Crooked Knife

Brian_T

Brian_T

Gold Member
Joined
Oct 7, 1999
Messages
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I have toyed with this idea from time to time but today decided to make it happen.

I have a Mora of Sweden Hoof Knife that I wanted to turn into a more traditional crooked knife.

Here's a page from Ellsworth Jaeger's "Wildwood Wisdom" that describes how a crooked knife is made:
ck.jpg


And here is my hoof knife with the line scribed for shaping. And then after carving down and sanding.
Crooked_03.jpg
Crooked_05.jpg


Finally, an in-hand shot.
Crooked_06.jpg


Tomorrow I'm going to stain the handle in a pot of strong tea, burnish with steel wool, and then I'll set to work putting an edge on it.

I whittled down the handle with the Hampton Back-Pocket that I'm reviewing for the pass-around but that'll be a part of tomorrow's thread in the Review forum. :)

Anybody else made a crooked knife or used a crooked knife? How about some more pics?

Thanks for reading,


B
 
Nice work Brian.

I make a few crooked knives a year for local traditional bark and cedar canoe makers. Here's one.
File blade, annealed and oil quenched, maple root handle, tack and pin decoration, glue impregnated jute wrap..

Regards

Robin

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Great post. Well done!!!!!

The ones I use are no less "traditional", just have a more Scandinavian flavor. Not my pic....

 
Nice economical conversion, Brian!
I tried something similar many years ago, and found it worked better when I ground off some of the tight curve - basically shortening the "curl".


How come we haven't seen your Mocotaugans before, Robin??
That one's a beauty!!
 
waynorth said:
Nice economical conversion, Brian!
I tried something similar many years ago, and found it worked better when I ground off some of the tight curve - basically shortening the "curl".


How come we haven't seen your Mocotaugans before, Robin??
That one's a beauty!!
Click to expand...

Hi Charlie, thanks very much for your comment. I make a lot of traditional style knives, probably considered modifications. I am metis so my interests lie in early trade knives or my take on them. I usually use old butcher knife steel for blades but sometimes I use files etc. I am mainly a leather smith.
I just got an order from one of the best canoe restoration guys here in Ontario (he does work for the Canadian canoe museum) for a bunch of mocotaugans ;-). I intend to do some Mi'Kmaq style with traditional carving, I'll post pics when as I finish them.

Very best regards

Robin
 
Mocotaugans and bent/crooked knives are very traditional in North America, and belong in this forum IMHO.
Even though I am heavily prejudiced for folding knives, I gaze longingly at those traditional canoe carvers! Indeed all old knife styles with a history on this continent!
Bring them out guys, if you've got them!

SHS what is WSS?
 
I hope folks think this is apppropriate but here is a website that may interest folks who love old canoes. Roger Young is a great friend of mine and owns what I believe to be one of the best (if not the best) collections of early canoe models including very very rare shop samples "salesmans samples". Only a small sample of his shop samples are shown along with the Native American canoes and some south seas canoes. None of these are for sale. If this post is deemed inappropriate by the mods just message me and I will delete it.
http://site.antiquemodelcanoes.com/Home.php

Best regards

Robin
 
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