How to Make an Ulu?

[Buck Hedges]

For steel, I have some leaf springs from an old truck, and recently got some broken farrier's rasps from my brother. The pieces are anywhere from 3 inches to a foot long.

 

So I have nice flat bars to work with, and I can figure out how to hammer on the edge side to curve the blade, but for the life of me, I can't figure out how to bring the sides up for the handle.

 

For limitations: I can't forge weld yet (okay, I managed to weld a single spot a year ago, but I'm burning furnace coal, so getting the heat up high enough is tough), but other than that, I can shape steel.

 

This is an idea I had, but I don't know how practical it is:

 

 

 

I'm open to advice on the design as well. It was just an idea I drew in my journal.

[Joshua States]

There are two basic design shapes for the Ulu.

1. Shaped like a "U" and the handle is pinned to each of the two uprights. This can also be a closed loop like you have shown. Either way there is a visible space in the blade for the fingers to pass through.

2. A basic triangle where the top point is embedded into a round(ish) handle and pinned through.

 

I have never made an Ulu, but I have handled several. The only thing I can say about your design that might need changing, is the radius of the blade edge. To me it looks like too tight a radius and should be a much flatter arch.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=ulu+knife&biw=1280&bih=624&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3lY7lrIfLAhUN2GMKHQ3OAHMQsAQIZQ

[Buck Hedges]

Yup. Now that I look at the pictures, the arch is too arched. It needs much less curve, much more cowbell. (Couldn't help throwing that in there. It's one of my favorite SNL skits )

 

Right now the vision in my head involves taking a piece of horse-shoeing rasp about 8 inches long or so, and beating down the cutting edge. This will automatically give it the curve, which I'll refine later with a grinder.

 

It's bringing up the sides for the handle that's got me thrown. Do I just keep hammering them up until they're flat?

 

I like the shape of the blade here:

 

 

and the depth of the hand-hole here:

 

So I can see a combination of the two. I'm still ironing out the hammering techniques and process in my mind.

[Joshua States]

You will need to heat the end of the bar and lay it on edge over the face of the anvil with some hanging over the edge of the anvil face. Then hammer the corner of the bar downward over the anvil edge. The bar will deform heavily so you will need to alternate between this operation and laying the whole bar flat on the anvil to keep the bar flat as you draw down the handle tang. See the attached drawing.

EPSON011.PDF

 

Once you have both tangs drawn out to an approximate length, you can begin with the edge bevels and refine the shape.

[jake pogrebinsky]

Buck(if i may...),the space between the handle and the blade is not really ever used(it's tiring and inconvenient to incert/reincert fingers,and the edges are uncomfortably sharp).

Ulu is held with fingers along the blade,anyway(for control).

 

Forging one out of thick stock may not be fun...Generally,for a VERY long time now,ulu was a reduction project.The ideal donor being the carpenter's cross-cut saw...That's the gauge you want anyway,any thicker-and the action is not the same,it's a different tool then...

 

Most good makers reduce the saw cold,without disturbing that nice spring temper,as HT-ing something of that shape is a bear...In the most primitive variant,file grooves with a triangle file,then break along these,then file the radius,et c.

 

Good old saw blade can be had for about $5 at any junk store....So as you can see the economics kinda point that way in any case...

 

Those are some good photos above in the link,but look at the old-looking ones only(also at the couple being used by ladies),the rest are affectations,and look not very usable....

 

All of the above applies to Ulu only,the Scots,and many other people around the world,had(have)their own similar looking knives,most of which have handles separated further apart from the blade,(some are shown in that google collection of photos above,looking obviously European).

The very best of luck,whichever way you proceed with this.

[Gerald Boggs]

Are sure you're not showing us photos of two Ulu's that were mass produced, cutout shapes?

http://www.knifemaking.com/category-s/49.htm

[Joshua States]

Forge it thick, and grind it thin. A keen edge you will surely win.

If you are going to forge this (I see no reason why not to, other than it's much more difficult than stock removal, but hey, if it was easy, anyone could it!) you might want to try an edge hardening rather than a full hardening as it will result in a much easier time during the finish filing/grinding/sanding operations.

 

If you want to try the stock removal method using a saw blade as Jake suggested, here is a method I have seen used with great success.

EPSON012.PDF

[jake pogrebinsky]

Josh,thank you,that's a great PDF!...The shape obtained thereby is straight out of some archaeology text,man-something entirely timeless about it!

 

It'll probably make a great-working Ulu,unfortunately,most(all?)corcular blades are way too thick....A thick,clunky ulu does not work so well for these circular,slicing motions that these are so slick at....

It's hard to explain the advantages of using a good Ulu.However,it's not the easiest tool to get a hang of initially,either.

 

I was always worried,myself,that trying to forge steel sufficiently thin (for this),i'd hurt that chunk of steel beyond redemption..The cooling off factor going out of the forge and to the anvil must be outrageous,barely enough for a few blows...It'd be so hard to keep oneself from striking material that's way too cold....

 

But yep,of course,one Can forge anything one puts their mind to,i don't mean top be defeatist!

 

By the way,many Ulus are single-edged,with the Thickness of the handle more toward the flat,unbevelled side....Also,in my neck of the woods,they're (often)assymetric in outline(and handle placement).But they're double-edged(and not called ulus;their local name is tla'baas,and here(sub-arctic) it don't specifically mean "woman's knife,as it does in the arctic:)..

[Cody saldivar]

Buck(if i may...),the space between the handle and the blade is not really ever used(it's tiring and inconvenient to incert/reincert fingers,and the edges are uncomfortably sharp).

Ulu is held with fingers along the blade,anyway(for control).

 

Forging one out of thick stock may not be fun...Generally,for a VERY long time now,ulu was a reduction project.The ideal donor being the carpenter's cross-cut saw...That's the gauge you want anyway,any thicker-and the action is not the same,it's a different tool then...

 

Most good makers reduce the saw cold,without disturbing that nice spring temper,as HT-ing something of that shape is a bear...In the most primitive variant,file grooves with a triangle file,then break along these,then file the radius,et c.

 

Good old saw blade can be had for about $5 at any junk store....So as you can see the economics kinda point that way in any case...

 

Those are some good photos above in the link,but look at the old-looking ones only(also at the couple being used by ladies),the rest are affectations,and look not very usable....

 

All of the above applies to Ulu only,the Scots,and many other people around the world,had(have)their own similar looking knives,most of which have handles separated further apart from the blade,(some are shown in that google collection of photos above,looking obviously European).

The very best of luck,whichever way you proceed with this.

 

This is good advice as are the other comments here. Many ulus found on the web are mass productions and are not made with any regard to functionality. I'd narrow my searches of ulus to traditional ulus or Inuit ulus as you will find more accurate info and functional design. Traditionally they were a woman's knife for processing meat and have a single bevel grind. I use crosscut saw blades to make mine and I have never made one with finger holes and personally I don't find them comfortable when they are open windowed like some of the photos you posted. However I do use a curvature similar to ones you posted but they seem to work great. HT can be a bear as mentioned due to thin steel but it can be done. Normalizing cycles are helpful then You can softly straiten cold, quench, temper and straighten through your tempering cycles to ensure a good finished product. Here are a few I've made recently if that helps with design and shape. Happy hammers

[Cody saldivar]

The bottom photo was stock removal and the first one I ever made. The rest are forged and I prefer forging over grinding. I try to avoid grinding as much as possible these days and the top three saw little to no grinding believe it or not. It might be a little more difficult to forge but I'd suggest that as the rewards will be greater for you in the end.

[jake pogrebinsky]

Wow,Cody,these look great!(And Forged!,exept maybe the last one?)

 

Beautiful work.I bet they're all fantastic tools to use.

 

Thanks for showing these,and most appropriate cautioning against looking at the tourist-trinket-types,they're just not practical,and likely to lead the maker astray.

[Buck Hedges]

Thank you all for the tons of great advice. I think I'll totally rework my design now! I have a few old saw blades that are just holding up nails on the shop wall....

 

Cody, I really like the pictures you posted. I have a sneaking hunch my final idea might look a lot like yours.

 

I really like the styles you posted Cody, and Jake, I take it you've actually used one of these before. It's always great to get advice from someone who's got actual experience (not saying the rest of you don't, either) I take it this is what you mean by "the fingers being held along the blade:"

 

 

As for forging vs. stock removal, I can forge a shape faster than I can grind it. (That old saying about 10 minutes in the forge is equal to 30 on the grinder holds true in my case, at least until I screw something up and take an hour or more to fix it)

 

I'd planned on using broken farrier's rasps, because they're thinner than the leaf springs I have, and they make good blades (I'm not exactly sure what their composition is, but they work well). Their shape doesn't lend themselves to this idea, though. Unless I tried something like this:

 

http://www.terapeak.com/worth/6-hand-made-jade-handle-ulu-knife/171155705101/

 

Sorry, it wouldn't let me link the image. At any rate, I don't like the shape of it. The saw blades are even thinner, though and wider, so I can get a better shape out of them.

 

I'll take a day or so and redesign it, and then post the results for y'all.

[jake pogrebinsky]

...." I take it this is what you mean by "the fingers being held along the blade:"...

 

 

Exactly,Buck,you got it....As clumsy as this tool may look at first glance,it's actually a Very fine device,capable of utmost precision.

 

It does take some getting used to(and that's where those fingers come in,sending the info to the old brain to orient you,sometimes too deep inside a critter to see:).....

 

I've never gotten good at cutting fish with one(many an older lady around here is intimidatingly good at it,in their hands it can do all a fine filleting knife can,and more....),but it became my preferred tool for meat(often including skinning).

In essence it's where the circular slicer came from,making a continuous cut,to avoid any back-and-forth jaggedness,by staying in the original cut....Especially handy for cutting meat for drying,you can cut it paper-thin....(and the jaggedness would make for those nooks and crannies likely to putrefy).

So far the archaeologists have traced this technology 6500+ years back,and there still seems like more cultures past even that...(Point Hope,and other sites),that's a lot of knife-making precedence....

 

All the very best of luck-i bet that you'll come up with a nice one!!!

[Buck Hedges]

Okay, a couple of hours of re-learning drafting from my freshman year in high school, and I came up with this:

 

 

Would be made from a table saw blade, about 1/8" thick. The blue is the handle, but I'm not sure what I'll make it out of yet. I wish I could work around the hole in the center, but I decided to try and follow Cody's design (to the point I put my paper on the screen and traced the blade to get the curve right)

 

After looking through some of the pictures I'd gathered, I found one that was a reasonably useful style, and the blade was only about 4 inches across from tip to tip, so I may have been trying to make one too large to begin with.

 

I'm curious Jake. As far as I know (which isn't very far at all), Inuits never developed metallurgy, but every ulu I see is made from steel. What did they do before people with steel came along? Did the have good access to flint or obsidian? I know the edges on obsidian can get so thin they're literally transparent, and so sharp you can lay your hand open without feeling it (experience is a good teacher!).

 

And while I was working on this, my wife looked over and said, "That's cool. You should make some of those." Which, as every well-trained husband knows, means, "I want one."

[Cody saldivar]

I'm not too familiar with the geology of Inuit landscape but my first guess would be that perhaps the blades were made with bone, and then later adapted to steel. I have seen some side by side comparisons of bone knives to obsidian and they can cut pretty close to the same, I've even heard of bone being a smoother slicer but I'm sure all of this hinges on the skill of the maker. Very fascinating stuff.

 

I do have a question though about the saw blade your using. Have you already seen how the saw blade will harden? I have heard and read on here that a lot of newer table saw blades and don't harden as well as knives require and it would be a bummer to put all the time and effort into something that can't get hard enough to hold an edge properly. Just thought I'd ask. You might also ask jerrod miller on here as he knows a tremendous amount on the chemistry of steels and weather they would be usable or not for blades

 

And lastly........my girlfriend said the same thing when I made my first ulu and now she is the proud owner (had no choice but to turn it over) Make your wife one. She will cherish it I'm sure. It's always interesting to me how drawn to ulus women are and their not even sure why. I guess 6500+ years is a pretty long time and perhaps its embedded into our genetic code

[jake pogrebinsky]

Buck,your wife has most sound intuition-it IS an incredibly effective tool to use,physiologically much more comfortable(for an extended periods of cutting time especially),because of it's different loading on one's wrist.And it IS a Woman's knife(men's knives differed slightly,were longer and flatter in profile).

 

The Inuit were powerful,war-like people,who have garnered for themselves(and fiercely defended) that incredibly special territory with it's access to the Ocean,with all the marine mammals in it.The security and the nutrition that it represented they used to develop a mind-blowing-complex and sophisticated material culture(not inferior to our present one in any pertinent way,their micro-blade technology is identical in principle to any carbide-tipped tooling of today,for example).

 

The constructive Thought,the logic,behind their tooling was their strengh,above that of the use of specific materials,access to which differed in the different parts of the Circumpolar North.

They did use chert,obsidian,and a number of other minerals for blading their tools.The tooling was build specifically to be used on a given material or task,so varied a Great deal.

We must remember to think of the Inuit as sharing this vast common culture,encompassing the 1000's of miles of northern coastline.Some had access to coniferous driftwood washing out of the mouths of such great rivers as Mckenzie or the Yukon,some-to exotic hardwoods like sandalwood from Indonesia(from the Japan current washing clock-wise the coasts of Bering Strait),and that is only the locally found materials.What was obtained in trade is not,really,even quantified completely or conclusively.

There were 2(two!)sources of iron in Greenland,for example(the scattering of meteorites up north that R.Peary has eventually stolen,and this rare brown magnetitic material in S.Greenland,the correct mineral name escapes my pea-brain at the moment).

There was the trade with the Koyukon Athapaskans(the folks that i live among,in the Middle Yukon valley,the keepers of the copper deposits,traders in copper ingots and blades(btw,the name of an Athapaskan "tla'baas",version of an ulu,comes from "tla-"-slate).

There could have been a channel whereby the ferrous or other metals from S.E.Asia could make it to the Arctic in trade,by way of Chukchi people,who've regularly both raided and traded with the coastal Alaska....

And much else,so many of these particulars poorly researched and understood as of yet...

 

The history of people in the Arctic is only beginning to unfold,in so many ways....

[jake pogrebinsky]

The 1/8" circular blade is probably way too thick,i'm afraid....It'd make a serviceable ulu,but it'd not be the greatest tool....I'd be great to go way under 1/16",actually...

 

The people in the Arctic and around here are all very practical people,and nobody would cut up a good old carpenters saw if they didn't absolutely have to...The trouble is that it's just an Ideal material for an Ulu........(and each sacrificed saw makes several ulus,the smaller ones used for cutting up skins for sewing...My late friend and teacher had his grandkids order saws for him over the internet,and some old ones had this neat paragraph engraved at the base in beautiful" copperplate",that prime spot made,of course,for the sexiest ulu from the batch!

 

Being a simple Carbon steel(vs many of the modern alloys used in circular blades),it's smaller carbides,and the general softness of a spring -type temper,give it this very aggressive quality of cut(the edge is jagged,frayed...).It's very convenient as the blade immediately "binds" to the substance being cut,with minimum tendency to slip/slide off...(very important in working on fish,wet,slimey,slippery,with your other hand usually dangerously close to the cuts being made...)

 

For these reasons people here are kinda attached to these old-fashioned alloys,(i think that the traditional butcher knives worked along similar principles-thin blade-not the highest degree of hardness-frayed/feathery edge-ease of restoring that razor-like sharpness with a couple of strokes of a steel....).

 

This is all just for in case,for comparative study,if i may put it that way....

[Joshua States]

This has been a fascinating discussion. It's great to have so much information from Cody and Jake.

FWIT, I just went out to the shop and measured the thickness of the 12" diameter saw blade on my wood chop saw.

 

 

As you can see, it is .0955 inches thick at the body of the blade and actually a little thinner once the coating gets removed.

That's getting into the thickness range that Jake recommends. (and you could get 4 or 5 ulus out of that blade!)

 

I almost forgot, Wet saw blades (used for tile and stone cutting) 7.5" diameter, are also very thin, significantly less expensive than that 12 inch wood cutter and I have used them for knife steel before.

Edited February 22, 2016 by Joshua States

[jake pogrebinsky]

Josh,thank you for this reminder-that's right,the thin-kerf blades nowadays do come much thinner than ever before in the past...Keep forgetting this....

 

I've built a Tlabaas in the past from a piece of an industrial,5"(i think)wide band-saw blade,that worked out very well....(i may've even had a photo on here....long ago....).

[jake pogrebinsky]

 

http://www.bladesmithsforum.com/index.php?showtopic=9620&hl=tlabaas#entry87536

 

 

 

That was a while back......

 

But it's typical of the assymetry from my neck of the woods,several hundred miles up river from the Arctic Coast...

Sometimes referred to as "Nulato style".

[Buck Hedges]

It always amazes me how a simple idea of "I want to make thus-and-so" turns out so educational! Now I really can't wait to get started on this next weekend! I'll try to post a build-along thread when I do.

[Jerrod Miller]

You might also ask jerrod miller on here as he knows a tremendous amount on the chemistry of steels and weather they would be usable or not for blades

 

Funny you should mention my name. I was reading this thread and thought to myself: "I really should dig through the trash at the pattern shop and throw one of their used saw blades on the spectrometer. If it is a good alloy this could get interesting." I report back if I am able to learn anything useful.

[jake pogrebinsky]

Jerrod,that'd be a great kindness on your part,some of all that post-industrial stuff is so tempting to use,but anymore,what does the industry use for the blade itself,since most,or even all of the actual work is now done by the inserted/laminated cutting edges?

(we may be moving closer towards the Inuit model-the differential in hardness between the working edge and the matrix is higher!

 

Here's a brief article that may be of interest:http://sciencenordic.com/greenlands-iron-age-came-space

 

 

(Now if only Jerrod would also do some spectrography on the (not insignificant)number of found,obviously Ferrous,artefacts in the Arctic.It is so common(and so disappointing)to read the label:material-iron/steel...No mention of where it may've originated...)

[jake pogrebinsky]

P.S.

 

And here's that (yet other!) unique source of Greenlandic ferrous material:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telluric_iron

[Gerald Boggs]

It's interesting, never in my readings, have I ever read that indigenous people of the new world didn't use metal, only that the people of the northern half never developed metallurgy. A found item is always used, it's how most discoveries begin.