Yakut knife

[tallpine]

The first time I ever seen one of these knives is when a fellow forum member posted one in the for sale section. Being a lifelong knife collector and knife maker it's pretty hard to come up with something I haven't seen,The Yakut is from Siberia, its origin is lost in antiquity, the blade geometry is genius. I was fascinated by this funny looking knife and just had to build one. The blade is single bevel, it is convex ground on one side and flat ground on the side with the fuller. It is sharpened on the flat side only, holding the blade flat to the stone. After spending some time on Google getting educated on the finer points of the Yakut,

this is what I came up with. The traditional Yakut handle is made from Birch wood and reindeer horn, I was fresh out of Birch and reindeer so I used a cool piece of palmated whitetail horn , the blade is forged from a USA made file. Blade is 3 1/2 inches long, the bolster is pewter.
In conclusion, This knife is got to be the easiest knife there is to get sharp, just hold it flat to the stone,It will get scary and I mean scary sharp with very little effort. I tested the bade on a piece of oak firewood and heavy cardboard and after much abuse it would still pop hair.I really like this knife and am looking forward to trying it out on some east Texas hogs and whitetail this fall. Special thanks to brother Wiksmo for posting his knife for sale, it gave me the inspiration to build one

 

[FishDFly]

Nice looking knife, I have a weakness for knives. Sheath is very well done also.

 

[Bob McBride]

Nifty as can be.

 

[Notchy Bob]

Nice work, Tallpine! You did a great job on the knife and sheath.

If you're interested, I think Thompson's Scandinavian knives stocks Masur birch and reindeer antler. That is in no way a criticism of the materials you used. Just for reference.

Those are interesting knives. The Russians had a presence on our west coast from the Bering Straight down to Fort Ross in California. I understand they recruited some of their own native people to come over and work during the fur trade, and there is a good possibility a few of these Yakut-style knives came with them North America .

Wiksmo knows a lot about that sort of thing.

Thanks for showing us your work!

Notchy Bob

 

[Gun Tramp]

I like the knife but the sheath is above and beyond. Wow.

 

[JBeardNC]

Very nice knife. You can tell you're a professional. I've always liked pukkos, leukus and especially Yakuts.

 

[tallpine]

I have had the opportunity to use this knife through two hunting seasons, several pigs and five white tails. It's now my go to knife, easily sharpened and holds a good edge. I have made three more for hunting buddies and have had nothing but good feedback from them. Thanks for all the kind words, much appreciated.

 

[PathfinderNC]

Classic!

 

[Tony Rothrock]

I like it! Always had an affinity for Puuko / Mora type blades (I'm of Swedish decent, what can I say...?) I've "convexed" a few of those. This blade, while from a somewhat similar culture, is something different. Might have to look into getting one of those.

 

[BillinOregon]

Tallpine, it is fascinating and handsomely made. Do you have any idea what the purpose of the large, deep fuller on the one side serves? Just to lighten the blade?

 

[tallpine]

Bill, it is to make the blade easier to sharpen. The blade is held flat to the stone, with the fuller side down. This reduces the surface area of the blade thus allowing for less metal to be removed. This blade design is genius, Don't know if it is true but some believe that this knife was inspired by prehistoric bone knives, the fuller being the hollow part of a half of a large bone, could be , this blade design is ancient.

 

[BillinOregon]

Tallpine, excellent explanation and I bet your theory of the fuller replicating the concave side of a bone knife is correct. For some reason I had thought the blade would be sharpened on the non-fuller side, which of course makes less sense.

 

[Notchy Bob]

This blade design is genius, Don't know if it is true but some believe that this knife was inspired by prehistoric bone knives, the fuller being the hollow part of a half of a large bone, could be , this blade design is ancient.

I had read that also, about the original Yakut knives being made from a long bone from a large animal, just as @tallpine describes.

i recall also reading that the Yakut people discovered iron at some point in the remote past, and learned how to get the ore out of the ground and smelt it. However, they did not have the technology to make steel, nor was the bog iron amenable to heat treatment, so the metal was relatively soft. However, the iron was still a functional improvement over bone. Frequent sharpening was necessary, though, and the ancient design of the traditional bone knives was retained, I think because sharpening this type of blade was easy.

i believe also that these knives were made in left and right-handed configurations, based on which side is fullered (concave) and which is convex, although personal preference must have played a part.

This is a really cool knife!

Notchy Bob