The Yakut Byhycha, the ancient, archaic multitool of the Siberian Taiga and Tundra.
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So old, no one knows how it came to be. So old it might have actually caused some of the infamous Japanese blacksmith traditions.
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Regardless.
Years ago. Almost a decade ago. I tested these blades in the Canadian North, forging my own differential heat treated ones.
You find them about 2000 posts ago... Mhm.
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Yet this isn't just a knife. It is a cultural heritage more than many other knife making traditions. Endemic!
Isolated and unique. Just as Japanese traditions and other have to be protected not to be castrated by profit and modern markets.
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So I contacted Alex, a Sakha hobby archaeologist of the permafrost and knife maker in Yakutia. @dobunknives
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We collaborated on several blades and he sent me 6 years ago several of these Byhah and Byhycha to work with that come close to what he found in ancient tombs.
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Now I finally dared again to make another one of these blades into a knife as I do once a year abouts.
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With a handle closer to artefacts than modern knives from 200 year old maple.
The blade traditionally set at an angle, as most Russian copies don't understand.
A lined sheath in the style of the northern Siberian and Scandinavian tries from half tanned leather.
Triangular tip of the knife for drilling, not machined but hand polished on Japanese stones by me.
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