I'm looking for some information you fine folks may have for me

[Hickory n steel]

On saturday I bought this knife for $2 at Goodwill because it was interesting and because I happened to know its purpose for some reason. ( I'm a novice who doesn't fish a lot or catch much for that matter, so I'm not sure how I knew what it was )
It's a model L-52 fish gutting knife made in Sweden for a company named Art Ullis Inc out of Tacoma Washington.

Heres a shot of the spoon in case it would pin it to Mora.


Im wondering if anyone can confirm or deny my suspicion that it may have been produced by Morakniv.

I suspect Morakniv as the manufacturer because they're such a large manufacturer, but also because they make a fairly similar knife and because the spoon looks a lot like the one they produce.
I've also seen a scaler back fishing knife they made which has a very similar handle.

Based on the minty fresh condition of the wood handle I'm assuming it was a gift to someone who just left it in a knife drawer.

 

[Hickory n steel]

All I had been able to find out about the company is that they were a cutlery importer based out of Tacoma Washington that went out of business in the late 70's or very early 80's.

 

[GIRLYmann]

just some write up on mora... http://thebladeblog-ulf.blogspot.com/2015/11/famous-cutlery-from-sweden-mora-knife.html

 

[b00n]

Can you explain to me why anybody would want a spoon at the end of their knife handle? It doesn't seem safe or practical to use? Or is it for fish gut scooping? (even then it seems...weird) I did a little fishing but I never saw a need for a spoon at the end of a fish knife. Interesting though.

 

[leghog]

It's called a cut and gut knife.

 

[unwisefool]

Can you explain to me why anybody would want a spoon at the end of their knife handle? It doesn't seem safe or practical to use? Or is it for fish gut scooping? (even then it seems...weird) I did a little fishing but I never saw a need for a spoon at the end of a fish knife. Interesting though.

It's for your midday pudding break.

 

[b00n]

It's for your midday pudding break.

To eat on the bus, and make sure nobody sits next to you?

 

[jc57]

Kershaw apparently used to make a similar one. Kershaw 1281 Pro-grade spoon-handle fillet knife.

They still produce this one:

https://kershaw.kaiusaltd.com/knives/knife/7-boning-with-spoon

 

[Monofletch]

The spoon is for scraping and scooping..... not eating

 

[Hickory n steel]

just some write up on mora... http://thebladeblog-ulf.blogspot.com/2015/11/famous-cutlery-from-sweden-mora-knife.html

Thanks for posting that, it had no information for me but many of those old Mora knives are gorgeous.

I've never heard them called this, but Mora called them a gurry spoon.


Btw yes the spoon is for scooping and scraping out a fish's guts, or potentially for scraping out salmon roe...ect.

This spoon does add something to the end of the handle, but it doesn't seem to get in the way all that much.


Interestingly enough Mora Currently produces a synthetic handled version of this as well as just the spoon which literally looks like someone simply cut the knife blade off.

 

[Hickory n steel]

It's called a cut and gut knife.

DEXTER calls there's a Cut and Gut, but I don't know if that's the genral term.

 

[Hickory n steel]

Here's a Mora.

You can see the close similarities on the spoon , plus it appears to use the same exact handle wood.

 

[eisman]

Interesting. I live in Tacoma and have never seen one of these.

 

[22-rimfire]

I think the filet knife with the spoon on the handle end is immensely practical if you clean a lot of fish. I personally don't and just throw them back when I catch them.

 

[Hickory n steel]

Interesting. I live in Tacoma and have never seen one of these.

From what I found Art Ullis Inc whet out of business in the late 70's or very early 80's.

I'm hoping someone with expertise can say for certain that it was produced by Mora, but if not I'm fairly confident that it was based on the spoon and the handle wood.

 

[22-rimfire]

Schrade made some pretty nice filet knives. But you say it's marked Sweden, so Mora would be a very logical guess.

 

[Hickory n steel]

I think the filet knife with the spoon on the handle end is immensely practical if you clean a lot of fish. I personally don't and just throw them back when I catch them.

I'm not sure this one is a fillet knife as it's too stiff in my opinion, but I can definitely see the merit one with a good flexible fillet blade.

 

[22-rimfire]

This thread is making me want to head out in my kayak, paddle around, and maybe do some fishing. Haven't really used the kayak in a couple years. I basically forget about using it for the most part and the weather has been hot.

 

[Ajack60]

Absolutely a need for pan fish or white perch which is called sac-a-lait down here in the south. I use a spoon to scrape the scales off several types of fish. Once the guts are pulled out, the spoon along with some water gets all the internals clean.
I’ve never used a knife like that but can see it would be useful.

 

[Hickory n steel]

Schrade made some pretty nice filet knives. But you say it's marked Sweden, so Mora would be a very logical guess.

The only wood handled schrade fillet knife I've ever seen was a folder.
Btw I'm not sure this is a fillet knife as it's too stiff.
It's got a nice distal taper, but it's not quite thin enough for a fillet knife.


You can see it's got a nice distal taper but is not thin enough, id say it's probably perfect if the blade was 10"-12" though ( it's 5-3/4" )