Ethnographic Kitchen Knives??

[potapych]

Eastern Arctic, Inuit: Nunavimiut, 1900-1909, Antler, metal, 5.3 x 6.4 cm (From McCord Museum).

Canadian Inuit, ("Thule"), Ulu (woman's knife), bone handle and iron blade, Strathcona Sound, Baffin Island, Nunavut, circa 1500-1800 A.D. (From the Canadian Museum of Civilization).

While most of the earliest samples have slate blades (as illustrated below, from Afognak Data Recovery Project, Afgonak Island, Kodiak Archipelago), there is evidence that some of these peoples used meteoric iron and iron acquired from Norse adventurers as much as 1000 years ago, working it by cold hammering.

They are still a very popular kitchen tool and modern samples abound.

[fearn]

Originally Posted by potapych

Eastern Arctic, Inuit: Nunavimiut, 1900-1909, Antler, metal, 5.3 x 6.4 cm (From McCord Museum).

Canadian Inuit, ("Thule"), Ulu (woman's knife), bone handle and iron blade, Strathcona Sound, Baffin Island, Nunavut, circa 1500-1800 A.D. (From the Canadian Museum of Civilization).

They are still a very popular kitchen tool and modern samples abound.

I don't have a picture, but I got my mother a modern ulu from Dancing Man Knives several years ago, and she loves it. Since she has arthritic fingers, the ulu is useful to her, because it cuts with wrist and arm action more than finger pressure.

[Tim Simmons]

Also better to cut up meat with mittens on your hands.

[Mark]

Here's one with some age on it. Not exactly "kitchen" (open-air butcher shop, perhaps). It is an Acheulean hand-axe found along a river bed in central Ethiopia. Its about 5 inches long and 3 wide, and upwards of 1.5 million years old. Its quite something to hold, considering that the guy who made it wasn't even fully human (probably Homo erectus).

[A. G. Maisey]

Here's another Jawa kitchen knife.

This is my wife's mincer, for making big pieces of meat into smaller pieces.

Weight 600grms, overall length 14.5"

Made in Koripan, Jawa Tengah.

[mross]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Here's another Jawa kitchen knife.

This is my wife's mincer, for making big pieces of meat into smaller pieces.

Weight 600grms, overall length 14.5"

Made in Koripan, Jawa Tengah.

I like the hole in the middle, made from a circular saw blade?

[Montino Bourbon]

On a tour, I stopped in a large outdoor market in Chang Mai. A butcher there was using this, or something like it. I knew I had to have one.

Couple of days later I stopped along the road in a little village where they specialize in blacksmithing. One of the smiths was just putting the finishing touches on this. 16 inches long, blade 9 inches long, 3 inches wide. it weighs 1 1/2 solid pounds. And yes, I do use it occasionally. The last time I used it was to take apart a large fish.

Heavy blade. The spine is a quarter of an inch thick at the handle. It can be used as a throwing knife too, since it's heavy enough that no matter how it hits it'll hurt!

[fearn]

Originally Posted by Mark

Here's one with some age on it. Not exactly "kitchen" (open-air butcher shop, perhaps). It is an Acheulean hand-axe found along a river bed in central Ethiopia. Its about 5 inches long and 3 wide, and upwards of 1.5 million years old. Its quite something to hold, considering that the guy who made it wasn't even fully human (probably Homo erectus).

Ummm Mark,

Are you saying that you use this in your kitchen???

[Mark]

Originally Posted by fearn

Ummm Mark,

Are you saying that you use this in your kitchen???

Only for very large cuts of meat.

[pallas]

ive seen kitchen knives with yataghan "ears" before