Tipatshimuna 
References:
Lucien M. Turner. 1979[1894]. Indians and Eskimos in the Quebec-Labrador Peninsula. Quebec: Presses COMEDITEX. James W. VanStone. 1982. The Speck Collection of Montagnais Material Culture From the Lower St. Lawrence Drainage, Quebec. Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History. Fieldiana, Anthropology New Series No.5. James W. VanStone. 1985. Material Culture of the Davis Inlet and Barren Ground Naskapi: the William Duncan Strong Collection. Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History. Fieldiana, Anthropology New Series No.7. David Gidmark. 2002. Building a Birchbark Canoe: the Algonquin Wabanaki Tciman. Firefly Books.
Innu Narrative:
Instrument tranchant servant à travailler le bois. (Sharp instrument for woodworking.)
“We nailed [the canoe] together, using these uatshanaut [uatshanau – white spruce rib]. You need a mukutakan (crooked knife) to make fine strips of wood.” Pinashue Benuen
“We started cutting the wood while there was still some snow on the ground. We put our wood on the bare ground to dry. Your grandfather (late Uniam Katshinak) split them apart. And Joseph would bend and shave the wood. After this part was done, that’s when it was ready to be put on the planks; when the wood is dry and the wood is shaved with a crooked knife.” Matinen (Rich) Katshinak
“He used menanuk (white spruce) [minaiku]. See that kind of a tree standing out there, the tall one? First, he would cut and split the tree out, and made uatshinauat [ribs]. He used an axe and Innu mukutakan (crooked knife). That’s all he used. He never used anything that’s automatic.” Uniam Katshinak
Other Info:
The mukutakan was always a practical instrument used to work planks, ribs and other canoe parts, snowshoe frames, toboggans, etc. David Gidmark’s book, Building a Birchbark Canoe: the Algonquin Wabanaki Tciman (2002, Firefly Books) contains a useful description of how to make a crooked knife (pp. 121-127).
“One of the most important tools used by the Nenenot is the ‘crooked knife’… These instruments are made from steel files or knife blades. They are of various sizes depending on the amount of material at hand. The Indian takes a piece of metal and grinds one side of it flat and smooth; the other is edged like a drawing knife. The blade is now heated and bent to the desired curve. Some are more bent than others and some have only the point bent to one side. The few left-handed persons have the blade formed to suit themselves. It is set in a handle curved from the user and bent upward like the blade. At the end of the handle is generally to be found a thong on which a wooden button is placed for attachment to the belt, as no man ever goes off on a journey without his knife, however short may be the distance. The handle is held in the hand at right angles or across the body and invariable drawn toward the user. It is employed for all purposes of whittling or shaving wood and one would be surprised to observe what large strips will separate when started with this apparently frail blade. The strips and slats of canoes, paddles, snowshoes, and in fact everything that can be cut from wood, are made with this knife. It requires much skill to guide the blade so as to cut the wood evenly; and to this end the thumb, which is placed upon the outer extremity of the handle, must steady the blade. The strain of the blade upon the handle is very great, and it must be securely held by means of stout thongs wrapped around it.” Turner (1977[1894]:153-154)
“Wood-working tools in the Speck collection are represented by three crooked knives, all with wooden handles and metal blades made from large kitchen knives..Crooked knives were sharpened on whetstones, fine-grained beach pebbles of which there are two in the collection.” VanStone (1982:7)
“Woodworking tools in the collection include eight crooked knives, seven of which have wooden handles and metal blades made from files… According to Strong…the handle of one of these knives was covered with the skin of a red squirrel, the tail serving as a plume at the end.” VanStone (1985:21)