This is a fun little project I started in the magic troll 's living room. Actually there are few things that I love more-we were sitting there, after having some lovely, simple food, with our snacks and cozies and a hot beverage. I mounted a knife blade from Helle Knives, she made her beautiful Naalbindning needles, while there was some sort of documentary on the TV. To me, this is not only the perfect wintertime pastime, but it conveys a lot of meaning to me. I do think that this, or something very similar, was what our forebears did when the weather was grim, way back to the paleolithic. Well, without the telly, obviously. 😉 If you want to see her work, drop by
Koboldkerker.blogspot.de, well worth the visit.
Anyway, I really do love Helle Knives. The blades always come in razor sharp, and most of them get the task done admireably. We had those Skóg/Fjellmann blades lying around for ages. It is made from H3LS, a three layer laminate steel with a carbon steel as a cutting layer and arming steel sides from 18/8 stainless steel, which offers rust resistance from hell, but cannot be hardened. It offers a bit of spring resistance, though, when forged. Blades like that are made by Helle since time immemorial and have been proven to be really resilient.
I mounted that little blade (80x2,7 mm) with a handle from reindeer antler and birchwood burl. At the first glance, it doesn't look any special, but it is
A while ago, I made some trial pieces for a replica of the Trollstein knife, a knife unearthed by Norwegian archaeologists at Lendbreen glacier, near #Trollsteinen. Look here for my thoughts:
http://fimbulmyrk.blogspot.com/2024/04/thoughts-on-trollstein-knife.htmlThis is the original find. The pictures are copyright by @vegardvike and museum of culturalhistory, Norway. On the pictures you can see that the knife has a rather interesting handle shape, with sort of some diamond cross section and sort of a bevel towards the edge line of the handle. And testing my sample pieces, I found this to be a real game-changer for a lot of applications, from food prepping, to skinning, and it really excels at wood carving.
On the picture below, you can see what I mean.
I wanted to incorporate this idea in a more modern handle design. Because, while the handle on the Trollstein knife is actually really efficient, it also makes the sheath design a bstd to get right. Also, I do like a little more contour and purchase in the handle. So I put those facets on a more modern design. It is obviously not a replica, but really works awesome. It is about the principle of signalling your brain and body which way you hold the blade. And what I want to say is, that I would not have known had I not tried to make a replica of the find.
Archaeology gives us insight into the knowledge of the past. The principles that people applied historically still are relevant.
In Germany, there is something going on that can only be called a culture war against all things of cultural heritage, science and craft. I do know it is even worse in the US. At the Uni, there is currently a move of the administration, and behind that, possibly altright political forces, to close down entire ethically relevant faculties like Archaeology, literature and philosophy, but also actively defunding medicine, mathematics and physics.
Think about the relevance for your actual life situations. For Archaeology, it might not seem obvious, but the relevance actually is pretty commonplace. Call it "the knowledge of the ancestors" if you want.
I am not actually asking "cui bono" yet, because I do not need to. Suffice to say that this handle design is really a rather enlightening experience.
And it was first designed in the iron age.
If you possibly can, try it out to get my meaning.
All the best, and take care!
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