Something a bit different - Southpaw Ulu

F

F. Allin Kahrl

Joined
Aug 20, 2004
Messages
211
I got my first Christmas present last night: my first sale!

It's a commissioned piece I made for the client's husband. The recipient lost his right arm, I believe during military service, and needed a better way to cut up food with his remaining hand.

southpaw_front.jpg

southpaw_back.jpg


It's chisel ground (one-sided flat ground) A-2, 3/32" thick. The handle is hornbeam, carved by Roland Watier of Union, Maine. I've fitted it to the blade with hidden pins and Devcon 2-Ton. The shape of the edge is based on a logarithmic spiral, the same form used in rock climbing cams, and is meant to take full advantage of available strength throughout the arm's range of movement.

I realize the finish isn't up to the level of some of you guys, but comments on it and anything else are welcome.

I'll post the next one in the Makers' Gallery with the KnifeMaker membership I'm gonna buy tomorrow. :D

Season's greetings.

-Allin
 
Very nice work , very interesting but I never would have thought a chisel grind would be used for that application. It would be nice if you could get some feedback from the guy after he's used it awhile .
 
WOW!! That is very nice! I would also be interested in how it performs, the spiral design sound promising.

Nick
 
my first thought at seeing the title was...."an Ulu is universal...fits all hands"

But you have quickly changed my mind! Well done!
 
Nice ulu! I really like the carved handle work, and the bowl, too. You may do some business with taxidermy shops with your ulus, too. I made a user for a lady that owns a shop. Another fella, a saddle maker friend, has one I made that is more streamlined, to cut heavy saddle leather.
 
Very cool! ;) I like the handle with what appears to finger spaces for gripping. How did you grind that piece with the half moon shaped blade?
Scott
 
Thanks for all the positive words, guys. :)

Razorback - Knives said:
How did you grind that piece with the half moon shaped blade?
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Scott, I kind of cheated, but I'm happy enough with the results not to sweat it. First I cut out the curve with a hacksaw and shaped it on a disc. I have a Wilton 1x42 grinder like this. With 40-grit that little 8" disc actually works very well (and is very smooth when there isn't a belt on it). On the belt side, I've replaced the platen with a much beefier one I made, and have modified the work rest so that it can be set to a pretty high angle. (I also took it into work and surface ground it so it's smooth and flat, neither of which it was when I got it.)

That rest is quite large and allows me to place a piece of stock flat against it and slide it past the belt while concentrating on the angle(s) between the part and the belt and the point where the two make contact without having to worry about the bevel angle. I do that for both roughing and intermediate finishing, then hand rub in a Panavise after heat treat.

Eventually I'm going to either finish modifying that rest or build a new one so that I can go as close to vertical as I want with it.

-Allin
 
Mark Williams said:
You know what would be nice, is an Ulu with a fork built in for one handed folks.
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At first, I thought you were makin' fun'uh me. :D Then I realized 'Holy cow, :eek: you're right!'

Thanks for the idea, Mark! Guess I know what tonight's project is. :cool:

-Allin
 
That way you could cut and not have to pick up another implement. Be sure and show us what you come up with.
 
Leave it to Mark to come up with a great idea! I'm a lefty, and although I have both arms, I could see right off that the overall concept of the Ulu and fork combo would be a very usable device. Good going Mark! You also Allin!
 
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