Copper Culture Pattern Knife

[Yornoc3]

A few years ago, a friend of mine showed me an artifact he'd found up here in the Northwoods - a Copper Knife. It was in remarkably good shape for something so old; I think you could have put a handle on it, sharpened it a bit, and used it. I always had in the back of my mind that it would be interesting to make a copy of it in modern materials, and use it. Fast forward to present: a young man about the age of my son has started a part time business forging knives, so we went to see him, with the old copper blade, and he's on it. The new version of the old knife should be ready soon. Now I'll have to figure out an atlatl to use with it .

[PT7]

Sounds like a cool project. Will you make your own atlatl when you get back "the new version of the old knife?" What will be the OAL of the knife portion? Do you plan to hunt with it, or compete?

It would be cool to see you throwing one. Do you think you could capture some photos when you get it all together and show us how you do it? That would sure be a novel Range Report for everyone!

A few years ago, a friend of mine showed me an artifact he'd found up here in the Northwoods - a Copper Knife. It was in remarkably good shape for something so old; I think you could have put a handle on it, sharpened it a bit, and used it. I always had in the back of my mind that it would be interesting to make a copy of it in modern materials, and use it. Fast forward to present: a young man about the age of my son has started a part time business forging knives, so we went to see him, with the old copper blade, and he's on it. The new version of the old knife should be ready soon. Now I'll have to figure out an atlatl to use with it .

[daytime dave]

It will be interesting to see both.

[JEBar]

Fast forward to present: a young man about the age of my son has started a part time business forging knives, so we went to see him, with the old copper blade, and he's on it. The new version of the old knife should be ready soon.

looking forward to your continued reports .... Forged In Fire has become one of my favorite TV programs .... to me watching them take a hunk of metal and turn it into a working blade is fascinating

[Yornoc3]

The atlatl part was tongue in cheek, though I know there's a guy in Wisconsin who's really good with it. There was even a Conservation Congress question about possibly legalizing the atlatl for Archery hunting a while ago, but it failed to pass. It's likely that the atlatl was still the primary hunting weapon of the Copper Culture people who made the knives, the bow and arrow didn't appear until around the end of the Copper Culture period.

I talked with my knifemaker yesterday, he was called away on his real job as an insurance adjuster, due to the recent severe storms in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, so there's going to be a delay in finishing the knives. He's going to add a minimal hilt made of Copper, just so there'll be a little copper included. The blade will be about 3" in length, and quite thin, as the original is. It's about what we'd call a "bird and Trout" pattern. The handle will be antler, best guess as to what the original could have been. Deer leg bone would have been possible, too, but I like stag handles .

[BrokenolMarine]

Pics? I love beautiful knives

[Yornoc3]

I'll give 'em a go when I get the knife, I also have pictures of the original it's based on. Should be soon.