Ly Nhan forging village

Ly Nhan commune is situated in the northwest of Vinh Tuong district, Vinh Phuc province. The commune has 282.6ha in terms of natural land and 141.7ha in terms of cultivating land. It is adjacent to  Phu Thinh in the north and AnTuong in the south and ThuongTrung in the east and in the west , a Red river’s branch next to Minh Chau commune belong to Ba Vi district, Ha Tay province. Ly Nhan consists of 3 hamlets: Ban Mach, Van Giang and Van Ha. Only Ban mach is located inside the Central dam, while the other 2 hamlets are outside of it. Here the forge exists for a long time.

There are many people who wasted their strength to know when the forge in Ban Mach started?But up to date, there have been no correct answers. Ban Mach’s people tell each other that: in the past, its land was rich and convenient to the expansion of farming. But at that time, farming tools were simple and villagers were not devoted in the work, which led to the denuded and desolate village. One day, a duke came to the village for a visit and foud that this land could be developed. He determined to recruite skilled blacksmiths to teach villagers a new trade. The forge in Ban Mach was established since then. Initially, people created working tools for agricultura production. Gradually, when the forge village’s quintessence was known in the imperial city, Ban Mach artisants were assigned to forge weapons serving the feudal wars. Since then, Ban Mach’s forged products have become popular with consumers everywhere.  

Many consumers are fond of Ly Nhan’s forged products because of not only its long-standing history and trademark but also their quality. A knife made by people in Ban Mach hamlet can be used until it wears flat towards its edge without losing its sharpness. Experienced blacksmiths just look at its iron water, then they will say the product are Ly Nhan’s or not. The blacksmiths who are clear distinct can identify which establishment the product belongs to because each establishment has its own key. Those are keys handed down from generation to generation without being taught in any books. Mr Tran Van Hung- a skilled craftsman with 40 years of experience in Ban Mach hamlet revealed that: in order to create a product, the blacksmith must implement many complicated processes and operations. At first, he must select a type of steel that is solid enough for each kind of product. After choosing a suitable steel is to weld, burn and chop the steel. This process help types of steels connect to each other to form a shape of a product. Then Followed by the process of chiseling, whetting, forging and completing products. In order to get a good product, the craftsman need to implement exactly from selecting steels to fitting handles. However, the process giving soul to the product is to chop and burn steel.(called tempering and welding iron in terms of technique). Each establishment and each blacksmith have their own way to temper and weld steels. Experienced craftsmen just see burning fires in the furnace or hear sound of whetting and then they will know that product is finished or not. Therefore, it takes only 2 years for an apprentice to manufacture a product while it may take his whole life to forge a good product but sometime nothing got. Moreover, only craftsman who has a heart in the blacksmith can keep the craft. There were products which were tempered and forged for 10 times by Mr Hung and took him months to create good ones. 

Ly Nhan now becomes a mechanical arsenal with full of vitality. People can see flaming furnaces, hear uproarious sound of blowing fires on bellows, of hammers and whetting metals everywhere.To keep the traditional blacksmith and help it to stand firmly until now, Ly Nhan’s blacksmith has gone through a lot of ups and downs. Especially in the period of subsidization, the nation’s economy met many difficulties, the traditional forge seemed to be neglected. There existed a period when the village had to ruin furnaces, suspend bellows and villagers got rid of the occupation and left the homes to go to other places to seek for work. Only hearted people kept furnaces, forge several knives, hoes in order not to forget the craft. Thanks to such people, the forge is still alive nowadays. 

At present, Ban Mach’s forge village built up a production area separated from the residential quarter with an aim of avoiding noises and ensuring indices in environmental protection. This area has 30 households with more than 100 workers. Many big machines are also concentrated in this area including 7 grinding machines, 33 hammer machines, 10 battering machines of different kinds…Each day this area can supply tens of thousands of products of high quality and bring high incomes and generate jobs for most of its local workforce. These finished products are not simply ones made by machines. They remain to keep the core and quintessence of the traditional blacksmith. They stil have firm position in the market and obtain consumers’belief and make the trademark of Ly Nhan’s forge village become more well-known and strong