Featured Carved wood blade

Any ideas? Ceremonial? What culture? 22" long x 6" tall. Width of blade is about 3/8" Painted one side only. Made of lightweight wood. Maybe cypress? Handle seems to have some honest wear.

 

Hi,
Had a similar one way back when we were still making soap. not pretty bars but nasty brown and orange ones. Fat and lye mixed with haste. When soap was formed and slightly hardened we used a wooden knife like that to cut into bars. Thanks for the memory jog.
greg

 

Or perhaps a pizza cutter - an old version of this:

http://www.oldtreeshop.com/shop/barstool/windmill/large-maple-pizza-cutter

 

I'm sure I've seen one of these, and possibly a thread about it. I seem to remember some sort of food or agricultural use.....tofu, cheese, maybe soap...

 

Not a clue. Not a clue. Not a clue.

 

Why is one side so pristine ?

 

cuz it's likely a wall hanger that never did any honest work... imo..

 

It's wood and painted on one side.

 

Any other ideas? Have searched and searched on this one. I am open to the idea that this is not cultural but have had no luck looking in that direction either. The paint on one side only is puzzling. This appears to be old and used based on the hand grip. Handle fits my hand very well and there is a carved thumb rest at the top that can't be seen in the photo. Has worm holes in the wood. Not much wear to the blade itself. This is why I thought maybe some kind of ceremonial weapon.

 

I've seen a lot of edged weapons... & tools ...but I can't place this one.

 

I had a neighbor from Denmark who traveled every year there to visit his folks. One year he brought me back an "antique" present that looks similar to your wooden "knife", it was painted on one side only. I asked, "what is this?" and according to him, he bought it in an antique store there and according to the store, they said it was an "antique flax cutter", whatever that is.

 

That would be a "skutching knife". Used in processing flax into linen fibers. A bundle of harvested and dried flax was placed on a flat surface, hanging over the edge, and the knife was used to break/bend the ends enough to loosen the outer coating of the stems and expose the inner fibers. The beaten bundles were then drawn through a hackle to remove the unwanted bits and clean out the fibers which would be further processed and spun into linen thread.

http://www.woodland-studios.com/scandinavian-folk-art-artifacts/swedish-scutching-flax-knife
I suppose it could be painted on the side away from most of the abrasion when it was used, but don't know why verybrad's would not be further decorated, then.

 

BINGO! Thar she Bloooooooooooooooooooooows!
And all these years i was thinking my Denmark friend was telling me a tall tale OR he was snookered in an antique shop!

 

A small diplomatic faux pas there!

 

I spent a summer in Greenland during my time in the army , living in an Inuit village and helped build a science station for i have no idea who, scientists i suppose. Those are some tough people there, going out on sleds, pulled by dogs hunting seal, polar bears and narwhals. Interesting summer!

 

Thank you!!! Was sure I'd seen one before, and kept thinking something to do with harvesting something, but just couldn't come up with anything in searching - feel sure now I've seen similar in one of my Scandinavian books (most of which are packed away).

~Cheryl

 

By Jove, I think you have it! Thanks much.

 

I think you are correct! 2many NAILED this one i'd say, gold star to her!

 

I just needed your prod about the "antique flax cutter" for the memory to finally kick in. Sorry about the pizza cutter suggestion. With the notches for the second hand further up the blade, I kept thinking it was used in a rocking motion, rather than whacking. Old brain is getting slow.
Video of a scutching knife in use: