Knives

[Timelord]

True about the kukri. I use a very similar blade form - A Parang. Tradition jungle knife form the Far East. Kukri's & Parangs are very advanced bladeforms.

The Hudson bay Trading Company, back in the 16th century onwards used a type of knife that was obviously up to the rigours of dealing with anything the really wild west could throw at it. this type of knife was traded with the Indians who prized it very highly. There are some surviving line drawing pictures and wood cut pictures that survive in historical archives.

The approximate dimensions of the knife were about 18 inches long inc the handle. The blade was single edged with a thick back edge. The edge profile was curved similar to a stretched out parang and towards the front the curve was more pronounced in the heavier part of the blade for chopping etc. I seem to remember it did not have a clip point but the edge back from the point was more straight cut up towards the back edge - a bit like a dark age Seax (scramaseax to some) the tang would have run all the way through.

This design of knife would have been arrived at through function & robustness in antiquity prior to our first surviving records of it. It appears in the drawings to be used for everything including chopping logs & preparing timber, camp duties etc. The basic design was repeated through history when army commanders needed some type of bladed weapon for their boggy infantry that they could not destroy in cutting down trees for firewood (95% of usage for soldiers of the time) or in other camp type utility duties.

I am wary of bayonets as I have had them snap under simulated combat conditions. Also it is interesting to see their internal construction after one of these events. The ones I had broken were specifically designed for thrusting and had no serious lateral strength. Looking at other styles, like Warsaw pact ones, then they look designed for all round use, although I have not had one in bits to analyse it.

Anyway I will stop now before I drift on to unconnected subjects. Regards, TL.