Mocotaugans, or crooked knives.

The Native People of North America seemed to have thought the Crooked Knife, or to use one of  their names for the tool, Mocotaugan, was, alongside an axe and a knife, an absolutely indispensable tool they could use to make everything they needed, from working on a birchbark canoe, to making snow shoes and all sorts of things.

I have to say I like the crooked knives myself, and have made quite a few over the past 2/3 years. For some reason, it does not seem to interest people involved in Bushcraft that much, which I found surprising considering how indispensable it was to people who relied on "bushcraft" skills and tools for their survival. Anyway, I consider if the crooked knives were good enough for them, it's definitely good enough for me.

I am not talking about the Scandinavian hook knife which is a different tool.

A few pictures of some Mocotaugans I have made:











The first one I made had a straight out blade. I didn't use it much because it didn't work that well for me.

The second had a swept back blade, better but not quite right yet.It is still a favourite, I like the antler handle, it's was just the right shape for my hand. The spoon was made entirely with it, although the curve is a bit flatter that it would need to be for hollowing the bowl of the spoon. Easily cured by making another crooked knife with a tighter curve!

It does take a little effort to get used to the hand position (palm up) but once you get the hang of it it's a really good tool. These all have 2mm thick blades and work well, but I think that for a all purpose work-horse, I would make the blade slightly thicker, 2.5 to 3mm at the base reducing the thickness at the tip.