Thoughts on a knife-German Jagdnicker

 This is part of my not exactly tiny collection of German hunting knives, representatives of a very distinct and ancient style of knife. You can find knives with a very similar outline and concept as early as from the Roman empire, and throughout the medieval ages. It presumeably developed from both utility knives from the medieval ages as well as the "Lange Messer" / "Grosse Messer" and the "Bauernwehr". For the most part, a "Jadnicker" is seen as genuine, if it has the following properties:
-OAL 15-25cm
-Integral bolster, the "Kropf"
-usually single-edged with a somewhat triangular blade shape. Newer versions sometimes also have recurved cutting edges or a more En-nep or Kopis edge line.
-Handle material often is stag antler, although there are also cow, buffalo or ram´s horn, bone and wood around.
-The integral bolster for the most part has a fuller running rectangularily over the fingerpiece to the edge line and incisions or fileworks on the part towards the handle
-The tang can be either a short rat-tail tang or a full tang. Both are historical. If the tang is a rat-tail tang, there is an often richly decorated ferrule from either nickel silver, silver, and sometimes bronze or pewter. Newer versions are often cast, only but recently there are some reconstructions using sheet-metal techniques.

The term "Jagdnicker" refers to a hunting technique, when the knife is used to stab an animal into the neck to sever the nerves running from the brain through the spine, to kill it immediately. The vertebra directly under the skull base in German hunting jargon is called a "Nicker" (from the word nicken-to nod), the process is called "abnicken". The prefix "ab-" refers to a terminating action in this case.
This technique was always employed to ease an animal´s pain and in hunting folklore accompagnied by the word "Halali", which derives from Arabic "Halál": lawful, permissive. See also the term "helal" as anattribute for food. In hunting folklore in Germany, this was connotated into "May he rest in peace", and, psychologically speaking served as a legitimation for the killing of the prey. But this was far more than barely a lame excuse. There seems always to have been a more esoteric kind of folklore surviving in German hunting culture where the hunter was identified with the prey (Miracle and vision of St. Hubertus, St. Eustachius etc., Cernunnos-mythology), and so the call "Halali" also had to do with the wish to legitimate the own death in the death of the prey.

The Jagdnicker was widely in use since the medieaval ages. In early modern times there was the custom of an apotropaic use (use as a talisman against evil spirits). A most excellent essay in German you can find on the site of Peter Pfaffinger: http://www.fuhrmannsmesser.de/html/drudenmesser.html, who also does some of the best modern interpretations. The use of knives and metal objects as "apotropaion" is presumeably as old as metalworking an known throughout every human culture.

Also this style of knife was an integral part of the "Fuhrmannsbesteck", a set of cutlery, including a knife of triangular shape, a fork (up to two forks, to be precise) and a strop that could double as an awl. As such, it was (and is even now) carried in a separate pouch on the leg of the "Lederhosen" (leather pants) in traditional Bavarian attire. The custom of carrying two forks, one smaller one was, by the way, to provide one´s female accompany with an additional fork to partake in a feast, and called "Dirnd´l - Gabel" (Girl´s fork).

The Jagdnicker so has a very broad cultural background. What connects all of the aspects is a sort of ritualistic use. On many "Fuhrmannsbesteck" knives there are inscriptions found such as the Lord´s prayer, with an emphasis on the line "give us this day our daily bread", but also the AGLA - sigil: http://symboldictionary.net/?p=1135, the SATOR-square, INRI or IHS (Iesus Hominem salvator). Here (http://fimbulmyrk.blogspot.de/2014/02/jagd-und-hund-expo-2014-meeting-with.html) I have already written something about an encounter with Peter and some of the symbolic meanings of this style of knife.

Now keeping in mind the hunter´s call "Halali" and its Arabian roots I want to point out as a byline that there is a stunning similarity between the Persian Kard and the German Jagdnicker. See this (http://www.ashokaarts.com/img/product_images/image/detail/ewkardsheath1-45.jpg) as an example. You might also want to visit www.pinterest.com/Fimbulmyrk _ Russian and Persian knife and sword culture, for a load more examples. Now there seems to be a custom in the Achaemenid culture of Iran in the context of the paradise gardens (look here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_garden), where hunts were staged. It is therefore relatively safe to state that medieval courts in Europe were influenced by these concepts in their staged hunts, since the oriental influence on high medieval culture in Europe was being very strong. Of course that does not necessarily mean that the Jagdnicker was directly derived from the Persian Kard, and also a similarity by functionality might be possible, but it is highly probable. In a most interesting thread on bladesmith´s forum there is a "Bauernwehr" :
https://www.bladesmithsforum.com/index.php?/topic/21619-bauernwehr/, see the more utilitarian version that also shares the cylindrical tip of Persian Kards.

It is kind of a juicy aspect of all this that some hunters who are very traditional also tend to the right wing of the political spectrum and deny e.g. Syrian immigrants any kind of culture, while the very tradition they so much adore might be derived from a very ancient aspect of Syrian /Iranian/Persian culture, and more so, the tradition they uphold has its very roots in Islamic belief. Now do not get me wrong: I am not saying we all should convert to Islam (if we don´t mean it). But what I am decisively saying is that we have to admit that this world IS F***ING ROUND. Without so - called "foreign influences" any culture will die or be corrupted by incestual processes. And I am decisively saying that we should concentrate on what we have in common in order to sort out the things we must differ on. That does not mean we should adapt to any silly things that do not make sense to us. But we have to get in contact and decide without bias.

Things like these knives help me in the process. 

  

Another juicy thing: The décor on the blade of this knife is called "arabesque" for a reason... ;-)

The etching on the Hartkopf Jagdnicker depicts a stag, black-on-black.

This is a rare Hubertus piece with art nouveau ferrule and cap...

Below you can see one of my own works. Made from Wootz I found in the woods, 95x6mm blade, heat-coloured stag antler, selective temper, high, almost flat convex bevel to zero.

An early (2004) replica of a knife found in the Tyrolean Paseirer valley, originating from 1765. Forged from an old chisel with a full bainite temper.

Below there is the knife of my laid father. Hubertus full tang (tapered), 90x4mm, 1.4109 steel, full temper. He used it for just about everything from snacking to cutting drywall, from whittling to harvesting mushrooms for 30 years and loved it almost to death. When he was already sick, he tried to regrind it and completely messed it up and it was one of his joys when I managed to save it, so much in fact, that he gave it to me.  

This is another treasured knife, and one I found on a flea market in Wuppertal. It is a pre-WWI Solingen Jagdnicker (according to the style of stamping). The handle was rotten through and the tang corroded, so I epoxied a brass tube to it and, using the original ferrule, fitted a new stag handle. It is made from crucible steel (which showed a pattern), has a convex bevel to zero and is "nagelgehend", meaning the edge is ground as thin that it can be elastically deformed when drawn along a metal edge, such as a nail or steel finger ring.



This post can be by its very nature just be a teaser. The topic is vast and incorporates more knife types and regional variants, of course, and I plan to do some more work on it. As a conclusion, I want to say that I obviously love this style of knife. Obviously this is, because I grew up with it, but also for practical and cultural reasons. The knife has a lot of lessons to teach and questions to answer, while it also asks a lot more questions. It is a challenge and a treasure at the same time. And it is an important part of German culture.

This is something I want to emphasize. German culture and tradition is something that is held up either by right wing assholes or put down by superficial left wing madmen. But, if you stick to the mere facts (something that cannot be overrated in times of our everyday factocalypse), it has a lot of things to offer. German culture is rich, and it is rewarding to hold it up and live some of its traditions in a modern way. It has absorbed a lot of cultural influences and integrated them into its own context.

What makes me proud to be a German, if that phrase be allowed, stands out in stark contrast to what those right - wing hate preachers state. To me, German culture is that rich, because it was always open for new things while remaining true to itself.

I am proud that Germany welcomes refugees. That does not mean I am blind towards the fact that it is a difficult situation. There are a lot of fears involved, but the difficulties of the situation are not to be solved by hatemongering. If there is a large enough group of people, there is an ever growing chance that you will find an increasing number of assholes among them. If anyone I had welcomed as a guest in my home does not behave according to manners generally consented upon, the least thing I would do is give him a kicking outta my flat. If anyone acts as an asshole towards me, I will return the same coin. Of course. Anyone would do. But the culprit is: If your personality is strong enough, you can cope with foreign influences and take what they have to offer as your own, while dismissing what you do not want. So, say, you welcome a Syrian in your home, and you took turns cooking, you´d be in for some tasty adventures (I did, and I was), as would be the other way round. You don´t have to wear Syrian clothes or eat Mazza the whole time. But the fact is, interaction and the resulting cultural dynamics is never wrong. You just need firm ground on which to operate. Namely a strong cultural identity, and, yap, another problem, a solid material background. But without a true cultural identity, no solid material background would be possible.  

Enter the Jagdnicker. There are books on Puukos, Kards, Bowie knives, Khukuris, Ulus and whatnot. The only book on German knife culture I could find was a booklet, more of a brochure of some 35 pages and argueably written with a bit of political bias. People simply do not know. And yet I have the opinion that there is a lesson waiting to be learned. And if you do not know yourself, how can you possibly develop strength in your personality? A strong personality is capable of coping with arguments in a non-violent way. A strong personality is able to discuss criticism. But where is a strong and healthy personality in the German psyche? What would we lose, if we accepted our hunting traditions were originally influenced by Persian customs? A book written on German knives would gain quite a lot of pages and become a more interesting read if one would dare to analyse the roots in that.

There are a lot more questions to be asked, of course, and I am not saying I provide answers. But in my opinion, here´s a thread with which to begin. So this will not be the last post on German knife culture.  

The German hunting knife as an everyday tool and apotropaion

 

 This is somewhat of an edit of an ancient post from way back then. But as is, the times have changed a lot, and so has my perspective on the topic, albeit not THAT much. Still the German hunting knife, a.k.a "Jagdnicker" is one of my favourite styles of knife. The term Jagdnicker is a composite word out of "Jagd" (German for hunt, hunting, Swedish "Jakt") and "Nicker", a substantive of the verb form "nicken, ab-nicken", which refers to a special technique to kill an animal that is  either kept by the hounds or injured (see the picture courtesy of Alfred Fritschi, Kleines Jagdlexikon, J.Neumann-Neudamm Verlag, 1937, S. 120 via www.hegering.at)

 

The knife, whilst in history actually served as a hunting weapon, always has been far more than that. Even today it is customary to present it as a honourable gift, as a status symbol in traditional attire or even use it as an apotropaion (talisman against evil). Most commonly to date this style of knife is used in the German custom of "Brotzeit", "Jause" or "Vesper". This term needs some explanation, for it is not just, as translated "snack" or "dinner". The Brotzeit is the very definition of "slow food". Ideally speaking, people gather up in a Biergarten, the famed German - Bavarian institution to share a platter of sausage, cheese, mixed pickles, bread, pig stilts, Weissbier and Schnapps and other delicacies. Often the knife of the traditional attire is used, and it sometimes becomes a kind of show - off who´s got the most precious blade. This has, as far as I am informed, always been the case, and it is a kind of ritual showing off the knives and one´s own aptness in sculpting e.g. the white radishes, which are a traditional addition to the "Brotzeit" into accordion shapes and even wood spirits and the like. ;-). It´s also a good occasion to socialize with the lassies ;-), named "Dirnd´ln". Exactly for this occasion, many traditional cutlery sets came with two forks, and the smaller one was named "Dirnd´l - Gabel" (girl´s fork). This is almost a mating ritual, or so ethnologists tend to say ;-), for this indicated that the man wanted to provide for the girl. Many traditional hunting knives were also etched with Christian prayers or sigills. Popular prayers were e.g. The Lord´s Prayer or wishes for prosperity and health. Popular sigills were e.g.
 (picture from www.hermetic.com)
The Agla sigill was used for magical purposes, e.g. to ward off storms or Evil spirits. Other apotropaic inscriptions were IHS (Iesus Hominum Salvator - Jesus, the saviour of men, or Iesus Humilis Societas - The humble society of Jesus) or INRI (Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum - Jesus, from Nazareth, King of Jews). Another crucial mark were nine crosses and nine crescent moons. There was a saying in Bavarian dialect "Neun Kreutz un neun mo´greif´n alle deifen o´" (Nine crosses and nine moons attack all devils). Also in use was a kind of "rune" (of course, not genuinely so), the "Drudengatterl" (nightmare fence) or Drudenfuß (night-mare´s foot, on the left):

(Pictures courtesy from Peter Pfaffinger:
www.fuhrmannsmesser.de, thank you, Peter!)


 The Drud or night - mare was a nocturnal spirit, sometimes a supernatural witch making a lot of mischief, spreading animal diseases and turning the butter stale, up to killing people in their sleep. To ward this spirit off, the knife inscribed with the aforementioned apotropaic words or sigills was stuck into the bed post or the door stock. That way the night - mare would cut itself on the blade and flee. The defensive effect was emphasized by the sigills and inscriptions.

Apart from that, the knives were priced tools, but not necessarily used that much except for festivals and holidays; for farming work there were others, more humbly made. In any case, the knife was handed down in the family as a priced possession.

 In a way, this knife is something like that. It´s the knife that my father used for 25 years, an old Hubertus with a 9 cm blade and stag antler scales. Now it´s mine. I will not have any children, but if I had, they would inherit it ;-). This knife, simple as it is, is also a kind of talisman for me. It reminds me of all the hikes and foraging outings and "Brotzeit" - meetings with friends from Hessia we did together when I was a kid, of working in the reconstruction of many houses, when he cut the plaster boards and his lunch alike with it or scraped out his beloved tobacco pipe with the blade, of good times and bad times.

No wonder I have an affinity to this kind of knife, eh? ;-) A part of my collection: Top to bottom:

-Otter knives, 10cm, 1.4110 steel, stag antler with a multi - carry sheath for traditional attire and belt carrying
-Hubertus, 11 cm, rattail tang, 1.4109 steel, with art deco fittings and a lovely sheath for traditional attire.
-Hubertus, 12 cm, full tang, C45 cryo - hardened steel with a surprising edge-holding capability for that steel., Sambar stag antler
-Widder knives, 10 cm, full tang, 1.4116 steel, stag antler, with a beautiful etching of a fisherman on the blade
-ancient Solingen Nicker, 11,6 cm, rattail tang, crucible steel, pre - 1920.
-Rudolph Broch blade with Weberknives fittings, C60, 10 cm, cowhorn handle
-Hartkopf Nicker with a beautiful stag etching on the blued 1.4110 10 cm full -tang blade, stag antler

 This is a knife I made long ago in the garden of my old home by the lake, after a historical piece from the Southern Tyrolean region of the Paseirer valley. 12 cm, chisel steel with a full bainite temper, ca. 59 HRC.

 ...in riverso. I fitted the Edelweiss badge in, which is a bit controversial. Many people would look at it as trumpery, but as is, I have actually SEEN Edelweiss "in person". I am thoroughly fascinated with this flower and it conveys a meaning to me: While it clings to the sheer rock and prospers in the most hostile conditions, it will die in a cultivated garden. And even in the most hostile environment, there´s still a flower growing, a strange flower, white and pale and ghostly even, but still-only strange and strong flowers will survive in hostile environments. So my trusty readers might see why it appeals to me ;-).

 This is a bad example of a "Drudenmesser". It is made in Pakistan. Oh, so it cuts well, but...
 It´s made from stainless industrial damascus, and it´s even tempered. It was dead cheap, to be true, yeah, and the blade is well made. The mountings are sloppy, but they even have some kind of tribal knifemaking charme to them. So why is it a bad knife?

Now, imagine there´s a very accomplished craftsman. He makes knives like these, with love and meticulous precision and fierce passion. He just so can make a living from it for himself and his family. But he strives to get better, as any dedicated craftsman does.

Now, imagine there´s another guy in the neighbourhood. He looks at the knives the first guy makes and is like "Yeah, I can make a profit from that." And copies the knives to an extent that his master´s mark has the same pixel mistakes as the Drudengatterl from the homepage I just quoted. And makes them in Pakistan at a fraction of the price.

This would not be half as bad if he had talked to the first guy in the first place and would say the truth about his knives. For a knife made in Pakistan, this is good enough, and not everyone wants to or is able to afford a knife for almost half a grand. As I said, the knife cuts well, the Damascus is relatively carefree, it´s a light carry and it´s dead cheap and offers quite a bargain. For a user, this would be fine. But that´s not the point in it all. I personally would suggest to save for the real thing, if you want something for a good traditional attire. But a lie is never good and eventually will fall back upon you.

 This is another knife I made. It´s apotropaic "power" lies in the fact that I have made it from ancient crucible steel I found on the St. Jakes pilgrimage trail near my home. It is selectively tempered.

 Here you can see it shows a kind of pattern in the blade. The steel was presumeably processed by one of the ironworks in the vicinity, ca. 1890-1920. The blade has a hardness of ca. 61 in the edge and 45 in the spine. Typologically, the knife is inspired by the traditional style of Jagdnicker with a semi- integral layout and a somewhat triangular shape, but differs a bit. The bolster I filed out octagonally, and the blade shape is also a bit different. The sheath is made for belt carry, not for a knife pouch in the traditional attire leather trousers.

 ...but as you can see, there are deviant shapes along the traditional design produced, too.

All of them made by Hubertus, my favourite traditional knifemaking corporation in Solingen, but available from other corporations like Linder, too. The topmost knives are made from 1.4034 (420HC), the two below are made from 1.4109 (which is similar, but not identical to 440A). It is most interesting how well even the 1.4034 blades hold an edge. This is due to cryogenic hardening employed by Hubertus and a very sensible forging process with a lot of experience. The topmost knife is one of the first knives I ever got-my father bought it for me in Austria when I was 11 years old. I only once had to reprofile it.

The German hunting knife is a knife that has a strong connection to our cultural identity. Of course it could be used as a weapon, as anything could, even a pillow. But it has strong roots in our history, our religion of state and our social culture. It has contributed a lot to what we are and thusly shaped our future. And while Germans are reluctant to say that they are proud of their culture, because of some aspects of contemporary history (the Third Reich), this culture is very rich, not because of its enclosedness, but in the contrary, due to the plurality of its people. Now this plurality is enriched, or could be, by the many refugees and immigrants. But in order to empower a sane and sensible way of integration and cultural exchange, we must keep in mind who we are and where we come from. The German term "Gemütlichkeit" was exported as far as the USA. If you use a very literal translation, this means "being like one´s mind", referring to a sort of well-being along the requirements of one´s soul. The Jagdnicker and Drudenmesser are but one, but a crucial part no less of at least the oft - quoted Bavarian Gemütlichkeit and find their equivalents in other styles of knife throughout Germany. Being well along the requirements of one´s soul is a thing of personal dignity, and this is something that the German "Grundgesetz" (which, unfortunately is not a constitution of state, since we are no state, but ruled by a trust corporation) assures every citizen, provided he acts according to the law.

This knife can show us who we are, if we ask the right questions. If we know who we are, we can put up to our challenges better. It is an experiment of the mind I can recommend to anyone not sure about the refugee problem; just ask the question what knives do they use and why. Just ask one question at a time-and don´t get me wrong, that´s quite difficult to do, and chance is, you will find many things that differ - but also many things that are similar. We have no choice but to look at the things similar if we want to build the society of our mutual future without compromising who we are and the well-being of our collective soul.

To those who try to offend us, we could answer with a meme I once read in an Austrian inn:

"Buama, wann´s raufen wollts,
Dann lasst´s eich raden,
Die Messa san g´schliffan
 Und d´Pratz´n san g´laden!"

(Boys, if you want to fight, please take council, the knives are honed, and the fists are loaded!" ;-) )

Noone in their right mind wants to quarrel with a Bavarian who´s drunk! ;-)

Kidding aside, I hope to have made clear that this style of knife has deep cultural roots in tradition, and it is those roots that in my opinion could prepare us for the future. If we fear the bad things that could happen, we are wrong. We have to look at the chances of our culture. In fact we have no choice. The knife could give us the "Gemütlichkeit", and this is something we should strive for also for the new citizens of our country; gathering around the table and sharing good talk, and the food we all like respectively. No harm done if one prefers the beef to the pig stilts on the platter-if he doesn´t make a fuss out of it and ruins it for the whole lot.

Message...;-)

Jagd und Hund expo 2014 - A meeting with Peter Pfaffinger and the German ritual knife

 

Then I met with Peter Pfaffinger, and this was a right pleasure and  a privilege to boot. Peter makes "Drudenmesser", traditional German ritual knives, all by hand in the county of Bayern, and his knowledge far transcends mere craftsmanship. He simply knows all there is about folkloristic religious practice, and is eager to learn and discuss new takes on the topic. We had some seriously academical talk, so serious in fact, that Rainer, a friend and fellow knifemaker I met on the expo who first was with me at his  booth, shook his head and went on his merry way. Sorry, bro, if we upset you! Some talks, however, are not to be missed, and I hope Peter and I can collaborate on an article on German ritual and peasant knives very soon!

Go to his website : www.fuhrmannsmesser.de to have a first look on all there is to know on those knives!

These knives and forks were traditionally worn in the traditional pouch in Bavarian attire "Lederhosen". They often came with a smaller, second fork, the "Dirnd´l-Gabel", which was a lady´s fork to lend to the girl one was with in the inn. The knives are made with 1.4034 blades, real silver and mother-of pearl inlays, with handles made from ebony, buffalo horn, wood, bone and antler.

They are traditionally and even in modern times used as a snack knife and are an essential part of Bavarian culture. Often people just meet in the inn´s garden, and use their own knives and forks when delving into the traditional Bavarian vesper plate dish (Brotzeit). Typically a bavarian vesper plate dish contains several different kinds of smoked bacon, sausage, cheese, pickles, in some cases even pickled cabbage and a pig stilt. You drink Weissbier along the process and a Schnapps for the digestion. It is not consumed in a hurry and often takes several hours. Showing off one´s knife and fork is even as important as the food;-).

Now we are nearing the topic of the "Druden" knife. The "Drud", "Trud", Traud" or *Thrud, *Thraut, was reputed to be a witch coming in the night to the bed of the possessed, resulting in a tightness in the chest and nightmares. The Drud therefore is of the same stamp as the (night) mare in England. The Druds were said to be part of the furious host and subject to Wode/Woden/Wotan.

The traditional bavarian folding knife took the place of the fixed-bladed knife when visiting an inn with a fixed blade knife was not liable any more. The engraving IHS means "Iesus Hominum Salvator", Jesus, saviour of man and was used as an apotrophaeic symbol from the early medieval ages, and was said to have power over every demon spirit. The black handle, made from chamois horn, als had an apotropaeic meaning, as had the inlays of brass sun and moon symbols. Peter makes these with D 2 (1.2379) steel blades, not my favourite steel choice, of course, but who am I to argue;-), they are good enough! by the way, they are simple friction folders.

Peter also had a load of historical knives on display, and you could hardly tell the difference.

Some knives of his personal collection, and all have a boyhood or other story to tell. Peter has been a boy scout for most of his life and has visited many countries in the process.

This is an original Druden knife. The inscription I could not yet read, but I guess it makes clear that these knives had a symbolic meaning!

This one, however, is the most precious knife in his collection. How come? It is a working/utility knife from the 17th century. They are very, very rare for they simply were used up. I love the Santoku-esque blade, and I guess I will make one soon!

And this was right cute. A snake chasing a mouse on the spine of one of his very own ritual knives. I have used that symbol myself, and we had a lot of talk about this symbol, too. We talked about snake symbolisms throughout the world, and about the culture of knifemaking and knife use throughout the cultures of man. I hope we will have a chance to meet again soon. We have planned to do a feature on knife culture together and I look forward to many discussions of the like!