Anyone have a good idea what a squaw blade is? I've heard it since i was a kid and just thought it was a small, un-notched knife dated in the mississipian/historic time period. But i dunno.

From day one, Badger and I have found "blades", usually in a teardrop fashion, better than preform quality, The perimeter edges are done very nice.
On the BEST examples, both sides have very bulbous protrusions. . .exactly like a good hand grip.
To this day we always call them " FAT KNIVES "

I'm pretty sure this is the type other diggers call "squaw knives "

I have two papered from Dwain. They're about 3-4" long 1/2 in wide all the way in lenght. Darl knives sometimes referred to as squaw knives.

Well , it sounds like our Fat knives are just that, no relation at all to anything that might be determined
to be on a par with a Darl blade.

Just wonder if any of mine are squaw blades. I've always called them knives anyway. So many blades, so few squaws

Got any pictures? I may have one myself.

Does the one on the left look like a "squaw blade"? It is a little over 2" long.

I pulled this one off the internet (not my point), for sale at $40. 2 5/8" long. Came from Arkansas, but it looks just like a bunch of mine. For sale as a squaw blade.

Will, this is not [ yet ] 3D PC monitored. Your picture could well be a "fat knife " to us. Overall
shape means little opposed to just realising, , , , Oh, ,they did nothing to reduce the middle thickness.

My picture attempt may not come out any better but you can see in the mirror part it's got a good
outline. If it was 1/4 inch thick the praises would come raining in.



No pretty frame for fat knives, they are just relegated to the tool drawer.

Could be a universal tool, just not named in the books. A wididiget or thingamabob that was easily knaped out for one time use or a multipurpose tool. If commonly called a squaw blade, the name had to have an origin, wouldn't it?

Wish I could remember the name of the book I read one time that used the term Squaw Blade in context. It was an old Calvary Soldiers account of watching the indians during a buffalo hunt. It talked about how effecient the squaws were cutting up all the meat after the kill using " Squaw Blades ". Pretty sure it inferred flint knives. But, if these were knives that indian wemon used specifically for butchering, slicing, and dicing, looks like they would be Thin, and very razor sharp for the job. Preparing meat, was largely their task. It dose lead me to believe that this term may be no older than the historic period indians.

That would be my thinking. From what I've read, the women did most of the root digging, plant,berry, and seed gathering, and some of the final stages of butchering. Yet Jimmy's blade is classified as a Darl, still called locally as a squaw blade, which pre-dates white mans influence by thousands of years. Could be used as a general term?

Add this into your mix of finding the right terminology.
There was a well know resort lake someplace like Michigan or Minesota years ago named SQUAW LAKE. Some group
raised enough support to get the local Fathers to change the name. Said "Squaw" was a derisive and derogatory word and not befitting their fair immage.

Thanks for the pix and info guys ,I think now that I don't have one after all

Brought forward 6/16/13 to compliment "purpose made tools.