Chop Kwan Yuan Loong, Blacksmith in Perak

On a trip to the Ulu Muda forest reserve in Kedah, I saw the guide and all the other workers having a parang, either strapped to the waistbelt or kept in the bag. A couple who were also guest at the resort also have a pair!!! One for each of them, husband and wife. I took a look at all their parangs, the couple had a pair of the longest parangs there about 50cm long!!! whatever for, I asked them. the wife said that her husband insisted that she carrys one for personal protection. Against? Well anyway most of them are made by different blacksmaiths. They all had their logo stamped onto the knives. The sharpness and the quality of one stood out. It had a "Bidor" and a pair of crossed swords stamped onto it. I saw the owner wielding it and it cuts smoothly. All the other seem to be just as sharp, but they did not seem to be of the same quality.

On the way out from the forest, we stopped at a hardware shop and bought a chopper of the same brand. and a parang of another. The one with the Bidor logo that is similar to the one I saw in the forest stood out. With this chopper, I was able to chop down a 10 cm diameter bamboo with 3 swings. On this chopper a sticker with the name of the company wasalso pasted on it. It says "Chop Kwang Yuan Loong" with an address that is in a light industry park at Bidor in Perak.

My curiousity got into me so I went to Bidor to locate this particular blacksmith. Looking for the blacksmith was easy. Bidor is a small town. Upon reaching Bidor, we stopped for lunch. I asked 2 people if they know where to find blacksmiths in Bidor. The first guy said he is from Kuala Lumpur, and the second, the waitress did not have a clue at all. While having lunch, I turned to a gentleman sitting near my table and asked. He said "Go straight and you will see it there already, or you ask somebody at the road junction ahead and they will tell you." After lunch, we drove straight in the pointed direction and on reaching the road junction, a signboard shows the direction toward the "Light Industrial Park". Bidor is a small town and there are only 2 blacksmiths there, and they are both in the light industrial park. Once we reached the park, there was another signboard showing the direction a blacksmith, but it was not the one we were looking for. We followed it anyway, and just before reaching that blacksmith, we saw a Chop Kwang Yuan Loong signboard. We followed it and got to the factory.

Chop Kwan Yuan Loon was set up by a Mr Chen Kou (apparent a nickname) more than 70 years ago. It is now in the hand of the 2 sons of Chen Kou. The older son is more than 70 years old and the management of the business is in the hand of Mr Foo, the son in law of the elder son. The two brothers are still the main people producing the knives. When asked about the age of the business, the younger brother said, more than 70 years "because my brother is already more than 70 years old, and my father started it before my brother was born.)

Together with his younger brother, these 2 gentlemen produce one of the best brand of knives and parangs in Malaysia. Their logo are often being imitated. I have 2 chopper bought from 2 different manufacturer, both will sharpen to the same sharpness, the one sold by this company remains sharp after a few round of chopping and cutting. The sharpness of the other manufacturer did not hold up. I needed to sharpen it more often, though the usage is about the same.

Most blacksmiths around Asia use used spring metals. Those commonly used in cars' suspension or the few pieces of stacked metal forming a spring that you see under lorries. The blacksmiths in Kinmeng (Taiwan) use unexploded bomb casing to produce knives. I know one in Indonesia uses the tie pins that are used to secure railway track onto the Chop Kwong Yuan Loong uses only brand new "spring metal" bought from a supplier in Singapore. They come in strips. Which is better, brand new "spring" quality metal or old springs used as cars suspension. I guess they are the same.

The knives are produced using the standard procedure used by blacksmiths all over the world.

Namely:

1. Cutting
2. Heating and tempering to soften the metal.
3. Bending it to shape
4. Heating and then forging and then angling the blade.
5. Sharpening the blade
6. Heating and tempering the blade.

These steps are standard procedures. Here a worker cut and shape raw metal to the shape of the knives to be produced. This gentleman also uses the furnance to heat up the steel and then shape it to the required shape. After shaping he just let the raw knives sit on the floor to cool. He did not soak in into water like you see in knives making documentary or movies. This process of not soaking is crucial. It actually soften the very hard steel so that the next few steps are easier.

The raw shape is then sent to the older brother to be forged into a consistant shape. He also forged the blade here to the required angle using a hydraulic hammer. By the way, hydraulic hammers are used here.

It is the same tampering work here, the raw metals are not soaked too lower the temperature fast. This slow cooling process soften the steel. After this, they are sent to the next guy who grinds the blade to the required sharpness.

The softness of the metal made it easier for him to sharpen the blade. Imagine how hard it will be for this guy to sharpen the blade if it had been hardened. After this process, most of the blades will be ready for tampering again and hardening.

For the more refined tools like the rubber tapper's knives, they are sent to another guy to smoothly hone the blade to it refined finished. All the blades then go through a few tempering process of hardening. They are heated up to a certain temperature and quickly soaked in water or oil to the required hardness. I asked the younger brother who is in charge ofthis process, what temperature does he heat it up to and how does he know that it is hard enough, because I saw him heating the blade, cool it and then reheat again. And on some he heated it up, cool it in oil, looked at it, passed and go on to the next one. So when I asked him how does he know if it is hard enough to pass the grade by just looking at it, his answer was "experience!" I believe him.

Most good knives are made of either stainless steel or carbon steel. Today, most household uses stainless steel knives. The reason being that it will not rust and contaminate the food. I personally prefer to use carbon steel knives. To get a stainless steel knife that has the same sharpness and "edge holding" quality as a good carbon steel knife will probably cost 10 times more. For example you can get a very good sharp cleaver for S$20 in Malaysia, but you cannot get a good stainless steel knife for less than S$200 in Singapore. Even then, though I have a few expensive stainless steel knives, they are never as good as the carbon steel "will rust" type. By the way, you can forget about buying a good steel knife in Singapore, they are hardly available or are very expensive. The same quality cleaver that is used by butchers in Singapore cost S$200 and above. They are either made in China, available for less that S$10 in China or made in Malaysia, Perak again, and they are available in Malaysia for about RM50. Good quality butcher cleavers also cost less than S$20 in Thailand. I bought a very sharp and good quality fillet knife at the fish market in Seoul, Korea, for only 13,000 korean won (about S$15) and it hold it sharpness very well. If used every day, I only need to resharpen once a forthnight compared to a stainless steel one that I have to sharpen every other day. Carbon Steel knives need to be oiled and lightly heated to get rid of the water moisture to prevent rusting. Once this is done the knives will not rust so easily. You can never prevent rusting once the raw metal is exposed. Oiling it only helps prevent the rusting, but does not prevent rusting.