Notes

Source of the information below: Inuvialuit Pitqusiit Inuuniarutait: Inuvialuit Living History, The MacFarlane Collection website, by the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre (ICRC), Inuvik, N.W.T., Canada (website credits here http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/posts/12 ), entry on this artifact http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/items/200 , retrieved 1-3-2020: Crooked knife with an iron blade attached to an antler handle with two iron rivets. One face of the handle where it is joined to the blade is curved and has an indentation to provide a grip for the thumb when held in the right hand. The handle is decorated on the same face with two parallel incised lines that follow the bottom edge of the handle. The bottom edge of the handle has a series of indentations to improve the grip. Two holes have been drilled though the handle, possibly for attaching a thong for hanging this tool. The surface of the iron plade shows remnants of cross-hatching typical of the surfaces of files, and it is likely that the blade had been made from a file. More information here: http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/item_types/18: Crooked knives were used for shaping wood, bone and antler. The Inuvialuit style of crooked knife has a small blade attached near the end of a curved handle. The knife is held with the fingers of one hand on the underside of the handle, and the thumb positioned on top of the blade in an indentation in the handle. The craftsman rests the underside of the blade against the object being worked, and draws the knife towards the body while using the thumb on the hand holding the tool to check the depth of the cut.