It was enough for Mowgli to acquire an "iron tooth", and half of his problems were solved, which as a result led him to the throne of the wolf pack. And this is no joke: the presence of a knife in a survival situation immediately increases the chances of success by at least 50%. But even if such a product is not among your things, you can make a knife yourself, and not only from metals.

The ability to build a knife depends on the available resources and the conditions of the area in which the person found himself. Almost everywhere you can find natural material for the manufacture of blades of various types.

Pay attention to rocks. Obsidian (volcanic glass), quartz, flint, shale (layered material) are suitable for making a knife. The stone is shattered against the rock by a 90-degree impact, resulting in a sharp edge that can be processed further or left as is. Such a product will allow you to cut the rope, finish off the game, build an ax, etc.

In forests, flakes from hardwoods (such as oak or coniferous trees) are used to create a cutting edge. Such wood is characterized by good strength, which increases along with the sharpness of the “blade” after firing. A wooden knife can be wrapped with a rag or other material to create a handle. The application is almost similar to stone - it’s suitable to butcher the carcass and cut the rope. It is better to have several of these items with you.

If you are near a river or other body of water, shells such as toothless ones can help. The half of such a shell has a good cutting edge.

In the sands, saxaul can play the role of a knife. It is also worth paying attention to the shells of turtles. This chitinous "body armor" consists of shale-like plates that can be used as a knife.

If you are a successful hunter, and you come across a medium-sized animal, a knife can be built from ribs by turning one of the edges on a stone. Tibia bones are also suitable for this. In addition, sometimes other natural materials can play the role of a knife. For example, a sedge leaf will allow you to quickly clean the mushroom for boiling.

Now a few words about metal. Many people get into accidents without a knife, but with enough other materials. To make a blade in this case, it is necessary to choose a pliable (soft) metal, and process it with a weighty object resembling a hammer (for example, a large nut with an ax handle threaded into the hole, etc.). Processing is carried out on a flat surface (for example, on a flat stone), where the product is given the necessary shape and the cutting edge is removed. The handle is made from wood. Of course, this is not a steel knife, but it will perform household functions tolerably.

Any piece of metal or other material can be used as a knife. For example, a bent lid of a can, half of which is wrapped in cloth, or a long piece of glass, for which a rope or rag "handle" is also made. The main thing is not to get confused and show your imagination and ingenuity.

A chapter from the book, The Basics of Survival.

Why did the "Stone Age" of Mankind drag on for so long? Yes, because, having mastered the most primitive methods of making products from stone (flint), any person could provide himself anytime and anywhere with the most necessary tools: a knife, arrowheads and spears, axes, scrapers, hand axes, etc. The list of products is small, but this was quite enough for a person of those distant times for life. Flint products quickly broke down, but it was also quickly possible to make new products on their own to replace the lost ones. For modern man, such possibilities of his prehistoric ancestor are already from the category of fantasy. The manufacture of the simplest metal products requires, if not the presence of a machine park, then special tools and sufficiently high qualifications in metalworking. The metal itself also needs to be obtained somehow.
I foresee that someone will ask: “Why does a person of the twenty-first century need Stone Age technologies? Why does modern man need some kind of stone arrowheads and spears? These lovers of specific questions already know the answers to all their questions in advance. For example, in their opinion, televisions are needed only for the transmission and viewing of porn, print media for the dissemination of extremist views and dirty lust. They can also tell in detail about the main purpose of table forks, corkscrews, meat grinders, electric kettles, irons and freezers. How many people have already died, unable to withstand torture with these tools? And here the author offers technologies for making alternative weapons.
Well, what can I say? Some people, trying to learn about the world around them, are looking for adventures in the wild, in the middle of nowhere. Other people get adventures in their own homes. And there, and there is sometimes a need to arm yourself at least at the level of the Stone Age. Because with the acquisition of modern, firearms, the hassle appears even more. Let's remember how airplanes fly today. I didn’t have time to enter the collection hall after check-in, when the command immediately sounds: “Take off your shoes, pull the belts out of your trousers, remove all metal objects, unfasten your fly and bras, hands behind your head, facing the wall or behind the head of another passenger!” And so, under the watchful and attentive gaze of well-trained flight attendants, and most likely under the guns of invisible snipers, a chain of passengers follows to board the plane. Well, it’s clear that on the plane, some idiots suddenly turn on something and they begin to download their rights, remembering that they themselves were also people, already twice and demand justice. Other passengers of such exuberant immediately begin to reassure with the words that they dreamed about it and the modern citizen always has bare feet, his fly and bra are unbuttoned, he is never right, especially without rights!
And you want to say that in such conditions, an extreme tourist can transport a legal barrel with cartridges, gunpowder and other ammunition to hell with him in the middle of nowhere? You may be taken there, but do not forget that this registered weapon of yours must also be taken back. And there the local official will lay eyes on your rifle and tell you what is not allowed. In his own words, he will explain that you can write a complaint to him and against him, but in green ink, with a red seal and in triplicate, otherwise he won’t even take your slander for consideration ... The owners of the trunks and the house may have problems. Without a gun in the safe, the owner could sleep peacefully, and here in the middle of the night or in the morning there is a sudden check. A policeman with the words: “I don’t drink this and don’t have a bite to eat, but you can try this. I won’t look at the safe today, I’m writing that the storage is satisfactory, ”maybe it won’t stay in your apartment for a long time. Suddenly, in the morning, he will also have to appear before his superiors.
I hope it is now clear why an ordinary citizen should know, just in case, the technology for making a stone ax and wooden pitchfork?
While studying the ancient flint processing technologies in theory and practice, I came across a paradoxical situation. Judging by scientific sources, in the Old World and in Russia in particular, it is believed that the technology of manufacturing ancient flint products is an unusually complex and lengthy problem. Moreover, little studied and contradictory, accessible only to a narrow circle of especially dedicated specialists from experimental archeology. There were even reasonable assumptions, for example, that in ancient times the grandfather began to create a stone ax, and the grandson finished it. The most that European scientists in experimental archeology have achieved is to create replicas of rough axes from the time of the Pithecanthropes. At the same time, in North America, the manufacture of flint products, and it is precisely according to ancient technologies, is a common thing for making semi-antique souvenirs by local artisans. I want to say that scientists from archeology from different continents, apparently, have no connection with each other, and each has his own, purely personal opinion about the World History of Mankind.
The skill level of an ordinary flint craftsman from the North American states or Canada has reached such unprecedented heights that the ancient ancestors of today's Mankind could not even dream of. And this by itself without the use of modern special equipment (laser, vibro or ultrasonic machines ...). All according to the old technology, where from the main tools the craftsman picked up a cobblestone and a piece of deer antler for finishing the product. At the most, a particularly advanced craftsman can afford to replace ancient materials with modern ones on his tools. Instead of a cobblestone, a copper striker, instead of a finely sharpened deer antler wringer, something like a tiny screwdriver on a comfortable handle. And everything else is like the ancient masters.
Now a little more about flints. What is it and where can I get it? Flint is one of the most common minerals on earth. The sand underfoot is mostly finely ground flint. Although it seems that this sand is eternal, it is not. Under the action of the external environment, sand can dissolve, sinter and flow like a liquid, flowing into random, natural cavities forming flint nodules. For greater clarity, take the usual, window glass. If you measure the thickness of the old glass with a conventional caliper, you can find a significant difference in size. The bottom glass will be thicker. Glass is also made of quartz, only because of the additives it is less hard and less refractory. It also flows, only we do not have time to notice it with the naked eye in such a short time as our life ..
Flint nodules can range in size from a tiny pea to the size of a small, peasant hut. The deposition of flint on the walls in the cavities lasts for thousands and even millions of years, and quartz crystals often form from the amorphous form of layered flint inside the nodules. Silicon stone is tiny quartz crystals framed by amorphous flint, and in a purely crystalline form is called quartz. Depending on the impurities, quartz crystals can be called by all sorts of names, but most often they are colorless rock crystal druses. The silicon itself in the nodules can also be with impurities and have a different color and slightly differ in its properties. Another variant of the formation of flint nodules from the melt in volcanoes. There, the nodules are mainly composed of a crystalline form of quartz. Inside volcanic nodules there may also be cavities with individual crystals. Ordinary flint has a glassy sheen when fractured, and thin plates can be translucent. Quartz can be translucent and transparent, depending on the type, color and other advantages, it can belong to the group of semi-precious stones. There are also precious forms of quartz.
The nodules are destroyed over time, the fragments are covered with water flows and again acquire a rounded shape. In contrast to the rounded fragments, the nodules are usually covered with a rather fragile and loose, so-called shirt. If the hardness of the flint itself (and quartz) on the Mohs scale is 7, it scratches glass and hardened steel, then the shirt has a hardness of 3-4 or less. When processing flint, it is necessary to get rid of the jacket and take into account the natural layering.
Flints have another feature. Flints always contain water. On stones that have lain in the open air for a long time, moisture evaporates and at the same time tears the integrity of the stone, covering the entire volume of flint with small cracks. Processing such flint is difficult, or rather impossible, since an overdried stone is pricked not in layers, but along internal cracks and in any direction. Therefore, it is necessary to store flints for further processing in moist soil or in water. Sometimes raw (fresh) flints are specially heated in the ashes of fires in order for the stones to delaminate into long and thin plates. It is clear that fragments of small flint nodules will delaminate into many curved plates, while fragments of large nodules may turn out to be almost straight.
When making stone products for practical purposes, one should not forget that these products are mostly disposable and do not last long. Therefore, it is simply not reasonable to be especially zealous and spend time on manufacturing. Any (stone) product must be made quickly, with sufficient accuracy, but nothing more. Other types of stones, crystalline sandstones, hard varieties of shale, obsidian volcanic glass, as well as shop window, window and bottle glass can be used for the manufacture of practical products.
Pictured are replicas of antiques. And speaking in Russian, antique flint products created by modern craftsmen.
Continued in

Let's imagine that you find yourself "in the shoes" of Robinson in a deserted forest region: there is almost nothing with you, it is a few days' journey to the nearest settlement. In such a situation, a knife is needed, but it is lost or it was taken away by bad people. Without panicking, you immediately begin to think about the task - how to make a knife yourself in the absence of tools.

How to make a camping knife from a piece of iron

The first thing you do is look around, hoping to find blade material. The blade can be made from stone, flint, glass fragments, bone. But the best material would be metal. Question: where to get the metal? It must be sought near places associated with human life. These can be high-voltage poles, railway tracks, abandoned villages, old sheds, landfills. It is necessary to look closely at doors and gates: iron hinges and canopies will be good material for cutting tools.

But here we will tell you with a real example how to make a knife from a less convenient piece of iron.

In one of the extreme situations, after a short search, such a piece of iron and a couple of pieces of iron wire were found.

To forge a knife from this material, a forge, an anvil and hammers were needed. Bricks served as anvils and hammers. It took much more time to collect fuel and find the right amount of bricks.

When everything needed was collected, they began to build a semblance of a forge. They dug a hole with a stick and even with their hands, taking into account the size of our iron billet. Crushed stone was poured at the bottom of the pit (pellets, pebbles - any small stones could be used). The walls of the pit were reinforced with large stones: firstly, they did not allow the earth to crumble, and secondly, they kept the heat when the workpiece was heated.

According to the rules, it would be necessary to dig two pits connected by a trench - one for the hearth, and the second for air flow. However, this option has its own difficulties, so we limited ourselves to one hole.

About 10 minutes were spent on the construction of the forge (excluding the time to search for materials). When it was ready, they kindled a fire and began to kindle coals. Large branches were burned, but small ones were not thrown into the fire, since they do not provide coal, and excess ashes would impair the air flow to burning firewood.

While the firewood was burning, an anvil brick and a pair of hammer bricks were moved as close as possible to the pit. Of course, we did not have pliers for manipulating the hot workpiece. Instead, we had a hook made of wire. This hook and picked up the workpiece.

When the coals were ready, they immersed the billet in them and waited for it to heat up to the desired temperature. The temperature was determined by the color by eye, remembering that it is possible to forge in the temperature range from cherry red (770-800 0 C) to light red (830-900 0 C).

Having waited until the billet finally reached its condition, they quickly removed it with a wire hook and started forging. First, they straightened the curl, which was supposed to turn into a blade. The workpiece was gradually forged on both sides until it was flattened. Only after that the descents of the blade were forged. To perform these operations, we needed more than one heating. In the process of work, our workpiece looked like this:

When the slopes of the blade were forged and the shape of the entire knife was brought to acceptable parameters, in our opinion, we began heat treatment of the product.

Heat treatment started with annealing. The workpiece was heated to the hardening temperature (light red color), then left to cool slowly in air. Annealing was needed to relieve internal stresses in the metal after forging and bring the metal structure to an equilibrium state.

After that, we started hardening. First, we decided on the quenching medium: we had a fairly large container with water. But you can also harden it on soft, wet earth or wet sand (of course, everyone knows how to wet the earth in the absence of water). Having prepared the quenching medium, the blade was heated to a light red color, kept at this temperature for some time and quickly dipped into the quenching medium (we use water).

Then they took a vacation. To do this, one side of the slopes was cleaned on a brick from scale (to a shine), in order to control the temperature by the color of the tint on the slope. We put our blade with the cleaned edge up on the remains of coals and observed the colors of tarnish.

First, the surface of the descent was painted in a light straw color, which turned into yellow as it warmed up, then yellow-orange. We stopped at the yellow-orange color: this color just corresponds to a temperature of 240-250 0 C - the tempering temperature. Having captured the workpiece with a wire hook, they dipped it into the same quenching medium.

This completed the responsible heat treatment procedure, and we proceeded to the mechanical processing of the knife. Straightened the descents and sharpened the blade on the brick. For the effectiveness of sharpening, the brick was wetted with water and sand was poured on it as an abrasive. And here is the knife:

Inspired by the success, we thought: what kind of knife is it that does not have a sheath?! And we immediately started making these scabbards, because we already had the necessary tools. We found a piece of wood of a suitable size, cut it with our knife to the required length. Then, with the help of a knife and a large stone, they split it in half lengthwise.

On one of the halves, a pencil (or charcoal) outlined the outline of the blade, leaving an allowance sufficient to freely remove the blade from its sheath. Then we applied our wood carving skills, simultaneously testing the quality of the blade hardening and the comfort of its handle. It turned out such a bed for the blade:

We combined the two halves of the piece of wood and got the scabbard in the finished form. From the laces on the shoes they cut off a piece and tied the two halves of the scabbard together with them.

It is convenient to carry such sheath obliquely behind a belt or by a loop on a belt. Due to the sheath's bend and its sufficient thickness, you can not be afraid of losing them.

In conclusion, we give the figures that accompanied us in the process of making a knife.

Knife Specifications:

– the length of the knife blade is 135 mm;
– the entire length of the knife is 245 mm;
– butt width 4 mm.

Spent time:

– construction of a similar forge 10 min;
– burning coals 20 min;
– operations of forging a blade with a brick on a stone, hardening, tempering 30 min;
– operations of straightening blade slopes and sharpening 15 min;
– making scabbards 25 min.

As a result, in less than 2 hours, we were able to make a knife without tools, using only materials that can actually be found. At the same time, the knife turned out not to be disposable, but suitable for performing various tasks.

Now, if you find yourself in extreme field conditions, you will not be puzzled by the question “How to make a knife yourself?”.

Helpful hiking tips:

In this video you will learn how to make a homemade scabbard:

How to make your own stone knife at home. How to make a stone knife with your own hands. Stone Age knives in modern conditions

Stone Age knives were flint or obsilian plates, slightly curved along the entire length (rarely straight) with a small "sharpened uchatka", and almost never looked like knives in the modern sense - just oblong plates of various shapes.

Materials for making a stone knife:

Obsidian is a homogeneous volcanic glass that has passed through the rapid cooling of molten rocks. Obsidian can be found in the Aeolian Islands, Iceland, the Caucasus, Siberia and Kamchatka.

Quartz is one of the most common minerals in the earth's crust, a rock-forming mineral of most igneous and metamorphic rocks. 12 percent of the earth's crust is made up of quartz.

Flint - nodules of silica (SiO2) in sedimentary rocks. Often painted with iron and manganese oxides in different colors, with smooth transitions between them

Shales are rocks with a parallel (layered) arrangement of the minerals that make up their composition. Shales are characterized by schistosity - the ability to easily split into separate plates.

And so let's start, we take a suitable stone, it should be one and a half times larger than the planned tool and not have cracks.

With a blow of a hard, smooth stone, split the workpiece so that a flat surface is formed. The impact should be applied at an angle less than 90°. After a good blow, you should get a flat chip with a cutting edge, if this is enough for us, we can cut, since the edge is sharp.
If you want to give a certain shape, then you should take a bone or hard wood and “cut” a little, the main thing here is to be careful and not rush anywhere.
The handle can be wrapped with improvised materials (leather, fabric, young bark) or the resulting blade can be fixed in wood or bone and wrapped in the same way

This is how stone knives are usually made in the wild. At home, you can chip off the edges of a stone blank with a small hammer. The stone blank itself is best placed on a stable workbench or table, where you first put a piece of thick felt. On felt, the stone will not vibrate from hammer blows. The blows themselves will be extinguished and the probability of an unwanted split of the stone will become much less.

Fine-tuning the blade can be done with pliers - gently chipping and pinching off small pieces from the working edge. The blade to the handle is best fastened with epoxy resins, which can be styled on top, masking with strips of rawhide.

Advantages of a stone knife - a very sharp weapon that is not afraid of corrosion and does not require sharpening. Disadvantages - fragility, afraid of falls and sharp blows, from which it can crack

Knives, spears and arrows fall under the category of edged weapons. To begin with, we will learn how to make the most necessary type of weapon for survival - a knife. The knife performs three main functions. A knife can be used to pierce, hem or chop and cut. The knife is also an invaluable tool for crafting other gear for your survival. You may find yourself in an emergency without a knife, or you may need another type of knife or spear, so you can improvise and use stone, bone, wood, metal, or other suitable material to make the blade of a knife or spear.

STONE KNIFE

In order to make a stone knife you need a sharp piece of stone, a percussion tool and a peeling tool. A percussion tool is a blunt-edged tool used to break off small pieces of stone. A flaking tool is a sharp tool used to separate thin, flat pieces of stone. You can make a chipping tool out of wood, bone, or metal, and a peeling tool out of bone, horn, or soft iron.

In order to make a rough knife of the desired shape from a sharp piece of stone (obsidian, quartz, flint or slate), use a percussion tool. Try to make the knife fairly thin. Then, using a peeling tool, carefully work its edges. This action will cause the "flakes" to come off the opposite side of the edge, leaving behind a razor sharp edge. Use the peeling tool along the entire length of the edge of the future knife. In the end, you will have a very sharp cutting edge that can be used like a knife. It remains to attach the resulting blade to the desired type of handle, or simply make a handle by winding a rope or other suitable material.

Stone can make a great piercing and grinding tool, but it's hard to get a good cutting edge. Although, some stones, such as flint, can have very thin edges. In the next post of this series, we will make a knife out of bone and wood.

Do stone axes man learned more than 4 million years ago. Archaeologists very often find arrowheads, knives and axes that are made of stone. And if in those distant times it was an important part of everyday life. And the future of an individual family or even a whole tribe depended on how well it was done.
Various materials were used for axes, but most often they were made of silicon.
Nowadays, this art has almost been completely forgotten and not many people can make stone axes. However, there are clubs and groups where like-minded people who are fond of archeology gather and try to restore this whole process, and there are even courses where, for a fee, they can teach how to make a stone axe.
It's quite funny to watch a group of people sit and thresh stones on their knees. They are so passionate and completely immersed in this occupation that they can spend the whole day behind it, because without proper skill it is quite difficult to make a stone axe.

In words, it would seem that everything is quite simple. You just need to break off a piece of the right size with a strong blow of a stone on a stone and you're done. But no, you have to sweat, as they say, and it takes a lot of time.

How to make a stone ax

To make stone chipper First of all, you need to prepare the necessary tools.
Since in those distant times people were not at all spoiled for a convenient and reliable tool, in order to fully understand and feel the whole process of making an ax, we will use “not prohibited” inventory.

If you do get to training and you try to make a copy of an ancient stone axe, then be sure to use protective equipment such as goggles and gloves.

Small fragments can get into the eyes, and the sharp edges of the stone can be cut.

As in any business, you first need to choose the right size stone, which we will process.

Therefore, by hitting stone on stone, you can give the necessary shape that you like.

After all, a hand ax is an individual tool that belonged to one owner. And processing by hand, the hand ax acquired in the future such a shape, thanks to which the stone sat comfortably and securely in the hand.

Thus, our instrument gradually begins to take shape.

The edges need to be sharpened, no need to strive for a perfect “sharpening” now, this will be the next step. Now it is only necessary to form and roughen the hand stone ax

After the hand ax is formed, you can begin to “sharpen” it and fine, jewelry processing.

In those distant times, there were no tools, so the processing was carried out with improvised means.

One of these tools was deer antlers, which were left in abundance after a successful hunt.
They are soft and durable and it is very convenient to bring them to perfect condition.

With strong and accurate blows, you can “sharpen” the edges. If earlier, by hitting stone on stone, large pieces were broken off and shaped, now small sections are removed and it is possible to process the future ax more jewelry.

It was in this way that our ancestors created the main tool of labor and hunting - a stone hand axe.

In this article you will find, perhaps, the most necessary minimum of historical information about where such a wonderful and simple (as it may seem at first glance) thing like a knife came from.

We will go through the history of the appearance of the first knives, look in order at all the significant stages in the development of both the blades themselves and humanity as a whole. First of all, let's turn to our favorite Wikipedia. How does she give us the definition of what a knife is?

What is a knife and its definition

A "knife" is a cutting tool whose working body is a blade - a strip of hard material (usually metal) with a blade on one or more sides. In the design, the blade and the handle can most often be distinguished.

In general, as we wrote at the very beginning, it does not look so difficult, does it? On the one hand yes...

On the other hand, mankind has been using knives since the Paleolithic, i.e. from the Stone Age to the present day. The knife remains still relevant and even more so, in the modern world a huge variety of types, types and uses of the knife has appeared.

In practice, we have the fact that the more knowledge and technology appears in humanity, the greater the knife variety appears in the world. And it all started like this...

Stone Age knife: Neanderthals and their first knives

Before you, presumably, one of the first inventors of the knife and he lived about 2.6 million years ago.

Knives were made from bone, stone, flint plates or volcanic glass.

In the Stone Age, people made knives from bone, horn and stone, but still most often from flint plates or obsidian, which, in fact, are volcanic glass. They made them very simply - they took large pieces and crushed or broke them into pieces. Due to its structure, silicon, when broken, breaks into pieces with a fairly sharp edge.

It is clear that such knives were not bad at that ancient stage of development, they were sharp and did not dull for a very long time. They also had several disadvantages inherent in any stone, glass and ceramics:

Nowadays, finding a knife "in the design of the Stone Age" will not be difficult. In this case, the knife is made of Damascus steel.

On the territory of modern China, for example, silicon and obsidian were so scarce that bamboo knives became widespread. But knives made of bone were common among the peoples of the Far North until the 19th century.

Bronze Age: Spartan and Roman knife

And these are the legionnaires of the Roman Empire, which existed for 16 centuries.

About five thousand years ago, a person nevertheless mastered the extraction and processing of metal, and began to make knives from copper and bronze. Actually, all antiquity from the time of the ancient Hellenes (they are also ancient Greeks) to the ancient Romans and Byzantium is the triumph of copper and bronze over stone.

Knives of that time were most often solid

After the development of copper and bronze, empires were created, which, in terms of territorial extent and time of existence, have no equal to this day. The knives of those times were mostly solid-cast, but folding knives were also invented in the Roman Empire - a distant ancestor of our modern multi-tool and hiking knife.

Roman folding "army" knife. Spoon, fork, awl, toothpick, and God knows what else. II-III AD. Hello Swiss knives from the Roman Empire!

Such a versatile knife was indispensable for meals, and especially for the constant camping life that absolutely all soldiers led. Every Roman soldier carried such a knife with him throughout his entire service life, and perhaps later used it at home.

Please note that the blade of the knife is not made of bronze, but of iron. Iron was already known in the Bronze Age, although it was not used as massively as in subsequent centuries. At that time, it was much more expensive in terms of extraction and processing, but it gave greater strength and durability, sharpness to the blade itself.

Iron Age knives: Vikings, knights and samurai

A shot from the series "Vikings", which tells about one of the detachments of that time and shows us the culture, life, rituals and way of life of the Vikings.

Vikings (northerners, sea robbers, trouble for any merchants and conquerors, the "scourge of God" as they were also called in Europe), knights, samurai and ninja - they all existed at the same time, but at different ends of the globe.

Indian and Arabic damascus, Russian damask steel, legends about living swords and legends about heroes - all this is the age of iron and steel.

The Iron Age is one of the bloodiest in the history of both knives and humanity

Jokes aside, but those times were pretty bloody, although certainly not as bloody as our modern times with nuclear bombs and nuclear cruisers capable of destroying entire cities in a minute.

Although most of the knowledge of antiquity was lost in the Middle Ages, something was nevertheless adopted by the barbarian peoples. For example, gunsmithing associated with the processing of iron. If we talk about quality, then it is over, it has fallen significantly compared to antiquity.

The average blacksmith of that time had an idea of ​​how to forge a horseshoe or sickle for harvesting from soft iron. Such iron was not only expensive, but there were serious problems with the quality of the steel itself.

The Finnish knife is a typical representative of Scandinavian northern type knives. The Vikings had something similar.

The secrets of the weapons business were passed on only to their students.

Each master had his own secrets and passed them on only to his students. It was also dangerous to single out strongly in terms of product quality. If your knives or other weapons were much better than those of other blacksmiths, then such a master could be “invited” to the holy inquisition to talk about whether you dabble in black magic, because. for some reason, other God-fearing blacksmiths do not produce such high-quality items.

As you understand, not only beautiful women and scientists were burned at that time, but also good craftsmen. A good sword could cost several villages along with their inhabitants. Legends were added about swords, endowed them with intelligence, magical properties and gave their own names.

After the Crusades, the situation changed for the better. The knights, having visited the Muslim East, got access to the knowledge that was preserved and multiplied by the Arabs (after all, earlier these were Roman colonies, and the Romans respected knowledge very much), and therefore the knowledge of antiquity was not lost in those countries. The East of those times was very advanced in science, art, medicine and so on.

European knights, imprisoned from head to toe like tanks in iron armor and who covered the whole east with blood. They also made trips to Rus'. Everything, as they say, to the glory of the Lord, however, they did not offend themselves either, along the way, taking with them all the treasures and valuables that they could capture.

Japanese samurai on the other side of the world were distinguished by their extreme ruthlessness and bloodthirstiness, they repeatedly conquered both Korea and China. Moreover, Korea was attacked simply because it was on the way to China. It was a sin not to rob and kill for your own pleasure.

Tanto or Japanese knife is the legacy of the samurai, which has survived to this day.

Iron Age knives were very diverse, ranging from shape, length and ending with materials. In Indonesia, a curved knife with a sickle-shaped blade in the form of a tiger's claw appears - karambit, as well as the famous kris knife with a wavy blade in the form of a fiery tongue of flame.

A knife in Rus' is an attribute of a free person

In Rus' and in Europe, a knife is an attribute of a free person. A serf or Polonian has no right to have his own knife.

The knife of the Vikings and northerners is generally made with a wooden handle so that the steel does not burn the hand in the cold and does not slip in the blood when cutting game and fish. Do not forget about the Finnish hunter's and fisherman's knife, Japanese blue steel knives. All of them, too, were finally formed precisely in the Middle Ages!

Renaissance: Pirate Knife and Naval Conquest

His Majesty's Royal Musketeers in Europe.

The Renaissance era is characterized by several important points:

1. At this time, the sciences and arts were developing rapidly, the first industrial centers were emerging, where metal processing was not a matter of talented individuals (as was the case before), but of entire craft and trade guilds.
Firearms upstage knives
2. The invention of firearms makes armor and shields so heavy and expensive that they are abandoned altogether. The Spanish conquistadors, armed with lances, are among the last to use armor, the last legacy of the Middle Ages. The shell is very good against melee weapons, but the heavy muskets that have replaced the small-caliber arquebuses even pierce them.
3. The renaissance period is the time of the full development of metal. The knives of this era are varied and stand out for their excellent quality.
4. The discovery of America, the development of trade and the weak control of the colonies gives rise to such a phenomenon as the maritime brotherhood. Boarding, pirates!

In battle, the Spanish pikemen cover the musketeers from the reiters (cavalry with pistols).

The queen of the seas of that time was undoubtedly Spain. Their infantry, the most disciplined and strongest infantry of the time, was very effective in combat, which eventually let Spain down. Such efficiency slowed down the development and adoption of firearms, which gave the British, French and Dutch a chance to get ahead.

Do not forget that it was the Spaniards who discovered and conquered America - with crossbows, broadswords and pikes. It was believed that in a humid and hot climate, firearms were too unreliable.

Now directly about the knives of the renaissance and marine discoveries.

The Spanish Navaja is a classic folding knife of the time.

One of the most famous examples from that time is the Spanish Navaja. She was born in the 15th century, when the authorities, due to the danger of popular riots, legally forbade ordinary people to have edged weapons with a fixed blade. Swords and other weapons had the right to wear only the upper class and the army. Sailors' knives were often folding, because just such a knife could be carried anywhere and it takes up little space.

An example of a modern knife that has already become a classic.

Once the production of knives becomes mass, there are so many options that it becomes a bit of a problem to make your choice. Advertising, films and the press are so intertwined in an attempt to sell and make money on sales of blades that the average buyer, not savvy in knowledge, must learn to understand the many intricacies of this direction.

• Choose a folding knife or a fixed blade?
• What brand began to take the blade?
• What size?
• What companies produce high-quality and inexpensive knives?
• What cost to expect?

We will try to answer these and other questions in subsequent articles. While I would like to give general, but no less important recommendations. The main thing you need to do in any case is to understand

1. For what purposes do you need a knife and in what conditions will you use it?
2. How much do you expect?

Formulate for yourself the answers to these seemingly simple questions (only you can answer them yourself) and 90% of the work will be done.

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