Hudsons Bay Artifacts

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Hudsons Bay Artifacts

• The Crooked Knife

Cheryl 9-04
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• What Is It?
• The crooked knife appeared around the 17th
  century or earlier. It has a crooked handle and
  knife is curved. "Instead of jutting from the
  handle end in the same direction as the axis of
  the handle, these blades pointed to the right
  about 10 degrees or- and upward about 20 degrees
  or- from the usual blade/handle line of most
  knives." Ouote from http//hvgb.net/themdays/uncl
  ewallace.html.

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• It Was Used For
• The crooked knife was used by Native Americans
  and white backwoodsmen. It could shape wood in a
  variety of ways. The knife can also shave,
  split, whittle, carve, or hollow. It made such
  things as canoes, paddles, snowshoes, toboggans,
  bowls, baskets and masks.
• The blade forms even allowed the knife to be used
  as a boring tool. A boring tool is a tool that is
  able to carve out or hollow objects.

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• It Was Made Of
• The knife was usually made of wood, iron, steel,
  or bone. Leather was used to wrap around the
  handle and connect the blade. Most of the time
  it was made of whatever was on hand. The knife
  is still used today but it's only made of steel.

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• It Was Made By
• It was made by a blacksmith who said to someone
  trying to scoop something out with a knife, "You
  want to scoop with that knife? Give it here. For
  one beaver skin I'll put a curve in it." It was
  almost impossible that the Europeans came and
  gave the natives steel billets and said "Go make
  yourself some crooked knifes."

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• How Is It Made
• First you take the temper out of the steel. Then
  you make steel red hot and shape it with a file.
  After that you heat it up again and dip it into
  salt water or weak pickle juice. Then once again
  run your file over it. If the file cuts into the
  blade then it's to soft and you should shape it
  again and try again to run the file over it. If
  the file doesn't take hold then it's too hard and
  you should heat it up again. If the file
  smoothes the blade down then it's perfect and you
  have your crooked knife.

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• It Assisted The Fur Trade By
• The crooked knife assisted the fur trade by
  making canoes and paddles for transporting furs.
  Snowshoes for crossing the land in winter.
  Toboggans for putting furs on and making it
  easier to slide across the snow covered land.
  Spring traps for catching animals and baskets and
  bowls for trading.
• The crooked knife was able to do everything
  needed to make each of these items because of
  its particular shape.

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Crossword Puzzle

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Bibliography

• Notes
• http//members.aol.com/mocotagan/
• http//hvgb.net/themdays/unclewallace.html
• Images
• http//members.aol.com/mocotagan/
• Slides 2, 4, 5, 7
• http//hvgb.net/themdays/unclewallace.html
• Slides 3, 6