oil, this hardens and strengthens the steel. The blacksmithing and knife making techniques used are similar to our previous video but this blacksmith is using modern machinery wherever possible. It is great to see the traditional insect resin method being used despite the availability of modern glues and electric power tools. In the translation from Thai to English there was a misunderstanding about where the resin comes from. Bush Channel has now learnt through the comments of one of our subscribers that this resin is secreted from lac insects. It takes thousands of these tiny insects to create one kilo of stick lac.

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Interesting video about lac insect resin ►    • Shellac Origins and Manufacture  

TIME STAMPS ►
0:20 Japanese bellows machine
0:29 quenching in oil
1:22 inside the furnace
2:12 grinding begins
4:33 carving the bamboo knife handle
6:10 drilling the tang hole in handle
12:56 inside the bag of stick lac resin
13:58 Outro

See the following links for more blacksmiths and knife making videos at Bush Channel.

Thai machetes made without Power tools ►    • How Blacksmiths make Traditional Thai Mach...  

Thai Swords & Survival Knives VIDEO ►    • How Blacksmiths make Swords & Survival Kni...  

Buffalo Horn Machete Handles ►    • How Blacksmiths make Buffalo Horn Machete ...  

Malaysian Parang makers ►    • How blacksmiths make parang machetes in Ma...  


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Bush Channel Cartoon artwork by Gerald Carr