Where to get good Ulu blades?

"Brian K" wrote in message
ink.net...
On 05/02/2005 11:33 PM Mike Cordelli wrote:

I divide it's use into two categories, first is general chopping of
things
like herbs and stuff like that. With the round blade, you just rock it
back
and forth over what you are chopping with a bit of a twist with each
rock,
and you go through it in no time at all.

Also, it's incredible for things like cutting chicken, slitting a slit in
a
giant pork shop to stuff it, etc because of it's round blade. You leave
one
tip on the cutting boars, rock it forward (or back if you are a back
cutter)
and you go right through the joint of a chicken leg for example with no
effort at all. It's a much more natural motion then cutting with a
straight
blade.

It's highly maneuverable, so things like trimming fat off a cut of meat,
cutting the bone away on something, anything like that.

If you get one, and I wish I did this, but may order one someday, get the
matching cutting bowl for the knife.

Like I said earlier, I've used it almost every day since getting it 11
years
ago.



"Tom K" wrote in message
...


wrote in message
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Thanks for all the information. If I am going to spend the money for an
Ulu, I want one that was made to use, not sit on a windowsill.



What's a knife like that used for?

--Tom







Best of all, the Ulu is great for filleting Coho. I use it to make
paper thin slices for salmon sushi, or cut from smoked salmon for bagels
and cream cheese.

Makes a pretty darn good skinning tool for moose and caribou.

JIM

"Jim Booth" wrote:
wrote:
We will be hitting the three popular ports in Alaska next week. I will
be looking for a good and AUTHANTIC Ulu knife.

I'm not sure which are "the three popular ports", but you almost
certainly will not see an ulu that wasn't designed specifically
for tourists, and wouldn't even be considered for use at home
by an Eskimo.

I know that if the blade is stamped, "Made in China" or
"Stainless Steel" the odds are it's a piece of junk and made to
sit on a windowsill.

Is there a store or person who is known for selling good high carbon
blade Ulu's?

Many of the natives I know build their ulu's from either 61/2 inch or 71/2
inch used circular saw blades....make an excellent knife once one learns the
use.

Jim Booth knows hardly any Natives and has probably never
handled an ulu owned, but not for sale, by a real Native. (He's
a known dufus on alt.culture.alaska, best ignored; except I
always enjoy baiting him... :-)

First, the OP has to define what is meant by "authentic",
because there could be two or three different definitions. If
"made in Alaska" is close enough, all of the ulus that have been
described, including those made from stainless or even from
circular saw blades might qualify.

If "authentic" mean you want an ulu that an Alaska Native would
use themselves, that's none of those. I've *never* seen one
being used by Native people that was made from a circular saw
blade (way too thick!) or one that was shined bright or with
something like "Alaska" engraved on the blade.

Eskimo ulus are made from something like the blade of a
carpenter's hand saw. I'd expect there might be other sources
of blade material, but that is the most common and if someone is
making lots of them and ordering material by the sheet, that is
what they use as a guide. Perhaps half as thick as a circular
saw blade.

There are a few more distinctions that are of interest too,
which a purchaser might want to know about. There are at least
three common handle styles, each of which are more or less
useful for different purposes.

Commonly seen are blades with the handle attached across the top
of the blade itself, like this:


(}{}{}{}{)
/ \
\. ./
`-.____.-'

That ulu is nice for kitchen work or cutting fish strips; any
use where maximum precision is necessary, and where the thickness
of the material being cut is not great.

Another style is like this, with the handle standing off from the
blade by two supports:

(}{}{}{}{)
|| ||
||______||
/ \
\. ./
`-.____.-'

Commonly those supports will be part of the blade material, but they
might not be. Some people use welding rod or other solid rod stock.
That handle is nice if the material being cut is thick, but it is at
the expense of being harder to control the blade too. So it might be
used for cutting large fish, moose, whale, walrus, etc.

Then comes one that you almost have to see someone use to understand
what is so nice about this handle,

(}{}{}{}{)
||
____||____
/ \
\. ./
`-.____.-'

That support is always made from round rod stock of some kind.
Not many ulus like that are large. Usually they are small and
sometimes medium sized. Obviously there will be even less
control of the blade with that one, but it is really nice when
working on something that requires alternating between using a
knife and doing something else with your fingers.

If you have to cut a little, and then manipulate the stuff you
are cutting, cut a little more, and move the stuff again, and
are off and on doing that for most of the time, that blade is
*very* nice. That is because you don't have to put it down to
use your fingers!

You keep the relatively small handle in your hand, with that
single support between your 3rd and 4th fingers. If you open
your hand, keeping the fingers together, the ulu blade dangles
off the back of your hand. You can use your fingers and just
let the blade dangle there. When you want to cut, you close
your fist, gripping the handle, and usually people let the
blade come forward too, so that the support rod is between the
middle joints on the fingers or possibly even down by the tips
of the fingers if more control is needed. It's very easy to use
that hand for both fingering something and alternately cutting
something.

Boning a seal or eating dried meat are two times when that
particular handle is better than the others.

Also the semi-lunar shape of the blade is sometimes skewed on
one side or the other, but you won't likely see many like that.

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://web.newsguy.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)

Gayle A Kortright wrote:
Check out theulufactory.com They're located in Anchorage.

My coworker has a cabin in Alaska and she recommends this place. I sent
a request for their catalog and received it quickly. They ship postage
free so you may want to just order from them and not have to worry about
bringing them back with you. The Ulu's look beautiful and as soon as I
can nail down decisions from the people in my family who want them I'll be
ordering.

I just poked around on their web page a bit. The blades don't look
bad at all! They seem to have two styles of handles, and I distinctly
do *not* like the one that is shown on most of their ulus. The ones
they call "Inupiat Style" are okay though.

The prices looked pretty good too. Of course there are no ulus that
look like that in Barrow, but the ones here are a *lot* more expensive
than that! (And while they may be more functional, they aren't as nice
looking either.)

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://web.newsguy.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)