Hand-Forged Crooked Knife, Brass-Studded Wood Handle

This hand-forged crooked knife, or mocotaugan, follows a woodworking tool tradition that originated with Indigenous peoples of the Eastern Woodlands and became a staple of the fur trade and rural woodworking across Canada and the northeastern United States. Held in the closed palm and drawn toward the carver, the crooked knife's angled handle gave precise control for shaping canoe paddles, snowshoe frames, and other carved wooden implements. This example is unmarked, and no maker can be attributed.

The blade is set into a hand-forged iron ferrule riveted to a curved wooden handle, its surface decorated with five brass studs, a hallmark of the individualized, hand-built character these tools were prized for. See the Condition Notes below for wear detail.