Forging in Luang Prabang

A year ago almost to the day I took my first forging class in Luang Prabang. I went there to take photos of the colorful end of Buddhist Lent activities but found myself more interested in a sign on the side of the road about a forging class. I've been watching a lot of the american TV show, "Forged in Fire," and I've found knife making and metal working to be a really fascinating pre-modern look into humanities nature to create and reshape. The class was in a small village outside of the old city and it was cool![forged in fire luang prabang.jpg] to see the relationship of master and apprentice. The master told me that he is one of the last people in the area to make knives and he worries that traditional Laos smithing may die out.
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The picture attached here is two apprentices taking turns hammering an old car part into a small knife.