Drawknife

A drawknife is a woodworking cutting tool with a handle at either end of the blade, allowing it to be controlled with both hands. Uses include removing bark and working in cooperage, the craft of making barrels and other wooden vessels.

The Norwegian name and craft context

The Norwegian term båndkniv, also written bandkniv, refers to making wooden barrel hoops. A Norwegian Crafts Institute report on stave-built vessels in Kvinnherad documents the tool being used with a hoop-making bench to produce such hoops. This is a specific craft context, not evidence that every surviving drawknife belonged to a cooper.

Recognition and assessment

Examine the blade between the two handles, the handle attachments and the surviving cutting edge. The arrangement differs from an ordinary single-handled knife and from a chisel with its cutting edge at the front of a lengthwise blade. When describing an older example, record maker's marks, dimensions, corrosion and replacement handles. Rust and wear alone cannot establish a precise age or local origin.

Sources: Store norske leksikon: båndkniv; Ordbøkene: bandkniv; Norsk Håndverksinstitutt: Lagging i Kvinnherad, 2019; Stubai: Reifmesser (Zugmesser).