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Fur Trade Crooked Knife

Fur Trade Crooked Knife - Knife, Crooked
Accession #: 251.24
Title: Fur Trade Crooked Knife
Object Type: Knife, Crooked
Participants:
Physical Description: A crooked knife with a steel blade and an elaborately carved pistol-shaped handle. The carving designs include a four-leaf clover, diamonds, a tree form, and cross-hatching. The steel blade is embedded in the wooden handle. At the joining point the handle is wrapped in a 2-inch long pewter casing. A brass mending plate is fixed to the handle with four copper pins and one brass screw.
Description: During the fur trade era, this handmade crooked knife was a handy tool for planing curved wooden surfaces, particularly in making canoes. Fur traders gained a toehold in the uncharted Inland Northwest by establishing trading posts where furs were abundant. As long as Euro-American fashion demanded furs, these posts appeared, merged, and disappeared, opening the door to increased settlement, from missionaries and military, to travelers and scientists.
Category: History
Dimensions:
height 3"
length 8 1/2"
width 1 1/2"
Materials/Techniques:
wood (plant material) ( -> -> -> ) (Material)
steel ( -> -> ->metal->iron (metal)) (Material)
pewter (tin alloy) ( -> -> ->metal) (Material)
brass (alloy) ( -> -> ->metal) (Material)
copper (metal) ( -> -> ->metal) (Material)
Related Exhibits:
Credit Line: Gift of the Reverend J. Neilson Barry, 1919

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