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What are Siberian Yakut Knives?
- Traditional Yakut knives are as symbolic of Siberia, as khomus, Siberian Tigers, fossilized Mammoth tusks or Yakut diamonds. Moreover, for many centuries, the knives have played a much larger role in the lives of the indigenous people of Siberia, than all the gems lying in the ground. The importance of this item to the Siberian people is captured in an old saying: “Knife – my third hand”. Knife – an indispensable companion of almost any traditional craft. It is carried while fishing and hunting, while also used when carving and working in the kitchen. A craftsman may even use a knife as a wood planer.Geometry
Owning a Yakut knife is a learning experience. Yakut knife’s blade has a concave/convex geometry with a hand-forged or machined fuller one one side.
The first most common impression from the sceptics is that “as you sharpen a blade like that, you will run out of the cutting edge”
This idea is due to a misunderstanding on how to sharpen a Yakut. You sharpen a Yakut blade by laying the knife flat on the fuller side. Over time the fuller gets less deep, but you always have an even amount of steel on the edge. If you were to sharpen it like a “conventional” knife, then yes eventually you would lose the edge. Sharpened correctly will result in a razor thin edge with a strength of a knife and you never run out of the edge to cut with. - There are many theories on where this concave/convex geometry originates. Most likely it was inherited from the early bone knives used by the native Siberians such as Evenki and other indigenous people.
Yakut Knives 