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Crooked Knives
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Welcome!
Come in and make yourself comfortable. If you already know
what a crooked knife is then you probably are here because you want
to know more about it. Dependable information is scarce; folklore and
guesses make up a good deal of what many of us think we "know" about
crooked knives. If you came out of interest because you don't know
what a crooked knife is then this is the place to find out. It is one
of the most interesting tools you will ever run into and, as an added
attractive feature, it is also a bit of a mystery.
One
hundred and twenty years ago a group of Maliseet guides took a party
of city dwellers up a river in New Brunswick on a fishing expedition.
They provided several canoes and and the necessary camp gear and the
city fellers, one of whom was apparently an artist of no mean
ability, brought the usual amenities and expensive fishing equipment
that city fellers always bring into the wilderness. The artist left
us a record of several pictures sketched on the trip. Among other
activities shown are guides paddling canoes downstream and poling
them upstream and through the rapids. Best picture of all is the one
on the page before you. It shows one of the guides whittling a new
canoe pole after a loss or breakage--no doubt by one of the city
fellers--of a piece of the original equipment.
The picture serves to introduce our examination into the development of of a tool little celebrated in histories of technology but of great service in the North American backwoods where its usefulness in woodland woodworking was of long importance.
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We, the proprietors of this Web Site, feel that, if only for the sake of truth, it is necessary to solve the mystery of the crooked knife, to dispel the ill-based opinions that presently pass as fact, to explain the folklore that has grown up around the tool and to gather into one place, this Web Site, all the existing dependable information about the crooked knife, its origin and its history. We hope you'll want to take part in this endeavor. If you have opinions you want to express they don't have to match ours. We'll print them as long as they're polite. Of course we may respond. |
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We are serious and solemn about the crooked knife but we've tried to make our approach light hearted. You can expect a certain amount of persiflage as you travel. If you're interested in this material, call on us periodically. We hope to keep adding new stuff to the various departments regularly. See the latest additions! |
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The Freeholder Skip this unless you really want to be introduced formally to Mo-co-ta-gan, the Crooked knife. |
follow blazed trail marker below, and at the end of each section.
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Please
click on this image.