[AlArchie]

I just posted a picture of a 'knife' I made about a year or so back over on the picture trail site, under KNIVES.

First a little history. Â*In the late '30's my dad found the blade on the left near Crystal Falls, Michigan in what was then called 'The Blueberry Plains' area, along the Paint River. Â*As best as I can recall, he researched it and decided it was an ancient Indian flensing knife, made from copper, mined in the Upper Penninsula.

Five years back, I contacted several archaeologists who were working on some Native American sites on the west end of the UP, and asked them about it. Â*They looked it over and said they believed it was, in fact, an ancient flensing knife, and dated it about 1000 BC, or around 3,000 years old.

Even that far back, predecessors of the Menominee and Ojibway people were extracting copper from shallow pits on Isle Royal and the Keewenaw Penninsula. They discovered that by hammering the native copper into shapes, it becme hard enough to fashion into servicable cutting tools.

I replicated this blade as best I could, attached it to a handle with rawhide bindings and wound up with a knife that was sharpened enough to cut quite easilly.

Not hardly carving capable, but interesting, none the less.

Al

BOTH are very cool, Al! Thanks for sharing.

Teri

Al - I think you just won the tool race ... no matter how many I buy there's no way I can top that.

[Captain_Bandaid]

Whoa, Al! That is really interesting! Are knives of that shape still used? Or has the Ulu superceded it?

[AlArchie]

I haven't seen any of these made, other than the one I did, although there have been several hunting knives with a hook like that, only smaller for gutting, with the cutting edge on the inside of the hook. Â*a flensing knife has the outside edge sharpened and is used for skinning and removing tallow from the hide.

the basic shape is that of the Ulu, but the handle attachment is different.

Maybe I should try forging one from steel and see if it still is usefull, or just an oddity.

Al

[Captain_Bandaid]

Al, I planned to forge a few Ulu's today but I wore out my arm yesterday. Today, these make great veggie choppers and meat slicers. I don't think I will call it by its proper name or people will think it is culturally focused and not want them. :

[lorax]

If I wanted to 'Flense,' how would I go about it? Does it have to do with dental care?

[AlArchie]

Nope, that's flossing! Flensing is the removal of tissue and fat from hides, prior to tanning. In whale harvesting, I believe it is the removal of the blubber from between the skin and carcass. This was done with large curved blades on the end of what looked like a hoe or rake handle.

Unless you are doing any tanning by hand, most of this work is done by machine, now. A good skinning knife still has a scimitar shaped blade though, and these may have derived from this ancient style blade, at least here in the North American region.

Personally I wouldn't want to flense; it's a MESSY process, but hey, if you'd like, have at it! hehehehe

Al

[Daryl]

Al, Is 'flensing' and 'fleshing' the same thing?

[Callynne]

Al, you're doing a great job on the knife and I loved the 'history' lesson, thanks!! Callynne