The Ulu

[xl_target]

The Ulu knife or "Woman's knife" was typically made and used by the Eskimos natives. Early Ulu knives were made of flat rocks, slate or even Jade and had bone or wood handles. Ulu knives were used by the Eskimo people to process the seals, Walrus and Fish that they used in their everyday lives. These knives were used for skinning, scraping and cutting. The Ulu knife has a very distinctive shape and only one edge is sharpened. The knives were also used to trim blocks of snow and ice used to build igloos.

Today a lot of people use Ulu knives, especially for preparing food.
The rocking motion allowed by its shape is especially helpful for dicing vegetables.
See how to use an Ulu Knife here

Here is the Wikipedia take on the Ulu knife:

The size of the ulu typically reflects its usage. An ulu with a 5 cm (2 in) blade would be used as part of a sewing kit to cut sinew. Kimaqtuut is a small ulu used for cutting out patterns from animals skins (seal, caribou) which is the two-inch blade. An ulu with a 15 cm (6 in) blade would be used for general purposes. Occasionally, uluit can be found with blades as large as 30 cm (12 in).
The Ulu comes in four distinct styles, the Inupiat (or Alaskan), Canadian, West Greenlandic and East Greenlandic. With the Inupiat style ulu the blade has a centre piece cut out and both ends of the blade fit into the handle.[5] In Canada the blade more often is attached to the handle by a single stem in the centre. In the western areas of the Canadian Arctic the blade of the ulu tended to be of a triangular shape, while in the eastern Arctic the ends of the blade tend to be more pointed.[6][7]
The shape of the ulu ensures that the force is centred more over the middle of the blade than with an ordinary knife. This makes the ulu easier to use when cutting hard objects such as bone. Because the rocking motion used when cutting on a plate or board with an ulu pins down the food being cut, it is also easier to use an ulu one-handed (a typical steak knife, in contrast, requires a fork).

A West Arctic Ulu


A West Greenlandic Ulu


An East Greenlandic Ulu


An Alaskan Ulu
Images and text are from Here

This particular example, I believe, is one made for the Tourist trade and has never been used. The steel appears to be stainless steel but the edge has not really been fully sharpened. It will cut but it's not razor sharp. The yellow cast in the photo is due to the mirror finish of the blade reflecting the light; as the images were taken by incandescent light. The first image is more indicative of the actual colors. This example has a birch handle. My wife picked it up at a garage sale for $2.


The Alaskan Ulu on it's display stand


A Bear catching Salmon is etched on the front side


The rear with its unsharpened edge.


You can see the edge of the blade here. The bevel going towards the actual cutting edge.

Some commercial Ulu makers:
http://www.ulu.com
http://theulufactory.com
http://fishcreekalaska.com/index.php?ma ... x&cPath=24


Maybe Two Rivers will throw some additional light on the subject.

[Mack The Knife]

Here's mine. Also, a touristy Ulu brought back by my parents in the mid 90's.



BTW, I think the locals prefer to be refered to as Inuits and not Eskimos.

[xl_target]

The reason that I used "Eskimo" instead of Inuit is that Ulu's were/are made and used by more than just the Alaskan Inuits. I'm not sure if its proper to refer to the Canadian Inupiat people as Inuit.

Here's mine. Also, a touristy Ulu brought back by my parents in the mid 90's

On the bottom of the base of mine is handwritten "May 2003 from Mom & Dad"

[Mack The Knife]

The reason that I used "Eskimo" instead of Inuit is that Ulu's were/are made and used by more than just the Alaskan Inuits. I'm not sure if its proper to refer to the Canadian Inupiat people as Inuit.

In Canada and Greenland, the term Eskimo has fallen out of favour, as it is sometimes considered pejorative and has been replaced by the term Inuit. The Canadian Constitution Act of 1982, sections 25[2] and 35[3] recognized the Inuit as a distinctive group of aboriginal peoples in Canada.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskimo

On the bottom of the base of mine is handwritten "May 2003 from Mom & Dad"

I better check mine but knowing my dad, he would have thought, "Oh, a blade...better get one for that nutcase of mine."

[xl_target]

I went with this explanation.

In the United States, the term Eskimo is commonly used in reference to these groups, because it includes both of Alaska's Yupik and Inupiat peoples while "Inuit" is not proper or accepted as a term for the Inupiat. No collective term exists for both peoples other than "Eskimo".[9]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuit

[Moin.]

Nice Xl and Mack, thanks for sharing. There's something about these utilitarian knives, their simplicity, form follows function designs that makes them so appealing. Someone had posted a very nice link on how the Japanese Chef knives are made, was a treat to go through.

Best
Moin.

[essdee1972]

Does clicking on the thumbs up mean "thanks"? Anyway, thanks again, XL & Mack..... for the Ulus and the Inuit / Eskimo links.

[marksman]

I have seen the Gujjubens in the U.S. making good use of these Ulus in their kitchens. Comes in very handy while fine chopping vegetables they insist. In fact I was praised for being so thoughtful for my wife when I showed them the two Ulus I had picked up on my trip back from Alaska. One with a Caribou horn handle and the other with Walrus Ivory.
BTW, tourist often fall for the trap when the seller calls it Ivory....They are not entirely wrong but the word "Walrus" is conveniently omitted while selling these. I was quite pleased with myself when I exposed the scam with quite a few prospective buyers around and sadistically enjoyed the reaction on the face of the sales lady as well.

Marksman

[xl_target]

Even Wikipedia just calls it Ivory.
I guess its assumed that most people know that any Ivory obtained in Alaska would be Walrus and any Ivory obtained in Africa would be Elephant. You're quite correct, however, that a lot of people don't know.