Savilin
Crooked knives were used for shaping wood, bone and antler. The Inuvialuit style of crooked knife has a small blade attached near the end of a curved handle. The knife is held with the fingers of one hand on the underside of the handle, and the thumb positioned on top of the blade in an indentation in the handle. The craftsman rests the underside of the blade against the object being worked, and draws the knife towards the body while using the thumb on the hand holding the tool to check the depth of the cut.
Darrel Nasogaluak: My grandfather (Edgar Kotakak) told me that whenever his father (Kotakak) had free time he would use his crooked knife to make wood shavings. Shavings were used for wiping your hands, starting fires, and to sit on.
"There is a version of the curved knife that they call tçvairon. (Émile Petitot, quoted in Savoie, 1971: 151)
