Strange Knife,Whalers?Pirates?or Who?

[Ye Olde Prospector]

Here is an old knife I found on a ledge in the middle of an island. Found it in 1971 when I was a USCG Lighthouse Keeper on Wood Island out off Old Orchard Beach, Maine. The handle is hand carved and was sun bleached when I found it. The blade was heavily encrusted with rust and had been there long enough to heavily stain the ledge with rust. The blade appears hand forged and fitted to the handle without pins. The blade is fairly thick and flat on one side. Not sure what type wood the handle is but it has super fine ring structure the looks like it would be very hard and dense, nothing local I am sure. Wood Island is one of several so named islands along the Maine coast. It is said that sailing vessels would sometimes stop and scavenge wood for cooking etc at these islands long ago. The Isle of Shoals is not far away and pirate vessels often anchored behind these islands awaiting vessels to plunder on their way to or from Boston as well.

I spoke with the curator at the Maritime Museum here in Bath years ago thinking maybe it was a type knife used in whaling days. He said it was not a shape he was familiar with for fishing or whaling. He suggested may contacting Smithsonian Museum but I never bothered probably hearing from them would be as likely as getting letter from the president. Well I know there are several relic hunters on here so maybe some of you might have some ideas. Just wish some of these old things could talk.

Cliff

 

[Ye Olde Prospector]

Here is a closeup of the handle showing the fine ring structure. Any wood experts out there?

 

[capsoda]

Hey Cliff, It looks like a hand made Khyber Pass or Khukri {Gurkha} knife. The handle looks like teak to me and that would explain why it didn't rot but turned white. You can rub the handle with a little oil based wood polish and the grain should come alive and look great.

There should be alot of info on the internet about that style knife. I think they were pretty popular among the seedyer sailors, {pirates} I have seen a few in collections and overseas.

 

[Ye Olde Prospector]

I have seen teak deck planks and railings on old sailing vessels but don't recall it having such fine growth rings. The handle has well over 125 growth rings from the center and that is less than 1 1/4 inches. I have seen many of the Gurkha knives but none have one flat side. Course it could have been specially made that way for the one that used it. Could definately be a dangerous weapon. Thanks for the reply, I will keep looking for more info.

Cliff

 

[capsoda]

Teak has a pretty tight grain and is very oily/waxy thats why it is used on boats and ships. It just doesn't rot. Your handle has the right color for raw teak.
Your knife is hand made and that could explain the flat side. It may be older than the a machine made knife.
Khukris have been machine made for the military since WW1 and the Khyber Pass Knife since about 1950.

Gust a thought.

I'll ask my dad tomorrow, he's accually handled some of those things and may be able to help.

 

[capsoda]

Hey Cliff, I showed a pic of your knife to my dad with out any other information. He said it looks like a Khyber but it was to short and had the wrong bevel like it was sharpened one one side. At this point I told him what I knew from your post. He told me it looked like an Indian or Burmese cane knife like the farmers use in that area. He also told me they could thak the head off of a chicken at 20 yards or so with it and it was also the only weapon they had and they didn't let anyone touch their knife.
He didn't have a name for them.

 

[Ye Olde Prospector]

Hi Warren,

Thanks for checking around for me. Over the years I have checked books on knives in bookstores,libraries etc and tend to agree with the "Cane Knife" idea. Hence being flat on one side. I think it might have been made in the Carribbean maybe for use on sugar plantations. Lots a vessels came up from there with molasses for the colonies. Teak wood for the handle could easily have come from broken or damaged planks from sailing vessels. The blade doesn't seem to have enough of an angle for a Gurkha knife. Interesting to think that it would end up on an island up here in Maine. Bet it has an interesting history. Thanks again.

Cliff

 

[dollarbill]

hey warren kinda looks like a tobacco knife to me. or a bush wakkers knife cool though thanks an good luck diggen all .bill

 

[c.m. arrington]

It looks like a Phillipine parang or talibon (not the terrorists) sword or knife. The handle may or may not be complete. Because of the fine ring structure, the handle may be horn. Check out Oriental Arms website for some other examples. If there is a swirling pattern etched into the steel, other than just pitting, it may be pattern welded or "damascus". Nice find by the way. A lot of those were brought back as WW2 trophies.

 

[JustGlass]

I ran accross a knife with the exact style blade in a higher priced ( no junk, high quality)antique shop in Vermont yesterday. It had a fancy handle what looked like a black V shaped bone from a fish tail and some fancy engraving on blade. Real Nice Kinfe.....It was priced at $450.00 and was said to be from Indonesia.