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| VietNamNet Bridge - In parts of Ha Tay and Ha Nam provinces it is said people have been making combs from buffalo horns for centuries. Judging by their two main maxims, traditionally buffalo-horn craftsmen were pretty unforthcoming to outsiders who were curious about the craft.
Rule number one is “never sell your tools even if you’re broke” and rule number two is “never teach the traditional craft to an outsider”. Nevertheless, I set off in search of these reticent craftsmen to see if I can find out more!
After an hour I am quickly in buffalo country where the classic Vietnamese image of a buffalo ploughing a paddy field with a grinning boy riding on its back is a typical scene.
Walking into Thuy Ung village in Thuong Tin district, Ha Tay province, I catch the scent of buffalo horns being burnt with straw.
Following the smoke, I enter a house full of buffalo horns. Hundreds of blackened, rough, old buffalo horns of various sizes are piled up in the yard, kitchen, living room and even the bedroom of the house.
The man of the house, Muoi Su welcomes me warmly. He explains that he’s sorting the different horns, which have been collected from across the countryside as well as Laos and Cambodia.
The craftsmen classify the horns according to each one’s shape and size. After looking at the horn’s shape and size, the craftsmen will decide what to turn it into.
The first step is to burn the buffalo horn with rice straw or charcoal. This is a crucial step to ensure the finished product’s quality.
The craftsmen have no thermometer and judge the perfect temperature by experience alone. Of course, there must be a trick to it, but remember the second maxim of buffalo craftsmen? That’s right – Muoi Su’s lips are sealed.
“I learned the secret from my father and it now it is my sixth sense,” he says with a smile.
The burnt horns are then flattened with a hammer on an iron frame for five to 10 minutes until they cool, and then they are sawn into flat, thin pieces.
A saw is used to define the shape then the craftsmen file and polish the small pieces by hand. In the past rough leaves and straw ash were used to polish horn, now sanding paper, files and Western polish are used.
This craft has existed for 400 years in Thuy Ung, but Muoi Su says you can earn more money from tanned cattle-hide, so more and more villagers have switched trades.
His household makes VND3 million a month after deducting all their expenses, which includes paying the salaries of two employees, who earn VND800,000 a month.
I sit with Muoi Su as he and his staff produces crabs, shrimps, fishes, ducks, flowers and combs before my eyes – they make such perfect little gifts for countless people, which I can’t resist buying .
Leaving Thuy Ung village with a bundle of gifts, I head to another village in Ha Nam province known for its buffalo horn products, Do Hai.
Locals in Do Hai claim that craftsmen have used buffalo horns here for even longer than Thuy Ung! (I suspect Thuy Ung craftsmen might refute that claim!)
Do Hai is certainly less polluted than Thuy Ung and the scent of the burning horns is quite recognisable. Again, I follow the smoke to a workshop.
When I happen upon Huu, a 52-year-old craftsman, he is sitting on a huge pile of buffalo horns. Holding a large pair of horns high in the air, he looks mightily pleased with himself – it appears he has hit the jackpot.
“White buffalo horns are very rare. I haven’t seen horns like these for a long time. I will create something very special. Maybe a big golden eagle spreading its wing on a mountain top,” he says with a twinkle in his eye.
Inside his workshop-cum-house three girls sit on the ground polishing tiny pieces of transparent yellow and black horn. Next to them, two boys carve tiny fishes and birds with tiny chisels.
The living-room is filled with eagles and shiny horns and it’s clear Huu’s operation is bigger than Muoi Su’s in Thuy Ung.
His staff of eleven each earn VND600,000 = 38 USD a month with lunch. Huu pockets around VND2.5m a month.
“Our income is low considering the level of work we do, but I still enjoy it and it provides work for young villagers as well as preserves this tradition,” says Huu.
Huu also keeps the trade secrets close to his chest and ignores my questions on technique. Perhaps he thinks I’m a spy from Thuy Ung village.
Instead he shows me his products which include amongst, other things, elephants, owls, eagles and the 12 animals of the zodiac and once again I can’t resist. So now, back in the city as I write this story, I look around and I am surrounded by a host of buffalo horns.
