Nanuq has a new toy

[Nanuq]

I was checking out some local handicrafts a month ago and fell in love with a certain piece. I kept going back to check it out and finally decided I had to have it.

Brian Schuch is the knapping genius that made this, and it speaks volumes of his skill. He knaps stone tools using ancient techniques and his skill level is just through the roof. He finds the materials to make these, and is now teaching classes how to do knapping with the old methods.

This is a hunting knife he knapped out of obsidian he picked up on a hike. The handle is a bone carving from who I believe is the same native elder that carved my son's Eagle Scout knife. Brian set the blade into the handle with pine pitch, then extracted fibers from stinging nettles to make the "string" that applies tension to the junction. Then he skinned a salmon for the leather, tanned it, and stitched it with stinging nettles. It sits on a simple birch base with a keeper made from a moose antler tip.

The knapping on the blade is extraordinary and the handle carving is just amazing.

This is one of those pieces my kids and grandkids will look at some day and marvel that Eskimos used to be able to do this. It's also fully capable, Brian uses his on hunts and says the blade will break before it comes apart. Gorgeous stuff.

 

[slay]

Wow, I don't know much about these knives (aside from what I remember from the cave-men documentaries that I watched as a kid), but it looks stunning! How do you (or how did the eskimos) keep these sharp when they used them every day? Do you take little nick little pieces out as it gets dull with use (do these even get dull?)

[imajedi]

Beautiful, especially love the bone handle.

[Nanuq]

If you're careful not to bear the edge against anything harder than itself it should stay sharp nearly indefinitely.

Brian showed me a stone knife he's used on 3 caribou hunts and he cut up each animal for packing out and it's still sharp.

I bet you're right, if it lost its edge he could knap a new edge by removing a row of thin chips along its length.

He even showed me a long thin wood handle he'd made with a long slender slice of stone set into it, sharp enough to shave with. He had several "replaceable blades" sitting with it. Looking closely at the extra "blades" you could see where they had separated from the mother stone almost like a delaminated layer, and the exposed edges were thin enough to see through, slightly curved, utterly smooth and incredibly sharp. Scalpel sharp.

[Mike on a bike]

Nice.......... these do not come cheap I would imagine.

[Justasgood]

Sharp piece

[Mike on a bike]

Just checked them out , yup this kind of craftsmanship does not come cheap but considering what they entail reasonable.

[astonjenks]

I am the very proud owner of such a piece thanks to my dear friend Bob :-)


AJ

[Mike on a bike]

Beat me to Andy was just contemplating having Bob pick one up for me.

[highoeyazmuhudee]

truly a work of functional art

[robertk]

Gorgeous. The workmanship is really something.

[Nanuq]

You got that right, carving like this comes from many many many hours bent over a piece by someone very skilled with lots of time on his hands.  Sadly, with the advent of the Internet and online interconnectedness, the youth in the villages are not learning these old techniques from their Elders, and the skills will be lost. 

..........unless people like Brian can keep them fresh and interesting to the youth. 

[Guest ThePhilosopher]

That's simply stunning.

[GBOGH]

That is amazing. Really admire the skill and craftsmanship

[bjarneb]

Pure art and one of a kind!!

And probably a good investment, you can hardly loose your money. Price will only rise

[nikki6]

Is that a fully flaked knife BMB, that's a really tough skill! I've tried it a few times and can't explain the skill involved!

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[Nanuq]

Yes indeed Nikki, it started as a piece of Alaskan obsidian (rare as a rare thing) and he knapped it down to a blade one flake at a time. It's sharper than heck too.

[nikki6]

I'll bet it is! I watched a guy work a piece while on holiday somewhere and asked if he'd show me, much to my delight, rather than say feck off he said 'sure, here's how it's done, it's easy!" Blimey, it was anything but. Incredible skill to take each flake at anytime time!

Very jealous of that piece!

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[Nanuq]

Come visit me here in Alaska mate, and I'll let you shave with it!

[nikki6]

Done deal BMB!

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[MAHLER]

It's a beauty and an art. On free time I would like to make a handle carved like that but with wood and metal.

Tapatalk

[KB]

That truly is stunning.

 

Ken

[surgcmdr@yahoo.com]

Wow

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[Yllekp]

Knives are not my thing, but that is a a piece of art. I love when craft, design and functionality meet

[FxrAndy]

Great work there. A lost art
Here is my new addition
Rather more modern



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