# Hook Knife (Crook Knife)

Hewn Tool Library · https://hewn.build/tools/hook-knife-crook-knife

Corrected: An independent reviewer read this entry and found corrections. They have been applied to the text, and the reviewer re-checked the correction that mattered most for safety and found it done; the others have not been re-checked yet. The list at the end is the record of what changed.

Cite as: "Hook Knife (Crook Knife)." Hewn Tool Library, hewn.build/tools/hook-knife-crook-knife. Reviewed 2026-09-04.

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## identity — Family A

- **Name:** spoon knife; hook knife. "Sloyd hook knife" or "slöjd spoon knife" only where a source or maker uses the compound. **"Sloyd knife" / "slöjd knife" alone means the straight carving knife** and is not a synonym (review fix 10).
- **Not to be confused with:** this corpus's [[Carpet Knife]], whose "hook knife" is an unrelated flooring utility knife.
- **Definition:** a curved carving knife used to hollow concave surfaces. **One primary handle; may be controlled with one or both hands depending on model and taught grip** (review fix 6).
- **One-line:** a curved carving knife for spoon bowls, ladles, cups and related concave forms; cutting direction and hand position depend on the model's edges.

## identity — Family B

- **Name:** crooked knife. Culturally specific names are used only where a source supports them: **mocotaugan** appears in the Royal Museums Greenwich record [B-RMG]; the Hudson Museum's pages include **bikahtagenigan** [B-Hudson1]. Attribution is at the community and object level, not a generic "Eastern Seaboard / Great Lakes" label (NMAI's Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg record is an example) [B-NMAI].
- **Definition:** a **one-handed drawknife** with a characteristic handle, used for slicing and shaving flat, convex and hollowed wooden forms [B-Hudson2]. Hollowing bowls is one use, not its identity.

## ✦ how NOT to use it — Family A

### dangerous *(injures the user)* — review fix 1, the holding finding
1. **Identify the edges first.** Single-edged/handed or double-edged? Choose grip and direction only after that [A-MoraColl].
2. **Follow the maker's technique for that model.** A model designed for push and pull cuts is not pull-only [A-Mora162].
3. **Keep fingers, thighs, torso and the supporting hand outside the projected cut and slip path.** Reposition the work rather than cutting toward a body part.
4. **Beginners:** stable posture and work support, small controlled cuts, and **away-from-body cuts** unless being taught a specific braced technique [A-MoraBeg].
5. **Touch or guide only a surface positively identified as a blunt spine.** Never put an off-hand thumb on the live second edge of a double-edged knife [A-MoraColl].
6. **Keep the edge sharp and undamaged; stop if control needs excessive force.**
7. **Store and carry with edge protection.**
8. **Gloves** can reduce some laceration risk but do not make an unsafe cut path safe [A-MoraBeg].
- **Braced grips are named practitioner techniques, not universal instructions.** The chest-lever and can-opener grips (Jögge Sundqvist, via Robin Wood) are taught for control of specific cuts [HK8]; learn them from a teacher, and never apply them to a double-edged model in a way that puts the torso or hand against the second edge. Detailed operation is Reed's.
- *Removed (the reviewer's safety notes):* the single forum injury quotation, which could not be re-confirmed; the hazard is mechanically evident and the manufacturer guidance above is stronger.

### damaging *(ruins the tool or work)*
- **Honest gap.** Sharpening-maintenance guidance exists (a dowel-and-strop routine; resharpen roughly every 15–20 minutes of carving) [HK16], but no verified damage failure mode was located.

### beginner-trap
- **Thumb in the blade's path.** Asaya Sculpture's guide names the potato-peeler, pivot and twist-cut grips, each with a warning that the thumb must never sit in the blade's travel path [HK16]. On a double-edged model, that includes the back edge.
- **Carrying a grip from one model to another** — from a handed 164 (blunt back) to a double-edged 162 (live back) is the specific dangerous transfer.

### lineage-misuse
- **Treating it as a drop-in scorp or inshave** — they differ in handles, tangs, leverage, sweep and direction [HK-SC1].
- **Treating it as a crooked knife, or the reverse** — see Family B.

## ✦ how NOT to use it — Family B
- **Do not import Family A grips or cut directions** (chest-lever, can-opener, spoon-knife pull cuts); the crooked knife has its own handle, grip and community-specific technique [B-Hudson2][B-Dana].
- **General edged-tool controls:** identify the edge and bevel orientation; keep the supporting hand and body outside the projected cut and slip path; support the work; keep the edge sharp and stop if control needs force; protect the edge in storage. *(Modern edged-tool practice, not a community-specific instruction.)*
- **Honest gap:** no maker or community safety instruction specific to the crooked knife was among the reviewer's named sources; this layer is thin and flagged.

## correct use — Family A
*(Brief — the workbench holds the operation.)*

Hollowing a concave surface — a spoon's bowl, a ladle, a cup — usually after the exterior has been roughed with an axe and straight knife [HK12]. **Direction and grip follow the model and the maker's instructions:** double-edged 162/163 are designed for push and pull cuts; a handed single-edged model cuts one way and may allow off-hand guidance only on its blunt side [A-Mora162][A-Mora163][A-MoraColl]. **Material (review fix 11):** green wood is common and easier to carve; dry wood can be carved with sharper tools, smaller cuts and greater effort; green work changes as it dries [A-MoraBeg].

## correct use — Family B
*(Brief — community-specific technique is the community's; the workbench holds operation.)*
General slicing and shaving as a one-handed drawknife: basket stock, axe handles, canoe frames and ribs, paddles, poles, snowshoe frames, decoys, bows, bowls and dishes [B-Hudson1][B-Hudson2][B-Dana][B-SIcanoe].

## ✦ matching — Family A

- **does:** hollows spoon bowls, ladles, cups/kuksas and other concave carving.
- **suits:** governed by **hook radius, depth, edge count, handedness, stock condition and access** — e.g. the tight-radius 162 for deeper hollows, the shallow 163 for larger-radius bowls [A-Mora162][A-Mora163]. "Deep narrow interior" limits are dimensional and model-specific, not a blanket exclusion.
- **kit-fit:** axe → straight carving knife → spoon knife [HK12]. **Substitutes for a small scorp or inshave only** where work size, sweep, cutting direction and user control are compatible; handedness, grip, cutting direction, leverage and surface geometry differ [HK-SC1].
- **not-for (Family A only, review fix 5):** flat or convex shaping, which belongs to a straight knife. **This exclusion never applies to Family B.**
- **access:** inexpensive and widely sold; beginners start with stable posture, work support, small controlled cuts and away-from-body cuts [A-MoraBeg]; braced grips are learned with instruction.
- **context:** a live, taught craft — Spoonfest, the Green Wood Guild, North House Folk School [HK9][HK12].

## ✦ matching (review fixes 4, 5) — Family B
- **does:** canoe components, paddles, poles, snowshoe frames, basket rims and handles, axe handles, decoys, bows, bowls and dishes, and general slicing and shaving — **flat, convex and hollowed** forms [B-Hudson1][B-Hudson2][B-Dana][B-SIcanoe][B-RMG].
- **suits:** governed by blade profile, bevel orientation, handle and grip, stock, and community-specific technique.
- **not-for:** Family A's concavity-only exclusions do **not** apply. No Family B exclusion is asserted beyond ordinary edged-tool limits.
- **Uses are documented, not provisional:** Hudson Museum, Royal Museums Greenwich and the Smithsonian canoe publication directly support them.

## anatomy — record per model (review fix 6) — Family A

Record for every model: **edge configuration** (double-edged / bidirectional; right- or left-handed single edge), **open or closed curve**, **hook radius and blade length**, and **whether the maker permits off-hand support on a blunt surface.**
- **Morakniv Hook Knife 162:** 55 mm, tight-radius, **double-edged**, for scoops, bowls and deeper hollows; designed for push and pull cuts [A-Mora162].
- **Morakniv Hook Knife 163:** 74 mm, shallow curve, **double-edged**, for larger-radius bowls [A-Mora163].
- **Morakniv 164:** **handed, single-edged**; Morakniv says the blunt side can be guided with the opposite hand [A-MoraColl].
- **Djärv (S. Djärv Hantverk AB, Avesta, founded 1989):** catalogue names include "Crook knife," "Carving hook," "Ring tool," "Loop tool," and "Spoon knife" in hollow / standard / large / large-with-long-handle grades [HK11]. Catalogue names prove sale, not mechanical equivalence (review fix 12).
- No claim is made about what "most" traditional patterns are.

## anatomy — Family B
- Blade profile, bevel orientation, handle and grip vary by maker and community; record them per object. The Smithsonian's *Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America* documents an **upturned-tip variation** used for hollowing bowls and dishes [B-SIcanoe]. A Smithsonian NMAH example (DL.59.0871, 1850–1900) has a steel blade made in England, maple handle and fibre/hide binding [HK1].

## trades — Family A
- **Green woodworking / spoon, cup and bowl carving** (replaces "bowl turning," which requires a lathe — review fix 11).

## trades — Family B
- **Birchbark canoe building, paddle and pole making, snowshoe making, basketry, implement and vessel making** — community-specific and attributed [B-Hudson1][B-SIcanoe][B-Dana].

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## lineage and history — Family A

- **Functional neighbours, not ancestors:** the [[Scorp]] and the [[Inshave]], described separately (review fix 9): a **scorp** commonly has a U- or loop-shaped blade with two tangs seated into one handle; an **inshave** commonly has two handles, one at each end of the curved blade. Neither is described as "scorp/inshave" for handle or tang count.
- **Companion:** the straight sloyd / carving knife.
- **Scandinavian dating is unresolved (review fixes 7, 8).** No securely dated early Scandinavian spoon-hook artifact was located in this research. The sources reviewed for the Mästermyr chest did not identify a hook knife [HK3][HK4]; that is one chest described by secondary sources, not evidence of absence from a region or period. **Educational sloyd** at Nääs — Otto Salomon's method and teacher seminary — belongs to the **late nineteenth century** (Sörmlands museum places the school in the 1870s) [A-Naas][A-Sormland]; it is a teaching movement, not a date for the blade.
- **Modern craft transmission.** Wille Sundqvist (1925–2018) is described in an obituary as a design adviser to Frosts and KJ Eriksson, working with Jögge Sundqvist and Beth Moen on factory spoon-knife geometry [HK5]. His *Swedish Carving Techniques* (Taunton, 1990) is widely cited as a standard slöjd reference, and Peter Follansbee named it his favourite spoon-carving book [HK6][HK7]. (Status claims such as "definitive handbook" are those sources' words.)
- **Patents:** no relevant patent was located in the searches performed (Google Patents, Justia) [HK-gap]. No conclusion is drawn about the family's patent history or why.

## lineage and history (review fix 3) — Family B
- **About 1000 BP:** Hudson Museum archaeological evidence identifies modified beaver-incisor tools from the Carson Site used in the crooked-knife manner [B-Hudson1].
- **By the 1700s:** the Hudson Museum reports Wabanaki artisans making metal-bladed crooked knives [B-Hudson1].
- **1819–1837:** a surviving metal crooked knife / mocotaugan at Royal Museums Greenwich [B-RMG].
- **1850–1900:** Smithsonian NMAH DL.59.0871 — one catalogued example, **not an earliest example** [HK1]. **c.1910:** NMAI, Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg [B-NMAI].
- **A continuing tradition:** the Hudson Museum's "Carving Traditions with Joe Hugga Dana, Penobscot" gives named, community-situated contemporary testimony on construction and uses [B-Dana].
- **No documented connection** to Family A was located; neither is described as descending from the other.

## human side — Family A

- **Jögge Sundqvist** teaches the "chest lever grip" (informally "chicken wings" or "taste the woodchip") and the "can opener grip," as recorded by Robin Wood at Spoonfest [HK8]; he also teaches at North House Folk School [HK9].
- **Del Stubbs / Pinewood Forge** studied with the Sundqvists before founding Pinewood Forge; the account rests on vendor and forum corroboration, not Pinewood Forge's own page [HK10] (MODERATE).
- **Barn the Spoon** (Barnaby Carder, UK) uses "a semi-circular-bladed knife" for spoon bowls; co-founded Spoonfest and the Green Wood Guild [HK12].
- *Removed:* the unverified "Jon Mac" authority line (review fix 13).

## human side — Family B
- **Joe Hugga Dana (Penobscot)** — construction and uses including ribs, paddles, basket handles, vessels, bows and general utility [B-Dana].
- **Jarrod Stone Dahl** — a contemporary crooked-knife maker and teacher, named across practitioner sources [HK13] (MODERATE-HIGH).

## ✦ proof of existence (both families)

- **Family B:** Hudson Museum archaeological record (~1000 BP; metal blades by the 1700s) [B-Hudson1]; Royal Museums Greenwich object, 1819–1837 [B-RMG]; Smithsonian NMAH DL.59.0871, 1850–1900 [HK1]; NMAI Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg object, c.1910 [B-NMAI].
- **Family A:** current manufacture (Morakniv 162/163/164; Djärv) [A-Mora162][A-Mora163][A-MoraColl][HK11]. No securely dated early Scandinavian artifact located; not a verified negative. A Nordiska Museet (digitaltmuseum.se) search returned generic knife records; no hook-knife object page confirmed.
- **Patents:** none located in the searches performed [HK-gap].

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## references

**Family A**
- **[A-Mora162]** Morakniv, "Hook Knife 162," https://www.morakniv.com/en-ca/products/hook-knife-162 — 55 mm tight-radius double-edged; push and pull cuts (reviewer-named).
- **[A-Mora163]** Morakniv, "Hook Knife 163," https://www.morakniv.com/en-eu/products/hook-knife-163 — 74 mm shallow double-edged (reviewer-named).
- **[A-MoraColl]** Morakniv, "Whittling knives" collection, https://www.morakniv.com/en/collections/whittling-knives — 162/163 double-edged; 164 handed single-edged; blunt-side guidance (reviewer-named).
- **[A-MoraBeg]** Morakniv, "Whittling for Beginners," https://us.morakniv.com/blogs/woodcarving/whittling-for-beginners — posture, small cuts, sharp tools, cut protection, away-from-body cuts; green and dry wood (reviewer-named).
- **[A-Naas]** Nääs Slott och Slöjdseminarium, "Nääspedagogiken," https://naas.se/sloejden/naeaespedagogiken/ (reviewer-named).
- **[A-Sormland]** Sörmlands museum, Nääs-method teaching chart, 1894, https://sokisamlingar.sormlandsmuseum.se/objects/c24-275761/ (reviewer-named).
- **[HK3]** Viking Archaeology, "The Mästermyr Find," viking.archeurope.com — secondary (MODERATE).
- **[HK4]** The Viking Herald, "Exploring the Mästermyr Chest," thevikingherald.com — popular (MODERATE).
- **[HK5]** Nordiska knivar blog, Wille Sundqvist obituary (2018), nordiskaknivar.wordpress.com (MODERATE-HIGH).
- **[HK6]** Wille Sundqvist, *Swedish Carving Techniques* (Taunton, 1990) — the book itself; "standard reference" status is attributed, not asserted.
- **[HK7]** Peter Follansbee, blog comment, pfollansbee.wordpress.com, January 2016 (HIGH).
- **[HK8]** Robin Wood, "Spooncarving with Jögge Sundqvist," robin-wood.co.uk, August 2012 (HIGH).
- **[HK9]** North House Folk School, Jögge Sundqvist course listing, northhouse.org (MEDIUM).
- **[HK10]** Pinewood Forge / Del Stubbs — vendor and forum corroboration (BladeForums, BushcraftUK) (MODERATE).
- **[HK11]** S. Djärv Hantverk AB, "About Us," https://djarv.se/en/about-us/ (HIGH).
- **[HK12]** Spitalfields Life, "Barn the Spoon, Spoon Carver," November 2012, spitalfieldslife.com (HIGH).
- **[HK16]** Asaya Sculpture, spoon-carving hook-knife technique guide (2025), asayasculpture.com (MODERATE).
- **[HK-SC1]** This corpus's [[Scorp]] entry and `the reviewer Tested/Scorp` — internal consistency reference only, not external proof.

**Family B**
- **[B-Hudson1]** Hudson Museum, University of Maine, "bikahtagenigan," https://umaine.edu/hudsonmuseum/crooked-knives/bikahtagenigan/ (reviewer-named).
- **[B-Hudson2]** Hudson Museum, "Drawknife," https://umaine.edu/hudsonmuseum/crooked-knives/drawknife/ (reviewer-named).
- **[B-Dana]** Hudson Museum, "Carving Traditions with Joe Hugga Dana, Penobscot," https://umaine.edu/hudsonmuseum/teacher-resources/wabanaki-study-unit/carving-traditions-with-joe-hugga-dana-penobscot/ (reviewer-named).
- **[B-RMG]** Royal Museums Greenwich, "Crooked knife," https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-2614 — 1819–1837 (reviewer-named).
- **[B-NMAI]** National Museum of the American Indian, Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg crooked knife, https://americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/object/NMAI_163851 — c.1910 (reviewer-named).
- **[B-SIcanoe]** Smithsonian Institution, *Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America*, https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/10088/9991/1/USNMB_2301964_unit.pdf (reviewer-named).
- **[HK1]** Smithsonian NMAH, "Crooked Knife," DL.59.0871, accession 162489, 1850–1900 (HIGH).
- **[HK13]** Robin Wood, Peter Follansbee's blog and Woodspirit Handcraft naming Jarrod Stone Dahl as a crooked-knife maker and teacher (MODERATE-HIGH).

**Search record**
- **[HK-gap]** Patent searches, Google Patents and Justia, including "Flexcut," Run 522 (2026-08-24): no relevant patent located.

*Removed:* [HK2] (generic "secondary sourcing," superseded by the Hudson Museum, RMG and Smithsonian sources); [HK14] (unverified blog author); [HK15] (forum injury quote not re-confirmable); [HK17] (unfetched forum anecdotes); [HK-SC2] (relayed through a sibling entry).

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## open classification question (review fix 12) — Family A
**Ring and loop tools** are not assumed to be hook-knife variants. Closed-loop cutters differ in edge access, sharpening, entry into the work and cut direction; record exact construction and use from model pages before deciding whether they are variants, siblings or separate entries.

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# FAMILY B — Crooked Knife (Indigenous Northeastern North American one-handed drawknife)

## The reviewer's corrections (13)

- `BLOCKER` — Exact claim: “A curved-blade knife, held and controlled with one hand (often braced against the chest o …
- `BLOCKER` — Exact claim: The title, alternate-name list, summary, and one-line definition treat “Hook Knife,” “Croo …
- `SHOULD-FIX` — Exact claim: “no artifact predates roughly 1850 in either documented lineage,” and the North American f …
- `SHOULD-FIX` — Exact claim: Canoe- and snowshoe-building associations are “not independently deep-sourced,” “reduced c …
- `SHOULD-FIX` — Exact claim: “It is not a whittling or shaping knife for flat or convex surfaces”; “No source found fra …
- `SHOULD-FIX` — Exact claim: “single-bevel on most traditional Scandinavian patterns”; “held and controlled with one ha …
- `SHOULD-FIX` — Exact claim: “the 20th-century Swedish Sloyd educational movement” is the earliest solidly dated Scandi …
- `SHOULD-FIX` — Exact claim: The Mästermyr search is “a genuine, checked negative” showing the ancient-tool hypothesis  …
- `SHOULD-FIX` — Exact claim: “both bent-blade, tanged, two-handle-seated tools” and later “a scorp/inshave is a two-tan …
- `SHOULD-FIX` — Exact claim: “slöjd knife” is an alternate name for the hook knife.
- `SHOULD-FIX` — Exact claim: “Green wood is the dominant material culture,” with “no strong dry-wood counter-evidence,” …
- `SHOULD-FIX` — Exact claim: Ring and loop tools are “deep-hollow variants” of the hook knife, and Djärv's catalog name …
- `MINOR` — Exact claim: The provenance and closing paragraph describe “two research passes,” “Hewn,” and d …