KULIM: It has taken Mohd Zairy Yusop, 37, from Kampung Permatang Tok Dik, three years of blood, sweat and tears to reach a point in his life where he can be proud of his knife-making skill which he honed through YouTube videos and knowledge passed down to him by a skilled blacksmith from a different state.
He now earns enough money to meet his financial obligation to his wife and three children, but admits “my wife was worried because the knives I made in those early months were clunkers and much of the steel from a recycling facility was wasted. It led her to ask me to get a job with a permanent income”.
He told Bernama that his former job as a tree lopper stoked his interest in knife-making, and although his early stabs at making them fell flat, he stuck at it – sacrificing sleep and a social life.
Now, he is able to sell his handmade ware of slaughter and collectible knives made the traditional way for RM100-RM200 apiece, giving him an income of about RM3,000 a month.
“I was not just busy blacksmithing and honing my skills in the day, but at night too, because I couldn’t sleep unless I produced a precisely-made knife,“ he said,
Now, Mohd Zairy gets orders and good demand for his knives from across the country because they look finished and are high-quality.
“I spend two to three hours a day just making certain they will cut smoothly and are razor sharp,“ he said, adding that his patience and perseverance weren’t pointless, and that his dream now is to expand his blacksmithing workshop. — Bernama
