The Yakut people are an indigenous Turkic group who live in the Sakha Republic of northern Siberia. Yakutsk, the largest city in that area, holds the record for the lowest recorded temperature for any city in the world— 90 degrees below zero Fahrenheit! This is the coldest area on earth other than Antarctica.
Yakut people are well adapted to living and working in this frigid environment. They are very familiar with reindeer, fur bearing animals, arctic horses, cattle, and fishing. Their fancy fur garments are probably the most beautiful in the world ( check this out on internet).
Yakut knives often have oversized handles which allow them to be used with heavy gloves or mittens. The blades, of course, are very unusual. They are asymmetrical, with one side concave and the other convex. This one has the fuller (concave side) on the right side of the blade, and it and works best for right handed use. The blade is 5 1/4 inches in length. The steel is Russian GOST 40X13 (rust resistant) HRC 59-60.
The handle is also 5 1/4 inches in length giving the knife an overall length of a bit over 10 1/2 inches. The handle is made of fancy Masur birch and has bolsters made of reindeer antler. The tang runs about 3/4 of the way through the the handle. The reindeer antler bolster at the end of the handle is secured with epoxy and a large brass round-head wood screw that was ground flat for a smooth appearance. The cross section of the handle is egg-shaped.
The sheath is made of veg. tanned steer hide and has a wood liner inside the lower part. Brass O-rings are made of 1/8 in. rod. The belt hanger is my own design. Some simple Yakut designs are tooled into the sheath which includes decorative leather lacing at the throat.
The knife must be inserted into the sheath with the cutting edge correctly oriented. A small arrow on the back side of the sheath indicated the correct orientation for the cutting edge. If the knife were inserted forcefully with the cutting edge incorrectly oriented, the wood liner inside would be split. Be mindful of this! The knife glides into the sheath smoothly when oriented correctly and the gives a gentle “pop” when fully seated.
