Ivory blade knife

Gov't Mule

Gov't Mule

Joined
Sep 10, 2002
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485
Anyone familiar with knives where the blade is made of ivory? 8" OAL, supposedly made in Alaska in the 1930s with a bone handle.

CIMG3175.jpg
 
first I have seen but I'm sure knives have been made of many materials and this one might cut some things. Actually, I just recently purchased a set of knives for the kitchen which are made of ceramic and they are absolutely terrific and I use no steel knives now. Does the knife cut? what have you cut with it?
 
Ivory is not very hard and would make a terrible blade material. My guess is that it is a piece of folk art and was never meant to be a functional knife.
 
I have seen a number of Sheffield knives from the 19th century with ivory blades. I think that they were primarily used for artistic work, like scraping ink form parchment.
 
Some types ofivory and bone bladed knives were used by the Alaskan & Canadian Natives of the Far North for cutting packed snow when building igloos, etc.
They were/are knives built for a specialized use and due to the slick nature of the material, they work better than steel for the intended purpose.....

This particular one though may be an "art" piece - a nice piece IMO whether usable for general purposes or not
 
I guess if you're using it for cutting snow, you also don't have to worry about your skin sticking to it if it's made from bone:eek:
 
Also used in Victorian times as page turners and letter openers.
When these got broken, people would reshape what was left for other uses.
If you google Ivory Page Turners, you get some interesting links.

have a great one one and all
david
 
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