Ulu knives

[Guindesigns]

I just found out what this knife is. I've been looking for a good knife for my mother-in-law for skinning deer hogs and pretty much anything we bring her dead. lol
would this be a good knife for that. and would it be hard to make for a stock removal method?

 

[Drew Riley]

Ulus have been used to skin and dress game for 1000s of years. Don’t see why your MIL couldn’t make good use of one. As for making one via stock removal, should be pretty straight forward. Just start with a piece of steel as big as you want to make it, cut it out, and work like any other blade.

 

[Guindesigns]

Ulus have been used to skin and dress game for 1000s of years. Don’t see why your MIL couldn’t make good use of one. As for making one via stock removal, should be pretty straight forward. Just start with a piece of steel as big as you want to make it, cut it out, and work like any other blade.

Ok, Thanks

 

[KenH]

I made a couple by using an OLD 7" skilsaw blade cut in half and working from that.

 

[springer82]

That's a cool blade. They can trace that blade back to 2500 BCE. That puts it over 4500 years. WoW,,, I'm sure she will love it. When I get my shop back I might have to make one. Thanks,,,,, lol

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulu

 

[John Wilson]

Just do yourself a favor and look at actual ulu knives used by native people, not the tourist trinkets you see. There are subtleties that matter.

 

[Jim Levite]

I purchased one several years ago. It is a Bristol Bay Ulu. It is just thick enough to be Ridgid. To say it is sharp is an understatement. Bone handle, incredibly comfortable to use and skins deer like nothing else.

 

[Guindesigns]

I purchased one several years ago. It is a Bristol Bay Ulu. It is just thick enough to be Ridgid. To say it is sharp is an understatement. Bone handle, incredibly comfortable to use and skins deer like nothing else.

Cool could you take some pictures of it. I'd really like to see some that people made or use. To judge the thickness and what not.

 

[Jim Levite]

I will get some this weekend. It's very thin. I will measure it with a micrometer. It was made with 100 year old saw blade.

 

[soundmind]

I like them for cutting thin strips of meat to make jerkey. It'd be cool to "gift" her a smoker along with the ulu and you might end up with a good snack! I also like them for a quick cut on roasts b/c it's easy to push cut right through with a couple down strokes. I think that's where you get the benefit of using a blade from an old handsaw b/c its already thin. I think the other benefit of that is fish processing.

I hadn't ever seen them used for field dressing, just fish processing and processing meat at home, but I'm sure people have. I live in a native community and I showed my friend one I was making out of thick steel and he mentioned it be good for breaking the bone like the way you'd chip or score one side and then hit it on the other side.

Just my two cents, hope it's worthwhile as I've never owned or used a thick one yet.

 

[springer82]

I did a Google for,,, "photos of ancient ulu knife". I found tons of pics. You might be able to find the dimensions of a ancient ulu.