Are there any original Native American knives?

golok

golok

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Oct 20, 2000
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Considering that there's such a rich history on this, I reckon there would be some beautiful knives coming from that direction.

Are there any knives like that? I haven't seen any yet, except what is shown in movies.
 
The original knives used by NA were the same as used by other societies that hadn't started using metal yet. They were knapped from flint and obsidian or other suitable material that could be shaped and would hold an edge long enough. Of course, each time it was sharpened, there would be material lost. After a certain amount, it would become used for other different cutting or scrapping chores. Most were able to be attached to a handle by wrapping cord around both and sometimes using animal glue to help hold it. Nearly all were carried in a pouch type sheath with flap. This would keep it from coming out and getting lost. When the Hudson Bay Trading Co. started importing steel and selling knife blanks (the original knife kits), they were sought after and kept till they were of less size than used up paring knives. The art part of the NA's knife was the pouch. It was decorated with beads, quills, bone, shell, etc. The blade itself was a using knife but would sometimes have designs or some inlays in the handle.
They are still many NA bladesmiths that make their own "original" knives. Most tourist from the area I live in like to buy "rough" looking knives as being those made by "Indians". I think they equate rough as being the way they used to make them or maybe they think that since they are rough, they should be inexpensive.

Mine are "original Indian Knives" :) :) :).
 
Natives made ground and polished blades of jade, agate, and other tough stones as well as knapped blades. Flint, obsidian, etc., are brittle enough to chip into a blade -- and also brittle enough to break pretty easily. It doesn't take long to make another one when one breaks, but another solution is to take the time to grind a blade out of tough stone; then it'll last a while.

In areas where native copper occurs they made blades out of copper, too.

There are a bunch of people around making stone knives -- some of them natives, some not. Knapping is getting to be a popular hobby; there are some great websites on it if you want to learn -- run a web search. Wear safety glasses!

By the way, it seems natives of all nations made sheaths that covered the whole knife including the handle -- one of the few things all the native nations have in common.
 
Hi
i´m not sure this is what you are asking for
but i remember David Yellowhorse (spelling?)
making knives with Buck.
 
Not sure if the above post was what you're looking for either, but those Buck Yellowhorse knives are gorgeous...
 
Good one Ray! Mine are all original "Indian Knives" too! :D

I have a box full of stone knives I have found locally, and you see a steel or iron one occasionally at a gun show or museum. Saw a nice Blacfoot dag with bear grizzly jaw handle a couple years ago, wish I had some cash that day!
 
:
The one old ndn knife that really stands out in my mind was a copper dagger with a wood handle in a museum up around Glacier National Park.
I was about 15 at the time and looked at that knife from every angle I could manage with it being in a locked case.
It was in the shape of what's sometimes known as a "beaver tail dagger" and the handle was full across the top of the blade. The thoughts I have of that old knife still fascinate me after all these years.

I also have one of Ray's real ndn knives and someday hope to have one of Robs' as well.
We have a mutual friend that knows both of these guys, coincidence happened that our mutual friend had handled the one I got from Ray sometime before I bought it at the knife show in Little Rock Arkansas.:)
I found out about it when I sent him Rays' website telling him which knife was mine.:D
 
Yep, Yvsa, I'm proud to call you, Ray and Rob my friends.

In fact, if I remember correctly, I was the one that introduced Rob and Ray at the Blade Show a couple years back. Regular social butterfly, huh? ;)

That reminds me, seems I need some more authentic Native American knives!!! :D
 
My father has a collection of hammers, scrappers, points, awls and knives (mostly knapped but some merely shaped). He or a family member found all but a couple pieces.

His most prized piece is a copper knife he found in a road cut in WI. A local museum told him it was native copper, had never been used or sharpened and was 3000+ years old. The tang is very slim and tapers toward the end, which curls back toward the blade, almost forming a circle. Probably not a working knife was the thought, the tang was not made for a handle (or it was still in production).

The museum would not value the knife, they would only say that it was in the best condition they had ever seen, 'museum quality', and priceless.


Steve-O
 
Good thread: I have seen what probably was a Naitive American copper knife and have a jade blade that is about 10 inches long, very heave and crude but obviously used as a knife. It was a natural spall coming from a fault in the origonal rock, most of if was naturally shaped, but someone worked a long time on it to make it more serviceable. I also found where stone age man busted up a rock with another rock, yielding one sharp flake and used it several feet from the parent rock, then discarded it. A knife maker by necessity. If you want to read a good book, try to locate a copy of "The Knife" by Theon Wright, Gilbert Press, 1955. It discussed what was probably the first metal blade on this continet. Flakes off of a meotior cemented into a seal jaw bone.
 
I have seen that book Ed! I want to find a copy again. Didnt it show the meteor and all the scars where the natives knocked pieces off it for knives and projectile points?

Is your Jade knife from local material? I worked the oil patch in the early 80's down close to you and I found a jade point in the Red Desert close to South Pass. It was a real beauty, and it got stolen. :(
 
Hi Rob; Yes it showed the rocks and scars. The meteorites are now in the New York Museum of natural history, they are thought to have some of the knives made from them, but evidently they can't find them as no one has been able to get a photo or even see one. Joe Szilaski tired but no luck. The jade point you found was extremely rare and is only the second jade artifact I have heard of on this continent, jade is next to impossible to work by hand, stone age style. Sorry you lost it! I would have liked to see it.
 
ps. The jade knife I mentioned came from the same area on the Red Desert, Atlantic City area. Just maybe we each shared time with the same stone age knife maker?
 
Yes Ed! It was towads the Boars Tusk from Atlantic City, been a long time but I believe that is south of there? South of the Oregon Trail?

Now I am really sad the point was stolen! As I remember, it was abraded and not flaked, and had very fine serrated edges, and almost polised finish. I showed it to an archaelogist that was doing a survey for a drilling site and he acted a little to un interested, I see why now. He offered me $25 for it but I never sell what I find. It got stolen from my truck over at Table Rock.:(
 
Rob:
when I first showed an archaeologist my jade knife, he felt it was impossible. After a lot of looking, and thinking, he came to believe it was a genuine artifact. He took it to a meeting of those folks and all concurred. It was the real McCoy....
Your man probably could NOT believe what he saw. Probably followed you to Table Mtn.
Take care.....
 
A good friend of mine collects Native American Indian artifacts and acquired a knife made by a chief that was given to the son of the Bureu of Indian Affairs reservation manager circa late 1800's. The knife is of the jaw bone of a buffalo, decorated with a decorated pouch sheath. It is completely authenticated. -Dick
 
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