Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

tom hyle · 30th October 2006, 05:44 PM

I am not sure that's correct. The division being drawn may be one that is not so sharp in reality. The crooked or canoe knife is a knife held tip down and edge toward the user, and its classic use is for carving hollows in wood. The handle tends to have a certain shape (perhaps suggested here, though no fully elaborated), which is, at least modernly, used to facilitate 2-handed use (steadier and more forceful). What is the origin of these knives? Does anyone know? The resemblance of many to hoof knives may be a telling one; many American Indian hatchet and knife styles were determined by what type of European blades were available. Certainly a hoof knife can be used as a canoe knife, and is prbably the most easily available type available to woodcarvers for such use (I have a left_ and a right-curved one). Perhaps this has always had a truth to it. Certainly knives of the general type that cannot be solidly attributed as to Indian or European are seen not infrequently. Similarly, it is generally/often hard to attribute home-made/frontier-made knives of other types in N America to a specific culture.

30th October 2006, 05:44 PM	#2
tom hyle Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Houston, TX, USA Posts: 1,254	I am not sure that's correct. The division being drawn may be one that is not so sharp in reality. The crooked or canoe knife is a knife held tip down and edge toward the user, and its classic use is for carving hollows in wood. The handle tends to have a certain shape (perhaps suggested here, though no fully elaborated), which is, at least modernly, used to facilitate 2-handed use (steadier and more forceful). What is the origin of these knives? Does anyone know? The resemblance of many to hoof knives may be a telling one; many American Indian hatchet and knife styles were determined by what type of European blades were available. Certainly a hoof knife can be used as a canoe knife, and is prbably the most easily available type available to woodcarvers for such use (I have a left_ and a right-curved one). Perhaps this has always had a truth to it. Certainly knives of the general type that cannot be solidly attributed as to Indian or European are seen not infrequently. Similarly, it is generally/often hard to attribute home-made/frontier-made knives of other types in N America to a specific culture.