Ulu at Ukpiksuu

Camp Ukpiksuu

My first experience using an ulu came while I was working at Camp Ukpiksuu (land of many willows) which was twenty miles south of Barrow, Alaska on the Arctic Slope. The camp was set up to teach native children about the ways of their ancestors, my job was to make sure they had fun. We did arts & crafts and learned about nature. I think I probably learned as much if not more than the children did. Sorry about the quality of the photo, it was made many years ago with a film SLR. This is a scanned image.

My first use of the ulu was to slice caribou meat in preparation to make jerky, the finished product was delicious by the way.

The Ulu (pronounced ooloo) is an all-purpose cutting tool of the native people of the Arctic. Traditionally a woman's knife it can be used to cut food, filleting fish, or even to cut hair. Uluit (the plural of ulu) come in a variety of sizes depending on the intended use. A small ulu would be an excellent addition to a sewing kit while a larger blade would be better for skinning and cleaning animals. Uluit have been found that dated as early as 2500BC.

The Inupiat version usually has the center piece of the blade cut out and both ends fitting into the handle. The Canadian ulu is attached to the handle by a single piece. Before other materials were available the handles would have been made from antler or bone and the blade from slate. Today caribou antler is still used for the handle but steel is more frequently used for the blade. The new ulu I showed you in yesterday's post is made in the Inupiat style.

Let's say you want to cut a piece of meat with your ulu. Hold the handle of the ulu in the palm of your hand with the beveled side of the blade away from you. With the meat on a cutting board hold the ulu at a slight angle and use a rocking motion to cut. It takes a little practice but you will find they cut remarkably well. The two uluit above are mine. The one in the background is purely decorative, the handle is made from sheep horn.


The one shown here is from Nome, Alaska. It was given to me as a gift after I had worked at a camp there one summer. The handle is caribou antler and the display base is whale bone. It is made more in the Canadian style with a triangle shaped blade.

Here is a video you might find interesting: Cold Cuts: Cuisine of the Arctic