The Sami knife (, , , all of which mean "big-knife", and ) is a large

knife A knife (: knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least Stone Age, 2.5 million years ago, as e ...

traditionally used by the

Sami people Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

Uses and structure

The Sami knife has a long, wide, and strong blade that is suited for light chopping tasks such as de-limbing, cutting small trees for

shelter A shelter is an architectural structure or natural formation (or a combination of the two) providing protection from the local environment. A shelter can serve as a home or be provided by a residential institution. It can be understood as both ...

poles (See

lavvu A lavvu (or , , , , (''kåvas''), , , and ) is a temporary dwelling used by the Sami people of northern extremes of Northern Europe. It has a design similar to a Native American tipi but is less vertical and more stable in high winds. It enable ...

), brush clearing, bone breaking and

butchering A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale food establishme ...

tasks, and is sometimes used as a substitute for an

axe An axe (; sometimes spelled ax in American English; American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for thousands of years to shape, split, a ...

for chopping and splitting small amounts of

firewood Firewood is any wooden material that is gathered and used for fuel. Generally, firewood is not heavily processed, and is in some sort of firelog, recognizable log or branch form, compared to other forms of wood fuel like pellet fuel, pellets. ...

from standing dead trees—an essential ability when all dead and fallen wood is buried underneath many layers of

snow Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...

—or for combat. Typical Sami knives have a blade length ranging from to . The handle is generally made from

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...

for better grip when used in snowy conditions. This also provides good control over the blade, particularly when using draw strokes, which are preferred when handling the knife with gloves, or while the hands are numb. The tang runs through the handle. The handle has no crossguard. Traditional material for the sheath is

reindeer The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, taiga, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only re ...

leather. The blade's edge often has a Scandinavian (or "Scandi") grind, i.e. a single flat bevel. The blade should be strong enough to split (reindeer) bones, and tempered to sustain low temperatures. Some Sami knives have fullers.

Types

The Sami people typically use two knives: the smaller called a ''buiku'', ''

puukko A puukko () is a small traditional Finnish culture, Finnish general purpose belt knife with a single curved cutting edge, solid hidden tang (tools), tang, and usually, a flat spine. Design The basic components of a puukko are a handle and ...

'', or ''unna niibaš'' ("small knife"); while the larger "Sami knife" is called ''stuorra niibi'' ("big knife").

References

Knives Edged and bladed weapons Camping equipment Sámi culture {{Camping-stub

Uses and structure

Types

See also

References