I was sitting here writing descriptions for the artifacts that are going into our next auction, and I came across this knife. I picked it up, turned it over in my hand and thought to myself, neat relic - it's a backed-knife.  Then as I set it aside, I began to wonder if everyone knew what a backed-knife was? So, I decided I would stick a couple of pictures up here and some info incase anyone out there hasnt run across a backed-knife.



Knifes in ancient times were made in various sizes and shapes to hadle various different tasks. While we tend to assume ancient knives were mostly hafted to a handle, the fact of the matter is that many were actually held in hand while perfoming their inteded duty. Hand knives were a common item in ancient man's tool kit, and some tasks, especially the skinning of animals were more easily done using hand held rather than hafted knives.  A few years ago I skinned a deer using an assortment of different ancient knife styles, and found a backed-hand knife was the most efficient.

When a hand knife is "backed", it simply means that one side of the knife (one blade edge) is ground smooth. This way, it can be held in hand without the risk of cutting ones hand. Another trait on backed knives is the ground edge will often be shaped to fit the palm comfortably. So, a backed knife is simply a knife that has be altered to make it safer during use.   




The next time you are picking up hand knives, check both sides of the knife blade edges, and you may be suprised how many hand knives were backed in ancient times. 

Jim Bennett
09-06-08