The BT Special -- or why it pays to have a wood model. Pix.

Doc, I ain't quite ready to spend a hundred to make a dollar. The handshake might be worth it though. Smatchets were a take-off on the old Celtic leaf blade. Back in WWI a rich Welsh colonel had a batch of leaf bladed short swords made by a London cutler for issue to his regiment as "trench knives (swords)". Apparently they worked pretty well at it. The smatchet is a great knife, if you can find a decent one. I think Boker is making the current production version. I actually like this design better though, mainly due to the recurve on the belly, and the fact it's made at BirGorka. I wonder if Sanu will have a crack at this baby?

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"To Know and to Act are One"
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Bill Martino:
I told you the memory was going. This is, indeed, the HIKKS and not the BT special which is yet another special order in the works. Too many special orders and too little memory.

In looking over the old thread on this I find the following interested folks:

Snipehunta
Doc
Fausto
Rkenny
beezer
orion
Matt Maheny
eda-koppo

So, is everybody still in? I hope so because I've placed an order for 8 more after seeing the job they did on the model.

</font>

 
Uncle Bill,

Sorry about the above post; sometimes I push the wrong buttons at the wrong time. Anyhow, I'm still in.
 
:
Doc the old knives were symmetrical and were much wider than what we normally call a dagger with lots of belly.
A good example is the old Hudson Bay Trade Dagger.

I have some of the Time/Life Books on the American Indian and there's a pic in them that shows some of the northwest people with very large obsidian daggers that were probably or at least could have been the model for the HBTD.
Most stone ndn knives are not too big or at least the ones I have seen and handled.

I saw another interesting dagger at a museum in Montana when I was about 16. The blade was solid copper and had a wood handle secured with either sinew or rawhide.
It would be interesting to know whether the copper knife came after the obsidian and before the trade daggers or whether it was fashioned after the steel one.
It wasn't too uncommon to find copper nuggets, sometimes rather large ones, in the northwest.
The ndns there used it to good advantage. Not everything shiny was used for jewelery.
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Jelly Fish that's very interesting.
It seems that a lot of us don't think about the explorers and adventurers in other cultures besdes our own.
And that's really a dayumed shame since all those who were free spirits blazed the trails for the rest of humanity.
Something else that's interesting is the similarity of the tools those early explorers used in spite of the difference in distance or culture.
Or perhaps because of the distance and culture?
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A lot of people study our origins and such and I find all that very intersting, but What I Would find Most Interesting is the answer to questions like where and how certain things like the bow & arrow, the atlaytl, agriculture and similar came about in so many different places in common time lines.
Every culture I have studied (not a lot compared to the many that exists or exsisted) has their legends of one who came and taught the people all of these things as well as how to live without killing everyone off.


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Yvsa.

"VEGETARIAN".............
Indin word for lousy hunter.
 
Uncle Bill, I'm DEFINITELY still interested--what's the approximate ETA on this after you place the order--just want to know so I can set $ aside!
 
Yvsa:

The newer studies are beginning to concentrate on the North American trade routes thru the various Nations. Archeoogists in Illinois have found artifacts in the Mounds that could only have come from Mexico and Central America, and there are many other "out of place" items elsewhere. It seems for all their clannishness and territorial protectiveness, our forefathers were willing to let someone pass freely, from a great distance away.
 
Yvsa, Walosi-

Didn't traders have special status? I have read that the Kokopelli glyphs represent a trader: the hump being his trade good sack or pack, and the flute being used to announce his approach to the village or camp he was visiting.

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"To Know and to Act are One"

[This message has been edited by Finn (edited 06-02-2001).]
 
Finn:

That, and his reputation among some as a joker or trickster (would you buy used arrows from this man?) There were many types of traders (short range - long range) but the ones who reputedly came very great distances are the mystery men. Great stuff for pondering.
 
Good find, buoy...

And yet, still I have no katar. Therefore, since the kamis won't make one, I myself now resolve to make one out of wood.

I shall call it, the "Polack Katar!" :D
 
I'm in for a HIKK. If I'm that fortunate. Good looking knife. Thought I was finished with Khuks until this one came around.
 
Originally posted by Bill Martino
Why they didn't make the katars I just don't know. When I ask about them I get no response. Maybe they are waiting for a wood model.

this is quite a nice katar design :)


kattar.jpg


kattar3.jpg


kattar4.jpg


kattar8.jpg


B.
 
Thanks for pix. That is a nice one.

They have some nice examples in the National Museum. Gelbu could take Sanu or Bura out there and tell them to "make a few like this" but for some reason that's not getting done.
 
Is this katar held by the cross grips between the two metal prongs? I saw these on the FAQ page and wondered about them. The "prongs" would provide nice protection of forearm for blocks and such... one in each hand would be rather interesting...

Alan
 
Alan,

Yes, you hold them by the center crossbar and let the two side bars ride along your forearm for protection. I am almost certain that the extended bars were held against the forearm by some kind of wrap (something like a ace bandage). Be careful, many older examples tend to be too small for western hands.

n2s
 
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