Home Forums Gear Knives and Blades Ulu knife

Anybody use or have one. Thinking about building some.

I too have thought about building a couple. I have been asked too, but they don't look like much fun to make. I suggested they buy a blade from one of the suppliers.

I was given a "Platinum" stone by a native in Goodnews Village AK in 2005. It is what they use to sharpen their blades. It is unused (ie: not worn in) and I always thought I should make at least one ulu to wear in the stone. The stone reminds me of soap stone. I am guessing they are not used to very hard steel and like butchers, just give it a lick now and then.

Do you have a pattern figured out yet??
Tim

up until now I've been buying my stock pre-cut in bars of approx. width to reduce the amount of cutting I have to do on my steel. I suspect that a lot of the makers do the same thing. You don't see as many of those types of designs like the mini-hatchets that you and Brett have done and Ulu's and such because it requires pretty wide stock to start with. Just a guess but I suspect there'd be a lot of interest if more were produced but I think more custom makers are doing the same thing I have been up to this point and just buying pre-cut bar stock that prevents the option for the most part. I'm going to probably start buying sheets in the future so I can do more of these kinds of designs myself. (More I learn about this stuff the more I realize how little I know).

I for one would love to see you make a few.

Dale

Have several pattern drawn out. Never used one so at this point my vote don't count. Fish-n season is upon. I think they would be the ticket for chunk bait for either trapper line or fish. Grinding will be done flat or convex. Any idea, advice or experience would be welcome.

The ulu was certainly the blade of choice for the northern indigenous folks. It must be the optimal style for their use. It has not been well accepted as you go south. Not sure why, but I have not used one myself so????

Rick, you using a carbon steel or??
Tim

I used ( or tried to use one ) for a couple of years. It never seemed to do anything very well. I could never seem to get the angle of attack on what I was trying to cut, or the leverage right.

In the kitchen a Deba or similar design was a much better choice for me.

Dive in head first Rick, then when you figure it out you can splainit to the rest of us.

Seen one used by Eskimos (on tv), seems to be best suited for long sweeping strokes. They were sure peelin that whale pretty quick.

saw a film once with an iniuit woman cutting up a seal. she was increadibly efficient but i think you really need to start as a child not using our standard patterns; to become good with it.--cranky72

Hey when the Indians first figured out how to sharpen flint and obsidian They thought they had it made. Then it was how to make steel and sharpen it, how could it get any better. But look at us now. Everyone became proficient with what they had.

That Inuit woman might pick up one of our modern knives and throw it in the fire.

In progress

I think they could be real handy in the kitchen, but I
don't think I would like one in the field. I have handled a few
but never used one for anything.

Rick, I volunteer to do some testing for you.

Can't wait to see this...

I can't imagine cutting fish without a decent uluaq. Traditionally the thinner and harder the material, the better. In ancient times, people traveled distances or traded for good stone which was often slate. More recently, handsaws are preferred. Typically they are ground on one side only. A good, high quality handsaw can produce some very nice-edged blades. The pattern varies by maker and user preference. An ideal blade for smaller fish like herring might be nearly useless for Chinook salmon or even Cohos. The converse is also true.

Commercial ulus/uluaqs do not generally find their way into the favorites collections, though just about anything along the design is useful. The ability to have so much control of the blade and the ability to apply pressure directly over the edge can be very beneficial.

Interesting discussion of ulu's. I had dinner with a group of co-workers last week and one of them was an Aleut women. Somehow we got on the subject of fishing and cleaning fish and she said when she was first married her husband asked her for a knife to dlean a fish. She game him an ulu and he refused to use it saying an ulu was a woman's knife.

One of these days I'll have to try an ulu, though traditional fillet knives seem to serve me fairly well so long as I keep them sharp.

Any advantage of only one side being ground?

When you're making mine grind both sides.

Yes. Typically the blade gets laid on it's side and used to slice underneath things. (It works good for fleshing like this.) Imagine -assuming you're right handed- having a salmon lying in front of you, head pointing away- tail toward you, dorsal pointed toward your right. You lay the blade down nearly horizontal and take a curving slice just above the dorsal line on the fish, slicing inward, horizontally, toward the backbone. That is a fairly common motion when using such a blade. The bevel is down and rides along the dorsal bones without cutting or catching on them, and without dulling the edge.



Here's a pattern that has become a favorite around our home. It's a smaller blade and is about perfect for herring and pink salmon. (The picture is lousy, but you get the idea.)



My wife puts away black meat (dried seal) using the advantage of the pressure over the blade to cut through the hard/tough meat.

All jokin' aside, klik, looks like you've got some experience. Having seen em used they are impressive in the hands of someone knowledgeable especially as you described.

That knife is almost identical to my pattern. Were do you get the knives?