Northern Myanmar's Sustainable Swordsmith

The Local Legend of Shan-ni Country

Soe Khaing polishes one of his blades freshly imprinted with a dragon design.

Walk into any hardware store or sword shop in southern Kachin State and you’ll find intricately designed and shiny blades stamped with the name “Soe.” This is the work of Soe Khaing—a third generation Shan-ni swordsmith near Indawgyi Lake who uses recovered metal from derelict bus frames to shape his high quality blades. Yet for such a popular brand, he’s a hard man to find.

Putting a Face to the Name

Despite being in Kachin State, the surrounding lowlands make up the heartland of the Shan-ni people - an ethnic group native to northern Myanmar comprising of at least over 100,000 speakers. According to their 1901 book named Burma, Max and Martha Ferrars observe that the Shan are commonly known to be “the best metallurgists north of the [Malay] Peninsula” (p. 145). Among other skills, this includes that they are master swordsmiths. They forge designs from simple machetes all the way to decorative sabres imprinted with dragons running along the spine. For Soe Khaing, he follows in this tradition in an inherently sustainable way.

The local legend, Soe Khaing, wields a saber etched with his brand name “Soe”.

Soe Khaing’s shop quietly sits in Nyaung Gone, a village on the outskirts of the ancient Shan-ni town of Mohnyin. Of all the sword shops in the town center, only one shop owner knows him personally and is able to lead us by motorbike to the family workshop. Soe Khaing welcomes us and invites everyone into a small bamboo and thatch structure for some tea. His operation also connects to his home, where he and his wife live together with their children and extended family. It’s from here that he begins to tell his story.

A Third-Generation Operation

Now 40 years old, Soe Khaing follows in a family business that first began with his grandfather. Shan-style blacksmith and sword-making techniques were passed down to his father before he started to learn as an adolescent. He now supports an operation with five employees and a supply chain that extends all the way from the northern capital of Myitkyina to the southern coastal city of Dawei. This type of demand for products coming out of a workshop in small town Kachin State is a testament to his adaptability as a craftsman. “We can make any kind of design from traditional Shan-ni to Japanese styles” he claims while showing a variety of different knives in his shop. The Shan design is a single-edge sword with a somewhat boxy shape and a slight curve while other styles vary from double-edge blades to highly stylized and curved sabers. Whatever the client wants, Soe Khaing can make it with precision. He has received custom orders from as far away as Thailand and China, but there is a secret few people know about his product: each sword is crafted almost entirely of recycled materials.

Now a brand new sword, each part of it has been recycled from old objects.

Sustainable Swords

From the shiny metal to the colorful handles, Soe Khaing’s blades feature upcycled objects melded together in clever ways. This practice was also passed down from his elders. The steel for each design originates from old bus and car parts he buys at the local scrapyard. He then melts down these pieces and reshapes them into slivers of metal ready for further processing. Suppliers specify the style and quantity of swords they want before he and his workers move to the next step.

While the hilt connects to the blade as one continuous cut of steel, Soe Khaing inlays a unique and colorful grip for most of his swords. This too repurposes old parts. He first pierces ten or more small rubber squares onto the metal grip and caps it off with a metal stud. The grip design, sometimes one solid color and other times a spontaneous mix of color, is then smoothed down and sealed together with a transparent glue. The final appearance is eye-catching and stands out when compared to others on the market.

The final touch for every sword is a colorful in-house specialty made from recycled rubber pieces.

 All swords ultimately require a matching sheath. This step involves reused PVC pipe wrapped and stylized with polyester string before painting a shiny black coat of lacquer. Sometimes his clients custom order designs with wood detailing for which he shapes high-quality pieces of teak that grows naturally in the northern reaches of Myanmar. Truly a product of reliability, Soe Khaing’s brand has long relied on materials that are always within reach.

The Next Iteration of Sustainability

While it is becoming trendy in the rest of the world to “upcycle” old materials and live sustainably, the Soe Khaing brand has been doing this for decades. Intended or not, each generation of his family has brought in novel ideas to make an enduring and sustainable product. His three children, who he believes will carry on this Shan-ni tradition, are coming up at a time when both Myanmar and the world are ever more conscious of global warming and the need to take care of the environment. His workshop serves as a model for businesses by illustrating that they can be more successful and efficient by localizing and recycling raw materials. Ancient traditions can meet modern demands, a reality Soe Khaing and his three children are all too familiar with.