What does Seki City, Mora , Solingen, Ayuthaya and Pekan Darat have in common? If you are into knives, Seki City  and Solingen will definitely pop up. These knife cities are well known and it was much of a surprise for me to know that Malaysia itself has it’s own knife city located in Pekan Darat,  Penang.

I visited Pekan darat about 2 years back after hearing about it from visiting the  Kraftangan office. It was not too far away but I’m not too familiar with the mainland part of Penang, so it did take some searching and asking around.

Pekan Darat is a small township in the middle of paddy fields, well known for the knife / metal smithing industry. Pekan Darat ( literally – Land town ) used to be famous at one point for it’s barter trading system, but that used to be a long time ago. Metal smithing was believed to have started there in the 16th century and the original Blacksmiths were brought in by the then Sultan of Kedah , to equip his men with proper fighting tools. At that time, there was war going on against the British who were in Penang , as well as the Thais ( Kedah – Thai War ) .

Once the war ended and peace regained, the need to make weapons decreased and the blacksmiths had to look at other products to keep their livelihood. This is when they started making knives, Parangs, Goloks, kacip , sickles, rubbber tapping knives and other agricultural tools.

Sadly, most of the blacksmiths now have passed on , or are too old to work. The younger generation seem to have passed this tradition and prefer to work in the factories for more secure and lucrative jobs. When I was there, I did meet one who was making some parang sheaths . He said he made them according to clients request only , and works when he feels like it.

Sad, but that is the state of the industry now.