Quality North American Indian knives

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Manoucher Moshtagh

Joined
May 24, 2001
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I am looking for reproductions of Native American knives with a decent quality and looks. Where can I get them?

Regards,

Manoucher
 
Manoucher -
There are no "Native American Knives", per se. Steel was introduced to the Americas by the Europeans, and was quickly adopted (and adapted) by the peoples. Knives were traded for furs, and redecorated, but the blades weren't produced by native smiths until much later in the "association". Blacksmiths from Europe who married into the Cherokee tribes, for instance, were highly valued members of the community, and passed their trade on to tribal apprentices. While they did make knives, their main production was in plows and general metal goods, and tools. The Cherokee already had an advanced agricultural society, as well as being the conquering force along the S.E. coast of the country. They assimilated iron and steel into this with a passion. For a look at some examples of early types (very authentic, and darned expensive) of European bladesmithing in "Native American Dress", try here:

http://www.artknife.com/makprof/winkler/winkler.htm
 
One of the types of knives that was regularly traded with the ndns was the butcher knife. I. Wilson knives were carried for trade and use on the Lewis & Clark expedition. Here's a later example of the style from my own collection. (Late 19th century or so.)

Also frequently traded were what were called "cartouche" and "scalper" style knives. Levine's Guide (IV) has an excellent section on the types of knives that were traded and used in this fashion.
 

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Here's a look at the blade stamp. The "Sheffield, England" portion was only used post 1891 per English law. I learned that thanks to the generosity of Bernard Levine in sharing his wisdom.
 

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Walosi,

Thank you my friend. Are these knives for sale? That is exactly what I was looking for. If not where can I get the similar knives?

Blues,

thanks a lot for the info.


Regards,

Manoucher
 
There are native American knives.
Different peoples in north America made knives and other tools out of chert, flint, meteorite, bone and rock. Several people make reproductions. Much later, materials traded or scavenged from Europeans were employed. I have an old bronze and antler knife from the High Arctic. What you are probably looking for are the later metal knives made further south that have been referred to.
There is a very active First Nations community that does reproductions of knives that they regard as a significant part of their heritage.
I would also add that there are modern native designs, especially from the North, that may not be what you are thinking of but you might want to check them out. I've including a link to Daniel Quevillon in Fort Simpson NWT["Wesley Knives"] who makes very modern designs, and three links to more "traditional" knives and materials.The last link is historical.
http://www.wesleyknives.com/
http://www.tfonativeamerican.com/NA-flint_knives.html
http://stonedge.com/basic.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/oh4/theflintknapper/photos.html
http://www.sos.state.mi.us/history/timetraveler/summerintime/timeline.html
 
You're welcome. I added two more while you were posting. The second last one is the first page of knives from a devoted flintknapper. His
knives are for sale. The last page is just a bit of history of historical native knives.
 
This is the largest example of a I Wilson knife that I have come across to date. These knives were very popular on the 19th century Western frontier.

n2s
 

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This I Wilson is slightly smaller and older. Notice that it is missing its bolster. All of these knives were made in a simple but practical design, and had a nice distal taper.

n2s
 
I think I finally got this sized correctly. :)
 

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I know of a local fellow who knaps knife blades from obsidian and mounts them on carved bone handles using sinew. I don't know whether or not they are based on indin tradition, but they are works of art and I think would be great to use as hide scrapers (prepping hides for tanning).

Green River Forge makes a decent reproduction flat-ground sheep's foot blade very similar to the one shown by N2S. I was able to pick one up at a rendezvous a couple years back for about $8. It's another project that will get an elk antler handle once I get my "round tuit.":rolleyes:
 
The Green River blades so famous actually came along a little bit later than most of the old trade knives. The Hudson Bay series put out by Cold Steel better reflect the early trade knives.
Thy're no longer made, but you can often find them at gun & knife shows here in the US.
Made from CS's infamous Carbon V steel they're very fine blades with lots of bang for the buck and thin enough to be a great skinning or scalping knife!!!! Goes a long ways in defining what a real "Survival Knife" really is.:)
I have a CS Hudson Bay Scalper with a beautiful beaded handle that I really like.
I've bought several blades without handles to use as they are or modified to become a karda and that's what my long slim karda in my 18" AK is.
I would imagine that they would come up on Ebay every once in awhile, but I seldom check Ebay out so I don't know for sure.

Any old knapped artifacts are pretty much worthless except for museum pieces as they are almost always dull when they're found.
 
here's a link to the ragweed forge...ragnar carries a selection of attractive trade knives at reasonable prices. he's also a good guy to buy from...great customer service and he gets stuff in the mail fast.

http://www.ragweedforge.com/HistoricalKnifeCatalog.html

here's a link to TwoHawks knife page, he specializes in tomahawks, but he carries some finished green river knives and a few nice generic sheaths. there a bunch of places you can buy the completed green river knives...most historical reinactment sites have them.

http://www.2hawks.net/knives.html

here's site that carries the full line of russel green river knives...i've never ordered anything from these guys so i don't know what their customer service is like.

http://www.kootenaihousetradingpost.com/knives.html

finally, you might consider buying some green river blades from texas knifemakers supply and making the handles and decorating them yourself. it's fun and pretty easy. you can buy everything you need from TKS...blades, rivets, a step drill bit and whatever handle material strikes your fancy. be careful if you try it tho...it can be addictive :) here's the TKS link...check out "carbon steel blades" for the Russel Green River stuff.

http://www.texasknife.com/TKS_Mainframe.htm


have fun,
e.
 
Manoucher if you want a high quality, hand-forged knife in a particular North American design you won't do any better than to contact Ryan Johnson at http://www.rmjforge.com and consult on the design. He lives near me and I have purchased two "Green river" type knives and one drop-point hunting knife from him in years past. He does pattern-welded steel daily and is quite expert (master's in metallurgy, IIRC) at tempering so what you end up with is a useful knife rather than a tourist's souvenir. In addition, Ryan is a young and hardworking fellow, his ethics are unimpeachable and the rest you'll need to discover for yourself.

best wishes

Stephen
 
Manoucher,

here's one last link...these guys sell the same line of trade knives as ragnar does, but it looks like most of their's come with a sheath...a nice bonus if you don't want to mess around buying a sheath seperately. i've purchased knives from these guys before and had good experiences.

http://www.knivesusa.com/category.html?UCIDs=1095404

have fun,
e.
 
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