An amputating knife I made

george wilson

george wilson

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This is an early 18th.C. style amputating knife Jon and I made. I was the toolmaker for Colonial Williamsburg,and Jon was my journeyman. I always caption my puncture posts with "I made" because it makes a search much easier later on,though Jon helped make it(the handle). Actual knife part I made,though.

We made whatever tools were needed for the Historic Area of the museum,with about 88 craftsmen using them. This was for the Apothecary Shop.

It was freehand ground on a Square Wheel grinder. While I made knives sometimes,this knife was a challenge to grind accurately due to the hollow curved edge. The face of the belt was flat,so I wasn't sure I could do it. Somehow I did. Medical tools were the highest type of craftsmanship,so I needed to emulate that.

Medical knives were highly polished so that if they were wiped off soon,blood would not have time to etch them. Of course,this was before stainless steel!!

The blade was made from 3/16" A2 tool steel. I did not want to take any chances of the blade warping or cracking due to its extreme thin hollow grind,and the odd shape. A2 is a very safe steel since it is air hardening. I made the knife sharp enough to demonstrate on fruit,but not as razor sharp as it would be for actual use. The Apothecary shop was staffed with women,so I didn't want them to cut themselves,either!!

Jon made the ebony handle. Hate the yellow background!! Click on the picture to enlarge it. The knife's total length is about 14" IIRC.

knife.jpg
 
By the way,the handle is not on upside down. You would hold the knife upside down with the arm fully horizontal,then,bend the elbow until the cutting edge was facing down,and your arm would be going around the leg. Then,you would draw the knife around the leg in a quick motion to sever the flesh. You might can see why I didn't want to make the knife TOO sharp for the demonstrator to accidentally cut themselves with. It was still plenty sharp,though,compared to a kitchen knife. They would sometimes demonstrate with a piece of fruit how vaccinations were made,or how this knife worked. I made them a vaccination knife,too,plus blood letting lancets. Blood lancets came in sets of 3,each getting a more acute angle on the end,depending on how deep you wanted to pierce for taking blood.
 
I agree very nice BUT I am doctoraphobic see blood see stars cold sweat lights out. Good job.!
 
It is gruesome,isn't it? Especially when you know they used no anesthetics. You know,they actually HAD anesthetics,but went by their screwed up idea that people were born to suffer!! Sometimes,they could just hit a patient over the head with a big wooden mallet. One was found in the surgeon's kit in the wreck of the Mary Rose,Henry VIII's ship.
 
You know... for about a day, I was wondering what this thread was about but was afraid to look :-).

Cool knife -and as usual, George, beautiful work.


Ray

BTW: I'm not sure if it's still there but the Walter Reed military hospital had a museum of antique medical history. Eeek!
 
I didn't want to look either. Bad thread title. Nice Knife George. ------ "Billy G"
 
The blade has a long,tapered tang inside the handle,glued in with epoxy. I expect the old ones were just wedged in,but we didn't want trouble down the road,where that razor thin blade fell out and broke on the floor.
 
Really nice work. As always you make some of the coolest stuff. Would A2 be a good steel to use for a straight razor? Could you go over your process of heat treating this knife?

Jeff
 
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