I'd like to say a little something about Ulus

[Flashpoint]

If you don't have one in your arsenal of kitchen cutlery then shame on you.

Since I've picked one up a while back I've found it to be a very versatile and efficient tool. It's also made my other knives jealous because they just don't see the action the use to. I have to give the northern knife a big :thumbup: .

An excerpt from Wikipedia

The shape of the ulu ensures that the force is centred more over the middle of the blade than with an ordinary knife. This makes the ulu easier to use when cutting hard objects such as bone.

Today the ulu is still made with a caribou antler but the blade is usually made of steel. The steel is quite often obtained by purchasing a hand saw or wood saw and cutting the blade to the correct shape. These ulus are both kept for home use and sold to others. It is also possible to purchase commercially produced ulus, sometimes made with a plastic handle and complete with a cutting board.

Ok, I'm done. What say you?

 

[phatch]

I've not found them useful, but I only tried one.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

I've got a few and I use them a lot. The cutting board generally comes with one side dished to the approximate curve of the blade, which increases the contact area of each cut.

I got a Knives of Alaska Magnum Ulu, which despite the name is small for a kitchen knife, since it's meant more as a skinner. Nice knife, though, very high quality, D2 blade.

Then I got a tourist style ulu and cutting board, the 7BBA, which works very well on fruits, vegetables, and meat, both slicing and especially chopping. The steel is probably 420J2 and it does need sharpening.

More recently I traded for a Canadian ulu, which is far superior to the others. Good edge retention and excellent performance. I don't know the steel but it is an exceedingly thin blade.

I have an old knife of my grandmother's known as a mezzaluna, a half-moon, with a metal handle and thin blade. Very much like the ulu.

 

[jthomas]

I got one of the cheapo $4 ulus as a souvenir from someone who went to Alaska... I groaned inwardly when i saw the thing... I was (and still am) pleasantly surprised at how efficient it is... use it all the time.

 

[jxh8]

+1 for the cheap tourist ulus. Picked one up in Sitka a decade ago, and it still cuts fruits, poultry and vegetables like crazy.

 

[misque]

Picked up one of these years ago. Says "Alaska" on the stag handle and resides in a stag display holder. It's hard to tell if it's real stag. It has the heft and seemingly the density of stag, but, I'm having a hard time coming to terms with real stag being used on such an ugly(but very functional) knife.
Still, I like it and it makes one great pizza knife when it's not processing herbs from the garden.

 

[mete]

"cutting hard objects such as bone" unless it's small bone like a chicken forget it !! That's what I don't like about wikipedia ! Does anyone use them for filleting fish or skinning as did the Inuit ?

 

[Cliff Stamp]

"cutting hard objects such as bone" unless it's small bone like a chicken forget it !!

Their point was perfectly valid and focused on the torque disadvantage of regular knives as opposed to something like the ULU for which you can easily exert full body weight with NO wrist strain, or readily chop with them in the same manner even though they are light for the same reason. However, traditionally I don't think they are used for that type of work.

Does anyone use them for filleting fish or skinning as did the Inuit ?

Yes, I prefer a normal knife, though have used such for much longer. Inuit would likely say the opposite.

-Cliff