Expert: Ralph Salier - 3/12/2011

Question
I was wondering if the ancient Egyptians employed a leatherworking tool called a round knife? The round knife is a blade shaped like a crescent. Would you know how old that tool is? I am a new leather artisan and would like to say with authority that such a tool was used for thousands of years!

Answer
Hi Jim,

The "round knife" is far older then the Egyptians.  In fact there are prehistoric examples of leather working tools that go back into the dawn of our history.  These of course were made of stone but were crescent in shape and were initially used to scrape hides to remove the connective tissues and on occasion the fur, this in preparation of tanning or curing the hide for use.  The actual cutting of the hide or leather was probably done with a single flake of stone as  these are extremely sharp and function well as knives.  Over time and as greater precision was required, the crescent scraper was used to long straight cuts as it could be controlled more effectively.  The Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Chinese and some Indian cultures converted the stone crescent blade into a metal blade. First bronze and later iron and still more recently steel and now high tech ceramics (back to stone in a sense).  

I am sure that you are aware of the range of tools used in leather work, the round knife only being one of them.  This is a tool kit that hasn't changed much in more then 3 thousand years.  In fact, during the excavation of Pompeii, they uncovered a leather working shop and the tool kit was virtually identical to a modern one in nearby Naples (some 2000 years apart).  So, the tool kit hasn't changed much except for refinements and changes in materials like going from stone to bronze to steel to ceramics.  And some tool forms have also changed but mostly in size and control.

I hope this helps.