Proper Name For This Style of Knife

[NDtreehugger]

I call it my pizza cutter

 

[sideways]

That's an Ulu

 

[SaintlyBrees]

Looks like a variation on an Ulu, an original Eskimo design - I think.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulu_knife

 

[SaintlyBrees]

That's an Ulu

Lol! Just beat me to it. :thumbup:

 

[sideways]

Lol! Just beat me to it. :thumbup:

I was more economical with my words.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Ulu is an Inuit term for women's knife. The knife in the original post is an Italian chopper called a mezzaluna -- half moon. My Austrian grandmother had one.

 

[blixxx]

I think that's an Ulu...I think...

 

[Esav Benyamin]

I bet you read the original post and posted without reading the rest of the thread.

 

[Thomas Linton]

Each of my grandmothers had one, and both called it a "cabbage chopper" or "slaw chopper." They used it with a large, shallow wood bowl. (One was from eastern Kansas and the other from Fall River Mass.)

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

I agree with Esav. It's a mezzaluna. They're often used in a dished cutting board, if memory serves correctly.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

My grandmother's also came with a shallow wooden bowl, a formidably well-used bowl at that.

 

[sideways]

I thought mezzalunas usually came with two handles, one for each end of the curved blade.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezzaluna

 

[SaintlyBrees]

Ulu is an Inuit term for women's knife. The knife in the original post is an Italian chopper called a mezzaluna -- half moon. My Austrian grandmother had one.

Respectfully...

I could be wrong, but I thought that the major difference between a mezzaluna and an Ulu is the country of origin. In reality they can, and often do, resemble each other.

The mezzaluna most often has two handles - one for each hand. Often used for cutting pasta, chopping veggies and such. An ulu, OTOH, has a single handle. Sometimes 2 posts to the blade from the handle, sometimes one. Most often used for removing meat from the bone. But...the Ulu is also used for chopping veggies and often can by purchased today, from Alaska, with a chopping block or bowl.

But, without a bit more to go on, I think it could be either one. My reason for suggesting that it "looks like a variation on an Ulu" is that we had one (regrettably lost in a flood in La. back in 1995 - what a freakin' nightmare) that my Wife obtained in Alaska that was almost identical to that one. I'm not sure how anyone could definitively say one way or the other without a closer exam - hence the reason for my specific wording, "looks like".

Still, I am all for furthering my education (personal experience notwithstanding) and would be quite interested in knowing how this could be definitively classified as a mezzaluna or an Ulu for that matter. A few pics, borrowed from the 'net, to help muddy the water:

mezzalunas:

Ulus:

Many similarities between these two kinds of knives and yet many differences within the individual type in both cases. And in fact, around the world we'll find several other knives similar in design. This one, for example, is Finish:

Or the knife in the OP could just be a Pizza cutter.

 

[NDtreehugger]

Respectfully...

I could be wrong, but I thought that the major difference between a mezzaluna and an Ulu is the country of origin. In reality they can, and often do, resemble each other.

The mezzaluna most often has two handles - one for each hand. Often used for cutting pasta, chopping veggies and such. An ulu, OTOH, has a single handle. Sometimes 2 posts to the blade from the handle, sometimes one. Most often used for removing meat from the bone. But...the Ulu is also used for chopping veggies and often can by purchased today, from Alaska, with a chopping block or bowl.

But, without a bit more to go on, I think it could be either one. My reason for suggesting that it "looks like a variation on an Ulu" is that we had one (regrettably lost in a flood in La. back in 1995 - what a freakin' nightmare) that my Wife obtained in Alaska that was almost identical to that one. I'm not sure how anyone could definitively say one way or the other without a closer exam - hence the reason for my specific wording, "looks like".

Still, I am all for furthering my education (personal experience notwithstanding) and would be quite interested in knowing how this could be definitively classified as a mezzaluna or an Ulu for that matter. A few pics, borrowed from the 'net, to help muddy the water:

Many similarities between these two kinds of knives and yet many differences within the individual type in both cases. And in fact, around the world we'll find several other knives similar in design. This one, for example, is Finish:

Or the knife in the OP could just be a Pizza cutter.

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I wonder if the shape of the blade has anything to do with the name?