The Ulu...?

R

RDog

Joined
Jul 28, 2011
Messages
366
Is the Ulu knife worth adding to the kitchen? For those who have one, have used one, or at least seen them used first hand, does this blade design have anything to offer over "normal" kitchen knives? To my understanding they are all single bevel, and that alone is a plus to me, at least for food prep.

Naturally I am aware they have a long history, but I am interested in if after using one you see the value of adding one to the family...does it really get used or just sit in the drawer?

thanks.
 
The answer to your question really depends on what kinds of food you eat & how you prepare them in your kitchen.

example: If all you do is slap peanut butter onto bread, then I'd have to say an Ulu isn't a good choice.
 
For me, no. What is extremely useful, at least to me is, a sturdy scraper with a sharpened edge. The one i have is made of SSteel. You can cut, scrape & chop & then scoop it all up & put it into the pot or pan.
 
I have 2 of 'em and use 'em frequently, if ya have one with the curved wooden cuttin' bowl it becomes even more useful.

Like any other tool in your kitchen, it has it's uses and when used properly, it can't be beat but ultimately it comes down to personal preference.

I have an old jar opener from the 40s in my kitchen drawer, I don't use it everyday but when I need somethin' to open a tough jar it's my go to tool, "...right tool for the right job." as my Old Man was fond of beatin' into my head.
 
A good paring and chef’s knife are far and away more useful in the kitchen.
ULU’s have their place out in the fishing villages……
I’m not a fan of ULU’s at all.
 
I'm a fan of ulus. My wife grew up in the Arctic, and is where we got our most used ones. While I don't use them all the time, I find them great for large amounts of veggies for stir frys, I prefer them on pizza vs rolling cutters, and have them out when stripping fat off of whole tenderloins and the like.
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Here is a shot of the comercial ulu I use with our other most used kitchen knives at the time (we were moving shortly so the other ulus were already packed away)
IMG_3749.jpg


An ulu was also the second knife I ever made from plain steel onwards, and traded it for my textbooks in my massage program, for another therapist who dehairs and tans his own leather for clothing.
Uluinstand2.jpg


The only ulus I've seen that we're single beveled were the commercial ones, and while I use my commercial one if I need a smaller ulu, I prefer the traditional ones we have- although I find it horrid that they tend to destroy the beautiful musk ox horn by melting plastic cribbage pegs into it for "decoration". No matter how much I tried, I couldn't get my coworker (who made ours I found out after the fact) to just do a plain handle.
 
Hey Kris what do you prefer the one with a single bar from the handle to the blade or like your commercial one with 2 attach points?
 
I prefer the single tang design- much more versatility, especially if your hands are a bit bigger, plus the single tang design is usually round brass stock, so much more radiused and comfortable in hand.
 
Ulus are great kitchen tools and even the cheap ones are usable as long as you don't mind touch up the edge often. I find they work better then anything for dicing and chopping. They are decent slicers as long as the what your slicing isn't too big. I would like to find one with some decent steel and at a good hardness but in general you have to have one custom made for that.
 
I carry a tiny one when I go out in the woods. It gets it's fair share of use. Like a tiny light little hand ax.
 
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