After haggling with a merchant (in 1979) in Morocco, in Ceuda, I think, I finally convinced him I wasn't really looking for cheap knives. He took me away from his 'store' and we went to a small shop nearby. There were 3-4 guys busy making the cheap knives. He took me to the leader (? Boss? Owner?) and after what seemed to me like a heated conversation, I was taken to a counter and shown 7-8 really nice knives in different sizes. They demonstrated sharpmess, etc. I bought 2, after the requisite haggling, probably at a much higher price than a local would have (but I was an extremely obvious tourist), but I think we were all satisfied. I assume the first mechant got a cut. They were probably family.
I still have them. They are pretty well-made, not of fine craftsman quality, but of the quality needed by some one who meeds and uses the knife pretty much daily. Not Damascus, but a decent quality steel. You could picture them being used as tools or weapons.
It was an interesting trip. The homes looked like something out of 1200 AD or so. The Northern African equivalent of adobe, but more domed than in the Southwest and Mexico. latchstrings on the doors. Very narrow doors. Even for the locals' stature I suspect many needed to turn sideways to enter. Few windows, narrow slits, not obviously with glass. And on top of almost every one was a TV antenna. Probably the homes are still there, but with a satellite dish on the roof.
Knives I can see but larger items, I'm not so sure the exchanges are viable. The times I've considered such the shipping often exceeded the item cost by orders of magnitude.
I should note I'm at very close to the end of the road, North Pole, Alaska and shipping to say, LA's a bit cheaper.
After haggling with a merchant (in 1979) in Morocco, in Ceuda, I think, I finally convinced him I wasn't really looking for cheap knives. He took me away from his 'store' and we went to a small shop nearby. There were 3-4 guys busy making the cheap knives. He took me to the leader (? Boss? Owner?) and after what seemed to me like a heated conversation, I was taken to a counter and shown 7-8 really nice knives in different sizes. They demonstrated sharpmess, etc. I bought 2, after the requisite haggling, probably at a much higher price than a local would have (but I was an extremely obvious tourist), but I think we were all satisfied. I assume the first mechant got a cut. They were probably family.
I still have them. They are pretty well-made, not of fine craftsman quality, but of the quality needed by some one who meeds and uses the knife pretty much daily. Not Damascus, but a decent quality steel. You could picture them being used as tools or weapons.
It was an interesting trip. The homes looked like something out of 1200 AD or so. The Northern African equivalent of adobe, but more domed than in the Southwest and Mexico. latchstrings on the doors. Very narrow doors. Even for the locals' stature I suspect many needed to turn sideways to enter. Few windows, narrow slits, not obviously with glass. And on top of almost every one was a TV antenna. Probably the homes are still there, but with a satellite dish on the roof.
Knives I can see but larger items, I'm not so sure the exchanges are viable. The times I've considered such the shipping often exceeded the item cost by orders of magnitude.
I should note I'm at very close to the end of the road, North Pole, Alaska and shipping to say, LA's a bit cheaper.