oh man.......i still have nightmares about this spring....I tried to make 60 in a few weeks ...so I had days when I was at it 14 hours....this fall I'm taking my time.
Ulu knives are traditionally chisel ground on the edge. The reason a chisel grind is used is that it makes the blade cut away from the fingers of the off-hand holding the animal being cut up, ie skinning a seal. The handle is also off-set in such that fingers get more handle than the thumb side.
Hello Dave ! I have been working as a machinist & toolmaker for about 35 years of employment. Received an apprenticeship from GM-Fisher Body back in 1989, so have been a journeyman Tool & Diemaker since graduating. I have a suggestion for cutting the steel by using your idea with the vise. By clamping the blades between 2 pieces of steel with the edges of the plates lined up with your cut line and then clamp them either in your vise or with some heavy c-clamps. These plates will need to have the 2 edges fairly sharp or machined to give you the flat edge break you want. By you "sandwiching" the blades between this way you clamp all the way across and give you more room to work. This worked for me as well using radiused edges to bend sheet metal to do a quick part for due repairs while running service on the stamping dies I currently work on when the presses stop and need my attention.
Nice thorough video. :) In Alaska, Canada, Russia, Greenland, and elsewhere, uluit were not just made from old saw blades but from all kinds of metal that came from trade: spades, shovels, iron, etc. Even thin iron from old shipwrecks were used. Handsaws are now favored, but that's a relatively recent trend.
Thank you. I appreciate this entire video. I have an ulu that i purchased in Alaska as a wedding gift for my wife in 1977. It has an antler handle with two brass pins. We still used it. It was made from a circular saw blade. Who know where it was actually made. It has held up well. Keep it out of the water. Wash and wipe the blade, put it away. We wash all our knives by hand. When I use them, I wash and dry the blade immediately, even the SS ones. I don't like the idea of a sharp knife in a sink full of dish water. Just saying. Blessings to you and yours. Those are keepsake blades for sure.
Hello my friend, greetings from Ecuador, your work is Amazing, Im working in create ULUS, my friends are very happy with the results, you have now a new fan,
These are beautiful. Cool to see how these are made. It helps me to visualize the process before I make something, and I'm glad you went slowly and methodically and explained the safety stuff
Thank you for your knowledge about old saws. It's to late to save the saw that my dad gave me as my son got rid of it with many of my tools at a garage sale. He thinks he is the alpha male in our relationship & his tools that I gave him are better than mine. I saved the chisel that my dad gave me & I will give it to my grandson to keep it in the family. One thing my dad passed on to me is to have a file for wood & the old file for metal but don't use the metal file on wood again. He was a Industrial Arts teacher for many years. I became an IA, Vocational Auto, Vocational Construction, Vocational Appliance as well as a Special Ed teacher. I still like to learn things as well as teach what I know. You 2 married people are good teachers without having the paper certificate to teach. Some of us are gifted to pass on our knowledge to those people that wan't to learn.
Excellent tutorial..! You made it super easy to understand the steps, tools needed, techniques involved. Audio - visual learner here.. :-) I appreciate the fact that you took the time to point out that you shouldn't ruin a perfectly good functional old tool and to use those that have lost their usefulness. I love old tools and I absolutely hate it when I see people destroy tools that still have plenty of life in them. Thanks for the video....
I just watched Brook talking about her favorite knives . The ULU you made for her was number one . I like them too but never thought about making one myself . Thanks for teaching me how ! (PS: I love your wife 😍 She is a hoot and smart and beautiful etc etc etc . ) You are the sure winner there brother !❤
Hey there Dave thank you for the video and thank you for showing us on RU-vid how to make this one day I'm going to make one or more myself now I know how thanks to you
Absolutely outstanding! I really like how you use common tools that most “nonprofessionals” have access to or already own. I truly enjoy all of your vids. Thank you so much. 👍🏻
As a guy who's bought old saws for using as saws, I was cringing a little at the beginning until you told everyone not to destroy a good saw. Also had no idea they were that brittle. Now I know what to do with some junkers...Thanks!
That was cool! I had just bought an ulu a few months before u started making them. So I couldn't see myself buying another just yet, otherwise I wudda bought one of urs! I picked up an old rusty saw at a thrift store, no idea how old it is. I'll probably give it away to a friend that wanted to make an ulu, I don't trust myself... I might lose a finger! Great video... Never would have thot to break steel like that!
They’re definitely good skinners.I’d like to have one. I’ve used a hatchet edge and loved the way it worked with the curved face. Much better than with a knife. I see it’s benefits.
Hi Dave you know if you use a dremel with a cutting disk just to score the lines slightly, dont cut them out with it just touch lift off you wont generate enough heat to hurt anything and then do exactly what you were doing you will get some clean breaks I've done it,,great video Rick from Owosso M.I.
Thanks Rick. Ive never used a dremel cut-off wheel for anything but they always look interesting when I see them in vids. I use a hand held grinder with a wheel on a daily basis, but that would be way too hot for this.
If you used a 1" slab you can cut a slot in it the thickness of the blade, if you use a handsaw you can make the slot pretty close to the thickness of the blade
Thanks for the great video Dave, I'm going to try this soon. I really enjoy your down to earth approach to things. Breaking out a knife with a hammer looks like my kind of project. Ha.
Good deal I learned alot I have a few circular saw blades destined for scrap now I'll try making an ulu and maybe the broken off shard could be a striker for a ferro rod thanks Dave.
I have the Norse Hawk, from Cold Steel, when the head is removed from the handle. You basically have an Ulu knife. A nice tool, and one I will have to actually add to my collection.
Dave, for the final removal of the wire edge I have found that a leather strop epoxied to a plank and drawing the ulu blade back towards you is more effective at removing the wire edge, then finish the honing on the gray cardboard from the back of a stenographer's tablet.
In cultures where the primary purpose is scraping hides, that's true, but in cultures where the primary use is cutting fish, they often bevel both sides.
Thanks for an excellent video. Short, sweet, right to the point. (Some might say 45 minutes is not "short," but you wasted no time. It was no longer than necessary.) Your ulu knives look like a very practical use of simple materials. You did the job with a relatively common set of tools. Again, thanks for a nice video. One thought: I would have wanted to remove all of the rust---but that's just me. 🙂
Hey, Dave ... all the best with tonight's eBay sale of your Ulus! Just watched you make mine (well ... at least, the process you used :) Thanks for sharing ... really enjoyed watching! Oh, and BTW ... we always had Wheel Horse tractors when I was growing up. Nice to see yours is still in service! Later, my friend ... God Bless
Hey Brother! I have 3 wheel horse tractors. Right now one is in the woods hooked to the log splitter, the other is hooked to the wood trailer. .........the other one is in parts under the apple tree
This is an awesome how-to for making an ulu knive! We have a couple in our kitchen, but i think I was to try one of these with the hardened steel (I think we got the 'tourist' version)! Regardless, tha you so much!
I assume this was filmed before th barn bit the big one... Great video with a ton of info. Love it. Miss the cabin in the big state but love thw how-to stuff.
I thought you already had a video showing how you made them but this one had much more of the details in it making it even better They look like really nice knives
@@Bushradical No I just remembered seeing it some place I was thinking about making one and trying it for skinning but was going to try to make one from a circular saw blade
Evening, Dave... You've given us a marvelous tutorial, here. Many thanks. I'm wondering if perhaps scoring might help w/ a cleaner break? The splitting wedge is a great idea. I too, like utilizing & improving whatever I might have on hand for just the right tool.
You could score it with a grinder or rotary tool without the temler being affected and finish it off with snapping it. It will snap cleaner as it will break at the weakest point, which will be the scored area. Also, a chunk of squared metal pressed against the material, then hit the chunk of metal would make the strike more evenly spread and would give cleaner breaks.
Thanks for the video. I have been wondering about your method of getting the knife blades out of a saw blade. My son and I turn a knife (though not an ulu yet) out every so often using the same way: I learned how in an old edition of Foxfire if you know the books.
