Mocotaugan: The Story and Art of the Crooked Knife
by Ned Jalbert
The Woodland Indian's Indispensable Survival Tool
The 20th -anniversary digital expansion of the ground breaking book.
Resource Guide
You will find 8 Major Resources in this Guide:
1) General Information- think Wikipedia
2)The Mocotaugan from a Native American Perspective
3) Bush-craft Courses that focus on the Mocotaugan- learn how to make and use the mocotaugan at the bush craft outings
4) How to Make a Mocotaugan- knife makers tell-all
5) A list of Blacksmith Organizations - Heritage tradespeople keeping the art alive
6) Museums with Notable Mocotaugan Collections
7) Contemporary Mocotaugan Makers - check out these beautiful knives being made today
8) Bibliography
Painted and chip carved mocotaugan with lead and mirror inlays
Canada Maritimes / Norther Coastal New England
Circa 1850-1880
Wood, paint, mirror lead inlays
Private Collection
Mocotaugan - General Information
Crooked Knives: Tolls of the Trade
The Hudson Museum, University of Maine
https://umaine.edu/hudsonmuseum/exhibits/online/crooked-knives/
Crooked Knife : Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crooked_knife
The Crooked Knife: History, Design and use with Jarrod Dahl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59rK3N-H3E0&t=37s
The Native American Mocotaugan / Couteau Croche Kinfe- Paul H.S. Gaboriault
https://niftydeluxe.net/mocotaugan.html
Mocotaugan: The Art of the Crooked Knife. Tribal Arts Magazine, Issue 38, Summer 2005
https://www.tribalartmagazine.com/en/back-issues/99-tribal-38-summer-2005.html
Inside the IAIS ( The Institute for American Indian Studies );The Crooked Knife
https://www.facebook.com/IAISMuseum/videos/inside-with-iais-crooked-knife/440851430290327/
Blade Story- Though the Crooked Knife is as common to Crees as Geese and Snow, The History extends Back to the Stone Age. Amy German http://www.nationnewsarchives.ca/article/blade-story-though-the-crooked-knife-is-as-common-to-crees-as-geese-and-snow-the-knifes-history-extends-back-to-the-stone-age-2/
Mocotaugan: The Most Feared Knife on Facebook , E.R.Long
The Mocotaugan from A Native American Perspective
Cesar's Birchbark Canoe; Cesar Newwasish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRFCxxAKafc&t=3185s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRFCxxAKafc&t=1258s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRFCxxAKafc&t=943s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRFCxxAKafc&t=1550s
Native Arts in Canada ; An Ojibwas Elders Art and History
https://www.native-art-in-canada.com/crooked_knife.html
Author's note: Many of today's most famous crooked knife enthusiasts credit Cesar Newasish and the 1971 documentary, Cesar's Birchbark Canoe, as their first introduction to the knife. A must see video for any enthusiast.
Cesar coming ashore in Cesar's Birchbark Canoe , 1971
Bush-craft Courses with focus on the Mocotaugan
Ray Mears Bushcraft
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqmHqrHr8xg&t=269s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqmHqrHr8xg&t=1346s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqmHqrHr8xg&t=1840s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqmHqrHr8xg&t=1655s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqmHqrHr8xg&t=809s
The Mocotaugan -Canadian Bushcraft
"How to use a Mocotaugan presented by Nick Dillingham"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qofxsgaTzbU
Wild Human Bushcraft, UK
Photo: Copyright Daniel Wildey
Wild Human Hands on Courses for making and using Crooked Knives
https://www.wildhuman.com/product/courses/crafts/axe-crooked-knife-combo/
North House Folk School - Make your own Crooked Knife
https://northhouse.org/course-session/crooked-knife-make-your-own-2-3-2023
Axe and Paddle Bushcraft - Steven and Kirstty La Say
https://www.axeandpaddlebushcraft.co.uk/bushcraft-courses-workshops/
How to make a Mocotaugan
Forging the Native America Crook Knife - the Mocotaugan with Walter Sorrells
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBIS6iToiYQ
Making the Mocotaugan - with Nate Johnson
https://www.youtube.com/@natejohnsonarts
How to make a Hook, Crooked & Bent Knife ; Cariboo Blades
https://www.caribooblades.com/custom-hook-knives
Crook Knife - Gary Huston
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llqoTERZAY8
Making a Crooked Knife - Robert Zdarilek
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOO-ZOyHc_w
Making the Mocotaugan ( Crooked Knife ) - Old Ways Farm - an eight part series https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A09W5IvzFsE
Mocotaugan Carving Techniques - Steven Le Say .com/watch?v=gcBSal2m10o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcBSal2m10o
Blacksmith Organization
Author's Note: I would like to thanks Mr. Ted King of the New England School of Metalwork for his invaluable contributions. Please support our Heritage tradesmen and schools, without them
these traditions would not survive.
World Wide Guilds
Blacksmith Guilds throughout the world.
http://www.feblacksmith.com/org.htm
New England
New England School of Metalwork
https://newenglandschoolofmetalwork.com/index.php/
Please contact: Mr. Ted King
Associate Program & social Media Coordinator Coordinator
TKing@newenglandschoolofmetalwork.com
Canada
CanIron - The Canadian National Blacksmith Conference
This is the bi-annual gathering place for blacksmiths throughout the provinces.
Ontario
Ontario Blacksmiths
https://ontarioblacksmiths.ca/
https://www.ontariocolleges.ca/en/programs/arts-and-culture/blacksmith
Maritime
https://www.facebook.com/groups/212116238865475/
Seskatchchewan
https://skblacksmiths.wixsite.com/skblacksmithassoc
Montreal
https://lesforgesdemontreal.org/pages/mission?logged_in_customer_id=&lang=en
Museums with notable Mocotaugan Collections
A thought provoking mocotaugan with unique carved handle painted to mimic Catlanite stone.
Collection the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Accession number 2013.666
National Museum of the American Indian ( Smithsonian Museums )
https://americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/search?edan_q=crooked+knife
Authors note: The National Museum of the American Indian has ( 133 ) knives labeled “Crooked Knife" and none "Mocotauagn" . Of the knives labeled " Crooked Knife " some are farriers knives, some Inuit carving knives and some antler fantasy type knife. To me, it is this exact type of misidenticication that demands standardized nomenclature based on identifying factors; must be a draw knife with a handle set at an oblique angle to the blade whose form originated in the Eastern Woodlands.
Canadian Museum of Natural History
Author's note: Much like the NMAI, the Canadian Museum of History has an extensive and remarkable collection of crooked knives. Unfortunately, they also incorrectly identify many of the Mocotaugans in their holdings.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
https://www.metmuseum.org/search-results?q=crooked+knife
The McCord- Stewart Museum
https://collections.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/search/crooked%20knife
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
The Detroit Institute of Art
https://dia.org/collection/crooked-knife-60390
https://dia.org/search?keys=crooked%20knife
Museum of Fine Art Boston
https://collections.mfa.org/search/objects/*/crooked%20knife
Hudson Museum ( Maine )
search=crooked+knife&page=4&size=10&withImages=false
The Robert Abbe Museum ( Maine)
An antique postcard depicting three mocotaugans in the collection of the Robert Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine. The Abbe Museum has a long history of recognizing the diverse Indigenous populations of northern coastal New England, honoring their art and culture, and supporting local Indigenous artists to ensure a living continuum of traditional craftsmanship. Notably, the Abbe was the first museum to host the groundbreaking exhibition, Mocotaugan: The Story and Art of the Crooked Knife.
Author’s Note: The elaborate knife in the center is identified on the postcard as having been made by "Sabbitis Soloman in 1863." However, historical and stylistic evidence indicates this knife is actually the work of Solomon Sabattis, the son of the highly respected Abenaki guide, Mitchell Sabattis from Long Lake, New York.
Contemporary Mocotaugan Makers
A fine right-handed mocotaugan made by the legendary Henri Vaillancourt.
Henri makes his knives to be the ultimate essential tool of the woodlands- employing the best in Native technologies and materials.
Circa 2003, A Horse Effigy Crooked Knife by David Cameron, NS., now in the permanent collection of the Robert Abbe Museum
Ben and Lois Orford
A beautiful contemporary crooked knife by Darren Veinot, NS, ca. 2023
Aaron York's tribute to Sacajawea
Signed "Aaron York 2008 Abenaki Nation
Aaron on the knife: " It has been part of my personal collection ... but downsizing and so now offering it for sale for 1st time."
For Aaron there was a personal meaning to the Sacagawea coin image which pictures Sacagawea as a mother with a baby in a leather wrap on her back, The coin reminded of him of his Inuit wife and how she carried their daughter. Sacagawea was an interpreter and guide for Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's expedition westward from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Coast. She was an integral part of the expedition's success.
Photo and Text courtesy of americannativearts.com
Wild Human; Ben McNutt & Deborah Nickolls
https://www.wildhuman.com/product/courses/crafts/axe-crooked-knife-combo/
Don Merchant
Bibliography
For researchers, students, and collectors alike, this comprehensive bibliography serves as an essential roadmap to the history, scholarship, and artistry of the crooked knife.
The foundation of Mocotaugan: The Story and Art of the Crooked Knife; The Woodland Indian's Indispensable Survival Tool was built upon decades of rigorous research, primary-source scholarship, and material culture analysis. This bibliography consolidates those vital resources into a single, accessible archive for the study of this iconic tool.
Contribute to the Resource
Scholarship is an evolving pursuit. If you have suggestions for additional scholarly texts, historical documents, or resources to include in this bibliography, please submit your entries in APA style using our Contact form.
