What is the pchak knife for? Uzbek handmade knife: photo. Hand to hand

Talking about Uzbekistan, I cannot but tell about the Uzbek national knife - pchak. Pchak or pechak (Uzbek. Pichoq - "knife") is the national knife of the Central Asian peoples - Uzbeks and Uighurs. Traditionally, it has a straight wide blade made of wedge-shaped cross-section with one side sharpening, sometimes with a narrow fuller along the butt. A thin round handle is attached at the level of the butt, slightly widens towards the head, sometimes ends in a beak-shaped pommel. It can be made of horn, bone or wood, and also inlaid from colored stone. Pchak is worn in a wide, straight leather sheath. Distributed throughout Central Asia with slight differences in ornament and proportions.

In Uzbekistan, they are made mainly in the eastern and central parts of the country - in Khiva there were no longer such knives, only imported ones. In Bukhara, in the very center of the city, there are several workshops where pchaks are made, but the prices here are somehow exorbitant, apparently calculated for tourists who come for the day.

Workshop tools

The main blank for the knife is a car valve, but it is also made from some kind of cheap stainless steel, but it is carbon steel knives that are most valued. There is better steel, there is Damascus, but the prices for such knives are appropriate.

After forging, the knives are made of fiberglass, plexiglass, metal, horn, bone, and then roughly sharpened on a grinding wheel

After polishing, they are often painted or written on.

I still don't understand why the knife is covered with a thin layer of hot paraffin (?)

They let him cool down

Apparently in order to then draw a sketch with a special brush, which in the future will be a drawing or inscription

The final sharpening is done on such a sharpening stone.

Sometimes, at the request of the client, a dedication is applied

Workshop

Well, the knives themselves

I bought myself this one in Tashkent at the market - an excellent knife on the farm! Sharpening on the fork

Each nation, depending on the characteristic geographical, climatic and socio-cultural conditions of life, adopted and received the greatest use of its own type of knife, which has distinctive features from similar tools of other nations. These include national uzbek knife "pchak"... Appearing, according to various sources, among the Central Asian peoples at the turn of the 14-15th centuries, it has retained its shape to this day practically unchanged.

General description of the Uzbek knife "pchak"

The name of the product comes from the Uzbek word "pechak", which means "knife" directly. Pchak knives distributed throughout Central Asia with minor differences in proportions and finishes. Their characteristic features are a wide straight blade with one-sided sharpening and a thin (already the blade) handle, which is attached flush with the butt.

The knife blade can be up to 50 mm wide. Its length is usually 16-22 cm. The section of the metal part is wedge-shaped, tapering from the butt to the blade. From the handle to the tip, the thickness of the knife gradually decreases: from 4-5 mm to zero. The slopes are most often straight, less often convex or concave. This geometry provides the product with excellent cutting properties.

Traditionally, carbon steel is used to make the blade. As a result of bluing with iron vitriol, ferric chloride, or local types of clay, the metal surface acquires a specific dark color with a bluish or yellowish tint. Often, blades are hardened, decorated with engraving or embossed stamps. It does uzbek knife not only a necessary element of everyday life, but also distinguishes it as an object that characterizes the culture and life of an entire people.

The history of the spread of knives "pchak" since the times of the USSR

During the Soviet Union uzbek knives pchak could be found in the European part of the country in single copies, brought as souvenirs from tourist trips or expeditions in Central Asia. The most widespread were the products of the only knife factory in Uzbekistan in the city of Chust. Today pchak knives are made in semi-handicraft industries. Most of them are produced by the masters of the city of Shakhrikhan of the Andijan region. There is a whole craft district where dynasties of blacksmiths and cutters work.

Regular deliveries national uzbek knives to Russia began to occur by the end of the 90s of the last century. There is an opportunity to purchase them in retail trade: in specialized stores and shops of oriental culinary. At the same time, specialized online stores, guided by the increased demand, began to offer for sale pchak knives: their Photo have replenished many electronic catalogs. Nowadays, not factory stamped products are in special demand, but products of specific craftsmen. Works of authorship are marked with engraved emblems of the manufacturer do-it-yourself knife, depicting stars and a crescent moon in Islamic traditions.

Popular types of knives "pchak": Sharkhon and Old Bukhara

On practice uzbek knife pchak intended for household needs: cutting meat products, cleaning and cutting vegetables. Depending on the type of operations performed, knives of various shapes are used. Therefore, for completeness of the collection, it makes sense to purchase the main types of uzbek knives the most common forms:

kayke - with the edge of the blade raised up;
tugri - with a straight blade and an even butt;
kushkamalak - with a double fuller along the butt.

The most versatile in use are samples with a blade length over 14 cm. Such models are called "sharhon". It is very convenient for them to make professional cutting of various products: without knocking on the cutting board, but in a push-pull manner, as on video culinary forums.

Along with the most popular Chust and the most widespread Andijan (Shakhrikhan) bees, in Internet catalogs one can find varieties called "Old Bukhara". Their characteristic feature is an arcuate curved blade, evenly tapering towards the point. Their second frequently used name is "Afghan women".

National traditions of decorating "pchaka" gift samples

For souvenirs and collectibles, it is preferable to choose from piece items from renowned craftsmen. Everyone is like that pchak knife, Photo which can be seen on thematic sites and forums, acts as a masterpiece of a particular master. At the same time, individually made knives go through all the necessary stages of hardening and sharpening, allowing them to be used in practice.

In addition to providing practical functions, gift items are finished in the best traditions of oriental flavor. To a large extent, this refers to the decoration of the handle, which has uzbek knives rather narrow in section, with a characteristic beak-like bend at the end. Valuable specimens are made from various types of wood, ungulate horns or metal. Often they are encrusted with mother-of-pearl or semi-precious stones.

Knife sharpening and maintenance rules

The master sharpens during the manufacture do-it-yourself Uzbek knife pchak on a corundum wheel. The end of the sharpening is determined by the tonality of the sound that makes pchak knife, a video the network can demonstrate this clearly. To correct the sharpness of the blade from time to time, you can simply on the bottom of the ceramic plate.

Corroded, blade metal requires careful handling. Do not leave the knives wet after use. They should be stored suspended or on a stand and wiped dry.

Let's start simple. These photographs show a knife, which any person who is somehow interested in knives or who has been in Central Asia will call "PCHAK", or, in Uzbek, "PICHOK". The appearance of the pchak is original and easily recognizable.

This is the most common pchak with a kayke blade. Such a blade implies raising the point above the butt line by 3-8 mm. The more advanced and inquisitive people will say that this is “Andijan Pchak”.

Someone else will add: "Sharhon".

The pchak blade itself is traditionally forged from carbon steel (in ancient times, broken weapons or ingots of iron from India were used, from the 19th century to the 20th century, automobile springs, bearing races and other improvised materials were used, nowadays, bars of factory steel of the ShKh type are most often used -15, U12, 65G or cheap fittings from St3).

In Uzbekistan, they still say: "A carbon fiber pichok is for work, a stainless steel one is for decoration!"

If the blade is made of high-carbon tool steel (U12) or bearing (ШХ15) steels (which makes it possible to obtain a better product), then St3 shanks are usually welded to it, which is noticeable in the form of a triangle near the pchak handle.

By the way, many Japanese and Russian masters do the same, for example, G.K. Prokopenkov. This is due to the fact that U12 and ShKh15 have low impact toughness and strength, and if the blade with the shank is forged from a single piece of steel, there is a high probability of the blade breaking in the neck area, for example, when falling.

The length of the blade is usually 16-22 cm, the thickness always decreases in a wedge-shaped manner from the handle to the point, and at the handle it can be 4-5 mm. In cross-section, the blade of the pchak also narrows wedge-shaped from the butt to the blade. The slopes are usually straight, rarely convex or concave-lenticular. The blade width can be up to 50 mm. All this together gives a good knife geometry and ensures an efficient cut of any foodstuff.

As already mentioned, carbon steel is used on pchak, from what is at hand, hardening (as a rule, zone - only at the cutting edge) is usually carried out up to 50-52 Rockwell units, less often up to 54-56 and then only in recent times. On the one hand, the hardness of 50-54 units does not give a long retention of the sharpness of the cutting edge, but it allows you to edit such a knife on anything (usually the bottom of a ceramic bowl is used, but there are also special stones of a traditional shape for editing beetles and scissors), which, of course is a big plus. But in this case, the knife quickly grinds and turns almost into an awl, so you have to buy a new one. Although the cost of pchaks (not souvenir) has always been small.

Recently, more and more often there are pchakas made of SHH-15 steel, which can be hardened up to 60 units of Rockwell, which we see on some blades.

Such hard blades are made specifically for the Russian and Ukrainian market in order to compete with Japanese kitchen knives. From my point of view, such hardness is not very justified, because the pchakas have a very fine reduction and working with such knives requires certain skills and special technique, otherwise the blade will crumble and break (similar to Japanese kitchen workers).

On the other hand, it makes no sense to heat the ShKh-15 up to 50-52 units (the norm for a pchak) - just a translation of good-quality material.

The surface of carbon steel blades is usually oxidized (blackened), immersed in a solution of Naukat clay (traditionally), ferrous sulfate or ferric chloride, which makes the blade dark gray with a blue or yellow tint, and is decorated with a fuller ("komalak" if there is only one dol, it will certainly be from the side of the tamga), an embossed stamp ("tamga") or engraving. Embossed indentations are cast in brass; a hardening zone is often visible on carbon blades.

The names of the parts of the pchak are presented below:

"GULBAND", or bolster, is cast from low-melting tin or tin-lead alloys, brazed from sheet brass or cupronickel and poured with tin or its alloy. Note that the use of lead in cooking is not good, and it is advisable not to use knives with lead (or, at least, to varnish). You can distinguish lead by trying it with a soldering iron (lead melts worse), it oxidizes strongly, acquiring a dark gray tint, gets dirty (like newsprint). It seems to me personally that the use of lead and alloys is the cost of the easy availability of old car batteries and babbitts from bearings.

The gulband is decorated with engraving (traditionally - the Uzbek floral ornament "islimi"), often with filling the recesses with enamel paint (black, red, green), as well as inserts of mother-of-pearl ("sadaf"), turquoise or rhinestones.

"BRINCH" - a strip of sheet brass or cupronickel, up to one millimeter thick, soldered along the perimeter of the shank during the overhead mounting of the handle ("erma dosta"). The handle plates are riveted onto the brinch, decorated with engraving and decorative oxidation. Note that usually the brinch protrudes 1-2 mm beyond the shank, and an air gap remains between the linings and the shank.

The meaning of this action is not very clear, except to save the material of the overlays when using expensive material (for example, ivory). Perhaps this design makes it possible to damp the stresses in the handle, because the same installation is traditionally used in the handles of Central Asian sabers (filling the air cavities with mastic).

"CHAKMOK" or pommel.

A specially made and decorated pommel is used on expensive pchakas for overhead mounting ("erma dosta"), in the form of metal clamps, or mounted mounting of handles ("sukma dosta") from a hollow horn, in this case it is performed by soldering from cupronickel, brass.

Decorate with engraving, sadaf, rhinestones.

On inexpensive pchaks, chakmok is designated by changing the cross-section of the handle (from rounded to rectangular) and / or the presence of a beak-like protrusion.

"DOSTA" - black, handle.

Local wood (apricot, plane tree), textolite, plexiglass, bones, horns are used for manufacturing, they are brazed from sheet metal (cupronickel, brass)

Wood, textolite and bone are usually not decorated, colored "eyes" and wire are inserted into plexiglass, the horn is decorated with decorative carnations, inserts from sadaf or rhinestones, metal handles are engraved, usually in the form of a plant, floral ("chilmikh guli") ornament with adding rhinestones.

Handle cut with surface-mounted mounting ("Erma dosta") usually has the same thickness in both gulband and chakmok, less often it thickens towards chakmok. Often, the thickness of such a handle exceeds its width - this is convenient for the traditional cutting of vegetables when cooking Uzbek dishes: pilaf, "chuchuk" or "shakarob" salads.

"TAMGA" - brand

As a rule, every master ("usto"), who produces any product (especially knives), uses a shop mark (tamga).

For Uzbek masters, a crescent moon (as a symbol of faith) is common in the center of the tamga, stars are often used (they say that their number used to denote the number of children-heirs or students who became masters) and the symbol of cotton.

Anything can be found on modern brands - even an image of a car.

It should be noted that at present one cannot completely rely on the tamga to identify the master. I saw a tamga that is used by at least four different masters (although, maybe, one does, but different people sell on their behalf).

As with any household knife, a scabbard is relied on to the pchak. As a rule, they do not differ in good materials and workmanship. Today it is usually imitation leather with cardboard inserts, sometimes decorated with appliqué and imitation of beads.

More expensive pchakas may have a leather sheath, decorated with embossing or weaving from a leather cord.

Rarely are metal sheaths (cupronickel, brass) engraved or combined (leather, wood, metal).

At the end of the review of the Andijan Pchak, I will quote from the article by O. Zubov "The Sign of the Master" (magazine "Around the World" No. 11, 1979):

“... Wide, ringing with a black-purple tint, inlaid with red, green, blue and white stones - specks, three stars and a moon shine on the blade - the ancient brand of the Abdullaevs.

This knife is an irreplaceable helper at a meal with friends, an integral part of Uzbek cuisine. "You can cut bread, you can peel potatoes, or you can hang it on the carpet and watch - you can do everything!" - said the master. And after a little pause, he smiled: "But the best thing is to cut a melon!"

Considering the Uzbek pchaks, willy-nilly, one wonders what led to the appearance of just such a blade shape.

The fact is that this form is suitable exclusively for cooking, while the neighboring peoples had a typical knife, which at least somehow could be protected and used for other (non-cook) needs, that is, they were in use all over the world more versatile knives. The Uzbeks also had such knives, but ... only until the 14th century. The exact reason for the emergence of this form is not known, but if we recall that the 14th century is the century of the empire of Timur (Tamerlane), an empire with centralized power and strict laws, then it can be assumed that Timur's officials, or he himself, were somewhat worried about the subordination of the conquered peoples , and, in order to prevent the appearance of edged weapons among the people, they took all the gunsmiths to the shah's smithies, to the capital of the empire, Samarkand, and for the civilian population they forced the craftsmen to make knives with a raised edge.

It is practically impossible to inflict stab wounds with such a knife and, therefore, the danger of an uprising and other "terrorist attacks" decreases.

Let us recall that in the days of another empire, already close to us in time, the pchaks also did not belong to melee weapons precisely because of the shape of the blade and for their manufacture they were not sent to places not so distant. There may be other versions, though. In any case, it turned out to be a very convenient knife for cooking, which quickly gained popularity in Central Asia. It would not be convenient - would not have received such distribution!

In addition to pchaks with a "kayke" blade, there are also pchaks with a "tugri" blade, that is, with a straight butt.

Let's compare the two types of blades: the photo below clearly shows the difference between the "tugri" (top) and "kayke" (bottom) blade

The "tugri" blade has a constant width or decreases towards the point. Convenient for cutting meat, usually included in the butcher's set ("cassob-pichok").

In addition to the already mentioned "Andijan" pchak, you can find the names "Old Bukhara" and "Starokokand".

In "Old Bukhara" the blade evenly tapers to the point, the rise is less pronounced, but the entire blade is often arched, the blade is more specialized for working with meat - skinning, deboning.

It is interesting that to this day narrow Bukhara pchaks are often called "Afghan women", although there is a difference between the ones from Bukhara and Afghanistan - on "Bukhara" rivets they go in one row, and on "Afghan" ones - in a half-envelope.

Also traditionally Bukhara pchaks have a scabbard with a ball or leaf at the end.

"Starokokand" - the blade of this pchak is notable for its small width, it is used, most likely, as an auxiliary one when deboning or peeling vegetables.

You can also find the names "tolbargi" (willow leaf) and "Kazakhcha". These are functional highly specialized knives designed to perform a specific job.

"Tolbargi" - butcher's knife for butchering animal carcasses,

"Kazakhcha" - for cutting fish.

Pchaks "Kazakhcha" were distributed mostly among the inhabitants (fishermen) of the Aral Sea coast, mainly Kazakhs.

The line of the butt of the "Kazakh" forms a smooth notch approximately one third to the point, rising again to the edge, which is on the line of the butt-handle. The recess is sharpened on one or both sides. With a blade of this shape, turning the knife over, it is easy to clean and gut the fish.

The handles of the “tolbarga” and “kazakhcha” are usually made of wood and, as a rule, are not decorated (only the presence of a colored ornament on the gulband is allowed).

Here is a photo of knives by master Mamurzhon Makhmudov from Kokand:

"Tolbargi"

Well, another photo of knives from Tashkent

Photo from the Museum of Applied Arts of Uzbekistan, the selection is called "Tashkent 1985"

The “Uyghur Pchaks” deserve a separate mention.

These are knives from XUAR (Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China). Sometimes the name Yangisar knives is found - the name stuck in the center of production - the city of Yangisar. They also have the "old Bukharian type-Afghan" and "Starokokand", but if you look at the photos, you can see the differences. The better (and more beautiful) manufacturing of the handles and the absence of a cast tin gulband (bolster) are striking, the blade shanks are almost always open, the brinch is not used. But the blades are often roughly processed, or not sharpened at all, tk. the production of Uyghur knives with sharpened blades longer than 200 mm is prohibited by Chinese law!

Starobukharsky. Uyghur masters

Afghan. Uyghur masters.

Starokokand. Uyghur masters.

If the Uzbek pchaks are more specialized in cooking, then the Tajik KORDS are more versatile knives.

The cords are of three typical sizes. The most common (most working) has a length of 14-17 cm, a large knife "Gov kushi" ("cow cutter") is used for slaughtering livestock and has a length of 18-25 cm and the smallest knives (less than 14 cm) are for women.

The blades of traditional cords are powerful, with a thickness of up to 4 mm at the guard (I note that if the thickness of the blade of a knife is more than 2.4 mm, then it can already be considered as a cold weapon and is prohibited for free circulation), lenticular descents from the butt or the middle of the blade width, less often, straight lines (among Uzbek pchaks, as a rule, the opposite is true). The cutting edge is brought out on each knife, depending on the purpose. The butt of a cord blade, usually turned from a finished strip of metal, is straight and parallel, and not wedge-shaped, like a pchak. On the blade, they usually grind one or two on each side, or two on the right and one on the left.

Installation depends on the area of manufacture. In the southeastern mountainous regions, preference is given to mounted installation, and in the western and northern regions, which are closer to Uzbekistan, to overhead mounting. Moreover, the overhead cord installation is somewhat different from that of Pchak: a brazed brinch is not used, and the entire shank is poured around the perimeter with a tin alloy, so the handle on the pchak is lighter, and on the cord it is stronger! In general, the device for cords is only cast, made of tin and its alloys (or silver), the ornament is only engraved and more geometric, radially symmetric, in contrast to the complex vegetable Uzbek “islimi”. The ornament is individual for each master and can replace the brand (cords are traditionally not branded, at least on the blade, on the guard there is a certain ornament or brand)

The overhead handles of the cords are always wider than those of the pchakovs, widen towards the top and have a characteristic notch for the little finger.

Horn, bone, wood, plastic go to the handle of the cord. When mounted or surface mounted, the shank of the cord blade is always full for the entire length of the handle (with the exception of small knives for women in the kitchen).

Photo from the Museum of Applied Arts of Uzbekistan, the selection is called "Khorezm, Khiva. 1958"

I would like to once again dwell on the terminology - pchak, pichok, bull, cord, card.

The fact is that some time ago a knife fell into my hands somewhere in the 17-18 century

Length 310mm, blade length 185mm, butt width 30mm, butt thickness (3.5-2.5-1.5) mm. The purpose of the groove on the butt is not clear to me, except to increase the thickness of the butt, which slightly increases when the groove is stamped. The yellow metal in the ornament is gold. Hardness about 52 units. I was struck by the formation of the blade (as the well-known master - cutter Gennady Prokopenkov put it, “simply - aerobatics!”): - a wedge from the butt with a concave lens, and turning into a teardrop-shaped form a few millimeters (from 3 to 5) from the cutting edge. Of course, this is all - tenths of a millimeter, but everything is visible and palpable. After some persuasion, G.K. Prokopenkov agreed to make me a modern copy, preserving the entire structure of the blade as much as possible.

It turned out like this knife:

It turned out that when working in the kitchen, it surpasses almost all knives I have - both in quality of cut and in ease of work. Well, it's easy to edit with anything (even musat, even ceramics) Although if you chop vegetables for a long time, that is, on a stream, a good chef, apparently, will be more convenient. But for home ...

In addition, its design allows you to cut / trim the stick and protect itself from any evil.

That is, we got an excellent all-rounder.

Naturally, the question arose about the type of knife. There were two options - card or pchak. The cord was not considered for obvious reasons. According to the materials of the Internet and, in particular, the RusKnife conference, the Bukhara knife turned out to be the closest.

Knife from Bukhara. Museum of Artillery, Engineering Troops and Signal Corps. Exhibition "Weapons of the East of the 16-19 centuries"

Note that the "museum" exhibit is simply named - "Knife from Bukhara"

Further searches led to the following photographs:

Pchak is old. Bukhara

Pchak. Bukhara.

Bukhara card

Pchak Bukhara with turquoise

Pchak Afghanistan

Persian Card

Note that in the last photo the knife (Persian card) has an armor-piercing thickening on the tip.

Thus, it seems that it is not possible to determine the exact type of my knife.

From the point of view of collectors and connoisseurs of cold steel, the card is a knife created primarily for military purposes: in appearance it gravitates more towards the stylet and its edge, as a rule, is strengthened.

So I believe that I have a pchak. Tugri-pchak is most likely of Bukhara origin.

However, I am most impressed by the position of Marat Suleimanov, who claims that kard, cord and pchak are not brands at all, but simply the names of one product - a knife - in different languages (“pechak” - in Tatar, “pichok” - Uzbek, "pshah" - in Azerbaijani, "kord" - in Tajik, "kard" - in Persian. Card and Kord are similar in sound, since Tajiks and Persians (Iranians) belong to the same language group, Uzbeks, Tatars, Azerbaijanis - to another, Turkic)

There is also a "bychak" - a Karachai knife (see the article "Bychak - a knife of every Karachai" on this site), but the Karachais and their closest relatives - the Balkars, as you know, are also Turkic-speaking peoples.

There are also knives of the Turkmen-Saryks (photo from Rusknife)

Thus, without touching on military topics, it is probably the most correct to say:

National Uzbek knife (pichok, or pchak)

National Tajik knife (cord)

National Uyghur knife (pchak)

National Karachai knife (bychak)

Here is another photo from the "Turkestan Album" 1871-1872

Samarkand, Pichak Bazaar (By the way, the original says “Pisyak Bazaar”)

In previous years, Uzbek pchaks came to the European part of the USSR in the form of single specimens, most often they were brought from expeditions to Central Asia. As a rule, their quality was not high.

Since the end of the 90s of the last century, the Soyuzspetsosnaschenie company began regular deliveries of Uzbek pchaks to Russia, and it became possible to purchase them at the company's office or in retail trade. Currently, they can be purchased in many knife stores and oriental cookery stores, including online stores (in particular, in “Dukan Vostoka”, “Pchak-handmade knives”, etc.).

At first, suppliers bought pchakas in bulk at bazaars in Uzbekistan, so it was impossible to find out either the name of the master or the place of manufacture from the sellers. With the saturation of the market, trade began to "civilize", and now you can buy a pchak made by a specific craftsman (especially from those sellers who buy products directly from the craftsmen) and choose the type, style and materials of the blade and handle.

During the Soviet era, the most popular were the pchaks from the city of Chust, where the only knife factory in Uzbekistan was located.

Photo from the Museum of Applied Arts of Uzbekistan, the selection is called "Chust 1987"

At present, the bulk of Uzbek pchaks is produced in the town of Shakhrikhon in the Andijan region of Uzbekistan, where there is a whole urban district (“mahalla”) of master cutters (“pichokchi”), in which whole family dynasties of blacksmiths and fitters are working.

Photo from the Museum of Applied Arts of Uzbekistan, the selection is called "Shakhrikhon 1999"

Thus, the famous master Komiljon Yusupov, who devoted more than 50 years of his life to his craft, and was elected by the aksakal of the pichokchi makhalla Shakhrikhon, passed on his art to his sons and now the brothers can make, if desired, very good products.

Usto Bakhrom Yusupov

In other regions of Uzbekistan, individual craftsmen ("usto") and pichakchi families also live and work, but their products are much less common. For example, the Abdullaev family, who lives and works in Bukhara, also makes pchakas, but their true "hobbyhorse" is hand-forged scissors for various purposes, which are famous throughout Uzbekistan.

Tajik knives ("cords"), related to the Uzbek pchaks, are mainly produced in the city of Istaravshan (formerly Ura-Tyube).

Also, stands with pchaks and cords are always present at various knife exhibitions: "Blade", "Arsenal", "Hunting and Fishing" and others ...

Usto Abduvahob and his knives:

Director of the store “Dukan Vostoka” Bakhriddin Nasyrov with Uzbek masters - “usto”: usto Ulugbek, usto Abdurashid, usto Abduvahob.

Usto Ulugbek

Usto Abdurashid

Both pchakas and cords are made by hand, and it is safe to say that each such knife carries a particle of the master's soul.

Already with an external examination, one can judge the level of quality of the knife:

- good action and blade processing, a pronounced hardening line and a thin cutting edge allow you to count on a good and long cut;

- well-soldered or cast from pure tin (light and shiny) gulband allows you to use pchak or cord in the kitchen without the risk of lead poisoning;

- clean and prolonged ringing after clicking on the blade, the absence of a shank at the rider's handle indicates a high-quality assembly;

- the absence of gaps between the device and the handle, or cracks in the handle handle prevents the multiplication of microorganisms in them;

If possible, pchak and cord, like any other tool for work, should be selected "by touch" so that it becomes a "natural extension of the hand".

The only (for today) bees that you cannot find fault with are those of Mamirjon Saidakhunov

The blade is 140x4mm at the butt, evenly descends to the nose. Reduced to zero, double-sided lens is lightweight, perfectly sharpened. Powder steel DI-90, heat in the oven, hardening for 61 somewhere. Handle 110mm, walrus bone. Gulband is a tin-based hard alloy. He cuts the food brutally, planes dry wood, cheerfully cuts the chicken. Scabbard: leather 3mm, anti-water impregnation

True, there is a small nuance - the master lives and works in Ukraine and the price for this knife is quite high (in comparison with the rest of the bees)

Today, more than 30 knives from Shakhrikhon, Samarkand, Tashkent and so on are presented in Russia ...

In addition, such knives could not fail to interest Russian manufacturers.

So, at the request of their customers, they make pchakas:

Gennady Prokopenkov

We can see this knife almost every weekend on the NTV channel in the hands of Stalik Khankishiev. Fiber composite based on 40X13, hardened up to 52-54

Dmitry Pogorelov

Steel CPM 3V, HRC - about 60. Length 280 mm, blade length 150 mm, width 33 mm, thickness (3.5-2.5-1.5) mm, weight 135g. Handle - cocobolo Zeroing, excellent cut

Workshop Mezhov

S. Kutergin's and M. Nesterov's knife

Steel X12MF, silver, rosewood, rosewood, bone. Knife length 280mm, blade 160mm, width 40mm, thickness 4mm, HRC 57-59

But even from the photograph it is clear that the mixing is by no means "Pchakov's"

Zlatoust gunsmiths

Steel 95X18, HRC 58, length 292 mm, blade 160 mm, width 35 mm, thickness (2.2-2.0-1.8) mm, weight 120 g. The reduction is about 0.3 mm. The handle is a nut. Despite the small thickness and good mixing, the cut of this knife leaves much to be desired.

Armourer

Damascus, gilding. Length 260 mm, blade 160 mm, width 35 mm, thickness (4.0-3.5-2.0) mm, weight 140g. HRC approximately 56. Conversion approximately 0.2-0.3 mm.

Despite the various decorations, the cut is significantly better than the previous AiR.

A little testing showed predictable results - first Prokopenkov with Pogorelov, then Oruzheinik, and then A&R by a large margin.

Interestingly, an ordinary pchak (see photo) showed itself a little worse than the pchaks of our eminent craftsmen (in terms of cut quality), but better than the Gunsmith, but not much.

In the middle of the last century, knives similar to pchak were made by the German company Herder, but I could not find out its specialization

Of course, a pchak, even a good one, is difficult to compare in terms of manufacturability and hygiene with a European chef, and in modern food production it will be less convenient, but in the home kitchen and especially somewhere in nature, this knife can give you a lot of pleasure!

For a more complete picture of Pchak's work, I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the review of Roman Dmitriev "Pchaks in real life" on this site.

Marat Suleimanov, Roman Dmitriev and the RusKnife forum provided great help in writing this article.

Special thanks for providing photos to Bakhriddin Nasyrov ("Dukan of the East") and Alexander Mordvin ("Pchak - handmade knives")

Taken from the site CookingKnife.ru

PCHAK and KORD

Uzbek, Uyghur, Tajik

With all the abundance of information, there seems to be no exact answer to the question of what is considered the "correct" pishak or cord. It is not even clear how the pchak differs from the cord and whether it differs at all ... (after all, both in translation from the national language means simply "KNIFE"). But there is also an Iranian card ...

By the way, many Japanese and Russian masters do the same, for example, G.K. Prokopenkov. This is due to the fact that U12 and ShKh15 have low impact toughness and strength, and if the blade with the shank is forged from a single piece of steel, there is a high probability of the blade breaking in the neck area, for example, when falling.

As already mentioned, carbon steel is used on pchaks, from what is at hand, quenching (as a rule, zone - only at the cutting edge) is usually carried out up to 50-52 Rockwell units, less often up to 54-56 and then only in recent times. On the one hand, the hardness of 50-54 units does not give a long retention of the sharpness of the cutting edge, but it allows you to edit such a knife on anything (usually the bottom of a ceramic bowl is used, but there are also special stones of a traditional shape for editing beetles and scissors), which, of course is a big plus. But in this case, the knife quickly grinds and turns almost into an awl, so you have to buy a new one. Although the cost of pchaks (not souvenir) has always been small.

Recently, more and more often there are pchakas made of SHH-15 steel, which can be hardened up to 60 units of Rockwell, which we see on some blades. Such hard blades are made specifically for the Russian and Ukrainian market in order to compete with Japanese kitchen knives. From my point of view, such hardness is not very justified, because the pchakas have a very fine reduction and working with such knives requires certain skills and special equipment, otherwise the blade will crumble and break (similar to Japanese kitchen cookers) .On the other hand, heat ShX-15 to 50- 52 units (the norm for a pchak) does not make much sense - just a translation of solid material.

The names of the parts of the pchak are presented below:

"GULBAND", or bolster, is cast from low-melting tin or tin-lead alloys, brazed from sheet brass or cupronickel and poured with tin or its alloy. Note that the use of lead in cooking is not good, and it is advisable not to use knives with lead (or, at least, to varnish). You can distinguish lead by trying it with a soldering iron (lead melts worse), it oxidizes strongly, acquiring a dark gray tint, gets dirty (like newsprint). It seems to me personally that the use of lead and alloys is the cost of the readily available old car batteries and babbitts from bearings.

"CHAKMOK" or pommel.

Decorate with engraving, sadaf, rhinestones.

On inexpensive pchaks, chakmok is designated by changing the cross-section of the handle (from rounded to rectangular) and / or the presence of a beak-like protrusion.

"DOSTA" - black, handle.

Local wood (apricot, plane tree), textolite, plexiglass, bones, horns are used for manufacturing, they are brazed from sheet metal (cupronickel, brass)

"TAMGA" - brand

As a rule, every master ("usto"), who produces any product (especially knives), uses a shop mark (tamga).

Anything can be found on modern brands - even an image of a car.

It should be noted that at present one cannot completely rely on the tamga to identify the master. I have seen tamga used by at least four different masters(although, maybe, one does, but different people sell on their own behalf).

More expensive pchakas may have a leather sheath, decorated with embossing or weaving from a leather cord.

Rarely are metal sheaths (cupronickel, brass) engraved or combined (leather, wood, metal).

At the end of the review of the Andijan Pchak, I will quote from the article by O. Zubov "The Sign of the Master" (magazine "Around the World" No. 11, 1979):

“... Wide, ringing with a black-purple tint, inlaid with red, green, blue and white stones - specks, three stars and a moon shine on the blade - the ancient brand of the Abdullaevs.

This knife is an indispensable tool for a meal with friends, an integral part of Uzbek cuisine."You can cut bread, you can peel potatoes, or you can hang it on the carpet and watch - you can do anything!" - said the master. And after a little pause, he smiled: "But the best thing is to cut a melon!"

Considering the Uzbek pchaks, willy-nilly, one wonders what led to the appearance of just such a blade shape. The fact is that this form is suitable exclusively for cooking, while the neighboring peoples had a typical knife, which at least somehow could be protected and used for other (non-cook) needs, that is, they were in use all over the world more versatile knives. The Uzbeks also had such knives, but ... only until the 14th century. The exact reason for the emergence of this form is not known, but if we recall that the 14th century is the century of the empire of Timur (Tamerlane), an empire with centralized power and strict laws, then it can be assumed that Timur's officials, or he himself, were somewhat concerned about the subordination of the conquered peoples , and, in order to prevent the appearance of edged weapons among the people, they took all the gunsmiths to the shah's smithies, to the capital of the empire, Samarkand, and for the civilian population they forced the craftsmen to make knives with a raised edge. It is practically impossible to inflict stab wounds with such a knife and, therefore, the danger of an uprising and other "terrorist attacks" decreases. Let us recall that in the days of another empire, already close to us in time, the pchaks also did not belong to melee weapons precisely because of the shape of the blade and for their manufacture they were not sent to places not so distant. There may be other versions, though. In any case, it turned out to be a very convenient knife for cooking, which quickly gained popularity in Central Asia. It would not be convenient - would not have received such distribution!

In addition to pchaks with a "kayke" blade, there are also pchaks with a "tugri" blade, that is, with a straight butt.

Let's compare the two types of blades: the photo below clearly shows the difference between the "tugri" (top) and "kayke" (bottom) blade

The "tugri" blade has a constant width or decreases towards the point. Convenient for cutting meat, usually included in the butcher's set ("cassob-pichok").

In addition to the already mentioned "Andijan" pchak, you can find the names "Old Bukhara" and "Starokokand".

In "old Bukhara" the blade evenly tapers to the point, the rise is less pronounced, but the entire blade is often arched, the blade is more specialized for working with meat - skinning, deboning.

Also traditionally Bukhara pchaks have a scabbard with a ball or leaf at the end.

"Starokokand" - the blade of this pchak is notable for its small width, it is used, most likely, as an auxiliary one when deboning or peeling vegetables.

You can also find the names "tolbargi" (willow leaf) and "Kazakhcha". These are functional highly specialized knives designed to perform a specific job.

"Tolbargi" - butcher's knife for butchering animal carcasses,

"Kazakhcha" - for cutting fish.

Pchaks "Kazakhcha" were distributed mostly among the inhabitants (fishermen) of the Aral Sea coast, mainly Kazakhs.

The handles of the “tolbarga” and “kazakhcha” are usually made of wood and, as a rule, are not decorated (only the presence of a colored ornament on the gulband is allowed).

Here is a photo of knives by master Mamurzhon Makhmudov from Kokand:

"Tolbargi"

Well, another photo of knives from Tashkent

Photo from the Museum of Applied Arts of Uzbekistan, the selection is called "Tashkent 1985"

The “Uyghur Pchaks” deserve a separate mention. These are knives from XUAR (Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China). Sometimes the name Yangisar knives is found - the name stuck in the center of production - the city of Yangisar. They also have the "old Bukharian type-Afghan" and "Starokokand", but if you look at the photos, you can see the differences. The better (and more beautiful) manufacturing of the handles and the absence of a cast tin gulband (bolster) are striking, the blade shanks are almost always open, the brinch is not used. But the blades are often roughly processed, or not sharpened at all, tk. the production of Uyghur knives with sharpened blades longer than 200 mm is prohibited by Chinese law!

Starobukharsky. Uyghur masters

Afghan. Uyghur masters.

Starokokand. Uyghur masters.

If the Uzbek pchaks are more specialized in cooking, then the Tajik KORDS are more versatile knives.

The cords are of three typical sizes. The most common(the most working) has a length of 14-17 cm, a large knife "Gov kushi" ("cow cutter") is used for slaughtering livestock and has a length of 18-25 cm and the smallest knives (less than 14 cm) are for women.

The blades of traditional cords are powerful, with a thickness of up to 4 mm at the guard (I note that if the thickness of the blade of a knife is more than 2.4 mm, then it can already be considered as a cold weapon and is prohibited for free circulation), lenticular descents from the butt or the middle of the blade width, less often, straight lines (among Uzbek pchaks, as a rule, the opposite is true). The cutting edge is brought out on each knife, depending on the purpose. The butt of the cord blade, as a rule, turned from a finished strip of metal, is straight and parallel, and not wedge-shaped, like in a pchak. On the blade, they usually grind down one or two on each side, or two on the right and one on the left.

Installation depends on the area of manufacture. In the southeastern mountainous regions, preference is given to mounted mounting, and in the western and northern regions, which are closer to Uzbekistan, overhead mounting. Moreover, the overhead cord installation is somewhat different from that of Pchak: a brazed brinch is not used, and the entire shank is poured around the perimeter with a tin alloy, so the handle on the pchak is lighter, and on the cord it is stronger! In general, the device for cords is only cast, made of tin and its alloys (or silver), the ornament is only engraved and more geometric, radially symmetric, in contrast to the complex vegetable Uzbek “islimi”. The ornament is individual for each master and can replace the brand (cords are traditionally not branded, at least on the blade, on the guard there is a certain ornament or brand)

The overhead handles of the cords are always wider than those of the pchakovs, widen towards the top and have a characteristic notch for the little finger.

Photo from the Museum of Applied Arts of Uzbekistan, the selection is called "Khorezm, Khiva. 1958"

I would like to once again dwell on the terminology - pchak, pichok, bull, cord, card.

The fact is that some time ago a knife fell into my hands somewhere in the 17-18 century

Length 310mm, blade length 185mm, butt width 30mm, butt thickness (3.5-2.5-1.5) mm. The purpose of the groove on the butt is not clear to me, except to increase the thickness of the butt, which slightly increases when the groove is stamped. The yellow metal in the ornament is gold. Hardness about 52 units. I was struck by the formation of the blade (as the famous master - cutter Gennady Prokopenkov put it, “just aerobatics!”):- a wedge from the butt with a concave lens, and turning into a drop-shaped form a few millimeters (from 3 to 5) from the cutting edge. Of course, this is all - tenths of a millimeter, but everything is visible and palpable. After some persuasion, G.K. Prokopenkov agreed to make me a modern copy, preserving the entire structure of the blade as much as possible.

It turned out like this knife:

In addition, its design allows you to cut / trim the stick and protect itself from any evil.

That is, we got an excellent all-rounder.

Knife from Bukhara. Museum of Artillery, Engineering Troops and Signal Corps. Exhibition "Weapons of the East of the 16-19 centuries"

Note that the "museum" exhibit is simply named -"Knife from Bukhara"

Further searches led to the following photographs:

Pchak is old. Bukhara

Pchak. Bukhara.

Bukhara card

Pchak Bukhara with turquoise

Pchak Afghanistan

Persian Card

Note that in the last photo the knife (Persian card) has an armor-piercing thickening on the tip.

Thus, it seems that it is not possible to determine the exact type of my knife.

From the point of view of collectors and connoisseurs of cold steel, the card is a knife created primarily for military purposes: it looks more towards the stylet and its edge, as a rule, is strengthened.

So I believe that I have a pchak. Tugri-pchak is most likely of Bukhara origin.

There are also knives of the Turkmen-Saryks (photo from Rusknife)

Thus, without touching on military topics, it is probably the most correct to say:

National Uzbek knife (pichok, or pchak)

National Tajik knife (cord)

National Uyghur knife (pchak)

National Karachai knife (bychak)

Here is another photo from the "Turkestan Album" 1871-1872

Samarkand, Pichak Bazaar(By the way, the original says "Pisyak Bazaar")

During the Soviet era, the most popular were the pchaks from the city of Chust, where the only knife factory in Uzbekistan was located.

Photo from the Museum of Applied Arts of Uzbekistan, the selection is called "Chust 1987"

Photo from the Museum of Applied Arts of Uzbekistan, the selection is called "Shakhrikhon 1999"

Usto Bakhrom Yusupov

Tajik knives ("cords"), related to the Uzbek pchaks, are mainly produced in the city of Istaravshan (formerly Ura-Tyube).

Also, stands with pchaks and cords are always present. at various knife exhibitions: "Blade", "Arsenal", "Hunting and Fishing" and others ...

Usto Abduvahob and his knives:

Director of the store “Dukan Vostoka” Bakhriddin Nasyrov with Uzbek masters - “usto”: usto Ulugbek, usto Abdurashid, usto Abduvahob.

Usto Ulugbek

Usto Abdurashid

Both pchakas and cords are made by hand, and it is safe to say that each such knife carries a particle of the master's soul.

Already with an external examination, one can judge the level of quality of the knife:

Good action and blade processing, a pronounced hardening line and a thin cutting edge allow you to count on a good and long cut;

Well-soldered or cast from pure tin (light and shiny) gulband allows you to use pchak or cord in the kitchen without the risk of lead poisoning;

A clean and prolonged ringing after clicking on the blade, the absence of a shank at the rider's handle indicates a high-quality assembly;

The absence of gaps between the device and the handle, or cracks in the handle handle prevents the multiplication of microorganisms in them;

If possible, pchak and cord, like any other tool for work, should be selected "by touch" so that it becomes a "natural extension of the hand".

The only (for today) bees that you cannot find fault with are those of Mamirjon Saidakhunov

True, there is a small nuance - the master lives and works in Ukraine and the price for this knife is quite high (in comparison with the rest of the bees)

To date, more than 30 knives from Shakhrikhon, Samarkand, Tashkent and so on are presented in Russia ...

In addition, such knives could not fail to interest Russian manufacturers.

So, at the request of their customers, they make pchakas:

Gennady Prokopenkov

We can see this knife almost every weekend on the NTV channel in the hands of Stalik Khankishiev. Fiber composite based on 40X13, hardened up to 52-54

Dmitry Pogorelov

Steel CPM 3V, HRC - about 60. Length 280 mm, blade length 150 mm, width 33 mm, thickness (3.5-2.5-1.5) mm, weight 135g. Handle - cocobolo Zeroing, excellent cut

Workshop Mezhov

S. Kutergin's and M. Nesterov's knife

Steel X12MF, silver, rosewood, rosewood, bone. Knife length 280mm, blade 160mm, width 40mm, thickness 4mm, HRC 57-59

But even from the photograph it is clear that the mixing is by no means "Pchakov's"

Zlatoust gunsmiths

Steel 95Х18, HRC 58, length 292 mm, blade 160 mm, width 35 mm, thickness (2.2-2.0-1.8) mm, weight 120g. Mixing somewhere 0.3mm. The handle is a nut. Despite the small thickness and good mixing, the cut of this knife leaves much to be desired.

Armourer

Damascus, gilding. Length 260 mm, blade 160 mm, width 35 mm, thickness (4.0-3.5-2.0) mm, weight 140g. HRC approximately 56. Conversion approximately 0.2-0.3 mm.

Despite the various decorations, the cut is significantly better than the previous AiR.

A little testing showed predictable results - first Prokopenkov with Pogorelov, then Oruzheinik, and then A&R by a large margin.

Interestingly, an ordinary pchak (see photo) showed itself a little worse than the pchaks of our eminent craftsmen (in terms of cut quality), but better than the Gunsmith, but not much.

In the middle of the last century, knives similar to pchak were made by the German company Herder, but I could not find out its specialization

For a more complete picture of Pchak's work, I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the review of Roman Dmitriev "Pchaks in real life" on this site.

Marat Suleimanov, Roman Dmitriev and the "RusKnife" forum provided great help in writing this article.

Special thanks for providing photographs to Bakhriddin Nasyrov ("Dukan of the East") and Alexander Mordvin ("Pchak - handmade knives")

P.S. Roman Dmitriev's review "Pchaki in real life" will appear in the near future

What is an Uzbek knife? This question may be of interest to many people. Of course, it is not customary to give a knife, but sometimes you can give up superstitions or buy it for yourself. After all, this is not just an ordinary thing. An Uzbek knife is a chic piece of furniture that can simultaneously perform many standard kitchen work. The most important thing is to figure out which one you need. The prices and materials of such products differ markedly.

Uzbek knife: features of the handle

What should you pay attention to when choosing a particular model? The Uzbek knife is distinguished primarily by its handle and various bases for attaching the blades. Craftsmen spend a lot of time and effort on making such things. Therefore, you most likely will not see a handle made of plexiglass or plastic. A real Uzbek knife will be made the way the master of his craft sees it. That is, its handle will be made of the horns of a saiga, goat or gazelle.

They are decorated with intricate carvings and various paints. The more work is done on the handle, the more expensive the knife will naturally be.

The blades are different too

There are differences in some more details. Uzbek knives have slightly different blades: small, medium-sized and wide. Again, everything depends on what they are intended for.

Universal working knives, for example, suitable for slicing bread, cakes, etc. Massive large models with a wide oblong blade are ideal for shredding vegetables. For example, it is very convenient to cut cabbage with such a knife. Their powerful weight makes this procedure a pleasure.

Knives with a long, narrow blade are suitable for filing fish or for separating meat from bones. Well, small models are good for those works that require special subtlety. With such a knife, for example, it is convenient to cut stars from carrots, baskets from tomatoes, etc. However, it is also great for slicing cheese or sausages.

A few more nuances

In general, the Uzbek kitchen knife (pchak) is a rather peculiar model. It is very easy to recognize him. The blade is usually forged from carbon steel. Although very often there are also stainless steel beetles. However, no matter what steel the blade is forged, the main thing is not from a single piece. In this case, it would simply break in the neck area, for example, in a fall. To avoid such problems, special shanks made of stronger steel are welded near the handle.

The length of the blade is most often from 16 to 22 centimeters. The thickness of the handle is about 5 millimeters. At the same time, it decreases towards the tip. The blade in section also tapers towards the blade from the butt. Its width can be up to 5 centimeters. Thus, the geometry of the knife is very good. Therefore, it is quite convenient for them to cut food.

As a rule, a scabbard is also attached to the pchak. Usually they are made of leatherette, add cardboard inserts, decorate with applique or beads. However, there are also more expensive options. Sometimes the scabbard is made of leather, decorated with thick lace braiding or embossing. They are attached to expensive bees. Metal and combined scabbards are less common. In general, the choice is quite wide.

Advantages and disadvantages of Uzbek knives

Let's also consider the pros and cons of the modern

Firstly, Uzbek knives are distinguished by incredible energy and beauty. Secondly, you do not need to sharpen them constantly, since they retain their functionality for a long time. The main thing is to use a round leg of a faience bowl for this.

As for the disadvantages: if you do not know how to sharpen knives on this equipment, you can simply ruin them. Even at specialized points in various Uzbek bazaars, you need to find real professionals. Otherwise, the knives will be sharpened to zero.

Plus, these knives don't like hot water. They should not be left wet when lying down. The surface may rust. Be sure to wipe the knives dry - in this case, there will be no problems. In short, you just need to know how to handle these things.

How to buy

So let's say you decide to purchase one of the above models. How to buy An Uzbek pchak in no case can be purchased, turning to various delivery services for help, choosing a product in any catalog. It is imperative to hold it in your hands in order to understand that this is exactly what you need.

There may be many seemingly identical knives of the shape you need in front of you. However, in reality they are completely different. They are similar only in appearance. Since they are made by hand, you need to be very careful when choosing - hold several models in turn. You should feel the movement of the blade, feel exactly how the handle will go. You need to find "your" knife. With him, hand movements will become confident, that is, it will be very easy to work with him. In general, getting the right model is not at all difficult. You just need to spend a little of your time on this. And as a result, you will get a wonderful helper in your kitchen!