A cutting instrument which Indians fashioned from many materials, including hard wood, stone, metal, shells, and even the teeth of animals.
The most common of the early knives was made from flint. The edges were beveled by flaking. Where copper was to be had, some Indians made their knives from this metal. However, after the white man came, Indians used knives of tempered steel. A butcher knife was highly prized and the Indian would sharpen this on one side of the blade only so that the cutting edge was made from the hardest, or outer part of the steel. Such a knife made an ideal scalping knife.
Some Indians made a "crooked knife," on which the end was curved, for use in carving and gouging. May of these were fashioned from old discarded files.
In eating, the Indian held his meat with his left hand and teeth and cut off a bite by an upward sweep of his knife. He was adept at just missing his nose.
Related Information within this Site
[ Flint ][ Metalwork
][ Scalping ]