The crooked knife is the northern nomad’s woodworking tool. All the northern tribes in North America and Asia have their own version of it. My farm relatives use them to trim their horse’s hooves. I think that whatever wave of invaders brought horse culture to Europe must have brought this style of knife with them.
I made this particular knife years ago from plans in the book Wildwood Wisdom by Ellsworth Jaeger (1945).
Steps
Step #1: Jaeger's Plans.
Next
- Jaeger’s drawings are a bit vague about blade shape (see Plate 88). When you hold the knife as seen in the photo, the side of the tip is bent toward you. The side of the blade facing away from you is left flat; don’t grind on that side at all. All the grinding is done on the side of the blade toward you.
- He describes how an Indian craftsman “tempers the blade, hard at first, and draws the temper by heating to a yellow color.” By “yellow color” he means a yellow oxide layer, not a yellow heat glow.
- In 1945 everyone would have known exactly what he meant from watching blacksmiths at work. Today these words need further explanation. For more details read The Making of Tools (1973) or any other blacksmithing book from your local library.
Conclusion
This project first appeared in MAKE Volume 22, page 164.
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