# Eskimo Shit Knife--fact or fantasy?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 7, 2017, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696 "2017-07-07T15:05:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/21 "2017-07-07T22:58:51Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> Perhaps it works like pykrete ?:dubious:
Or Kale.🙂
Come on people, the only credible source linked to this nonsense, presented it as a tongue in cheek reference to a **MYTH.**
Btw: Where did the 10,000 year time frame (above@watchwolf49) come from?
We’re talking about the grandfather of a photographed (quasi modern) person. If we conclude that it was impossible for his grandfather to accomplish this fete, then it would by extension, be impossible for any of his forbearers to accomplish the fete, irrespective how many generations you go back.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/22 "2017-07-07T23:05:37Z")
We’re talking about arctic sub zero temperatures?
I can easily see a turd freezing and could be sharpened. I’d assume they shaped it into a pointed tool before it freezes.
It’s not going to soften if you’re working in -30 F conditions.
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/23 "2017-07-07T23:13:09Z")
> [@ZurBob](#):
>
> Come on people, the only credible source linked to this nonsense, presented it as a tongue in cheek reference to a **MYTH.**
Do you have a cite on [Wade Davis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wade_Davis_%28anthropologist%29) meaning it to be a tongue in cheek reference, or something that he thought to be a myth?
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/24 "2017-07-07T23:28:18Z")
Is that a frozen turd in your pocket or are you glad to see me?
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### Author:  [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/25 "2017-07-07T23:29:46Z")
> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> We’re talking about arctic sub zero temperatures?
>
> I can easily see a turd freezing and could be sharpened. I’d assume they shaped it into a pointed tool before it freezes.
>
> It’s not going to soften if you’re working in -30 F conditions.
I beg to differ, though shit infused water (or water infused shit…You make the choice) may not\*\* soften\*\* @ -30 F,\* it would certainly lose it’s edge\* immediately upon the use upon a carcass.
Not to mention the complicating factors of the initial challenge of sufficiently applying a cutting edge to said turd, **AND** maintaining it through the butchering process as mentioned above: due to (or lack of) temperature differentials.
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### Author:  [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/26 "2017-07-07T23:35:03Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#):
>
> Do you have a cite on [Wade Davis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wade_Davis_%28anthropologist%29) meaning it to be a tongue in cheek reference, or something that he thought to be a myth?
No I do not.
However, the video is self explanatory if you observe his body language.
Do you have a cite confirming his reference?
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/27 "2017-07-07T23:54:52Z")
How many different words do Eskimos have for “shit”?
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### Author:  [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2017, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/28 "2017-07-08T00:13:52Z")
> [@ZurBob](#):
>
> No I do not.
>
> However, the video is self explanatory if you observe his body language.
> Do you have a cite confirming his reference?
> **[The Key to Arctic Survival: Improvised Implements of Excrement](https://intpolicydigest.org/key-arctic-survival-improvised-implements-excrement/)**
>
> In recent days the Internet has been justifiably besotted by this magnificent 1947 photo of Peter Freuchen and his wife.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2017, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/29 "2017-07-08T00:38:51Z")
A fresh poop would be very malleable until it froze. Easily flattened and shaped into a blade.
Perhaps they cut serrated teeth into it? That eliminates the need for a fine edge
It would take some skill. But natives fashioned tools from various materials for thousands of years.
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### Author:  [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2017, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/30 "2017-07-08T23:33:30Z")
> [@Muffin](#):
>
> [The Key to Arctic Survival: Improvised Implements of Excrement](https://intpolicydigest.org/2014/01/23/key-arctic-survival-improvised-implements-excrement/)
Thank you, but this is just a reiteration of the original.
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### Author:  [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2017, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/31 "2017-07-09T01:20:01Z")
Wade Davis is a very sincere Anthropologist/ethno-botanist. I have to retract my contention that his tale of the shit knife was tongue in cheek. Upon further reading, I’ve come to the conclusion that he truly believes it is possible.
I disagree with his assertion. Not that this story wasn’t in fact relayed to him, but rather, the reality of the tale is in fact a myth… With no basis in reality.
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### Author:  [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2017, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/32 "2017-07-09T01:52:01Z")
> [@ZurBob](#):
>
> Thank you, but this is just a reiteration of the original.
This is a link to a story about Peter Freuchen, not Wade Davis. Freuchen’s accounts were documented in his biography, Vagrant Viking;: My life and adventures . This biography was published in 1953, the same year Wade Davis was born. I don’t think this story was influenced at all by Wade Davis or is a retelling of some original Davis story.
Wade Davis talked about an Inuit using a shit-knife to skin a dog. Peter Freuchen talks about the time he made a shit-chisel to free himself from ice after 30 hours of being stuck following an avalanche. Freuchen mentions that he learned to fasten the tool by watching natives.
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### Author:  [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2017, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/33 "2017-07-09T01:54:04Z")
> [@ZurBob](#):
>
> I disagree with his assertion. Not that this story wasn’t in fact relayed to him, but rather, the reality of the tale is in fact a myth… With no basis in reality.
What about the assertions of Arctic explorer, Peter Freuchen? Do you think he made it all up?
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### Author:  [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2017, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/34 "2017-07-09T03:59:42Z")
The OP’s link was to a search result with Wade Davis’s shit knife story as the top result(s).
Though Freuchen’s accounts may be vaguely related, that is not what the OP queried. The two stories do not coincide.
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2017, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/35 "2017-07-09T04:14:18Z")
> [@ZurBob](#):
>
> The OP’s link was to a search result with Wade Davis’s shit knife story as the top result(s).
> Though Freuchen’s accounts may be vaguely related, that is not what the OP queried. The two stories do not coincide.
Right? There is a world of difference between shit chisels and shit knives. I was really hoping that this thread wouldn’t veer off topic.
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### Author:  [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2017, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/36 "2017-07-09T04:15:49Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#):
>
> How many different words do Eskimos have for “shit”?
“See the snow, it is fornicating”.
[Reference](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/263/what-are-the-nine-eskimo-words-for-snow)
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### Author:  [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2017, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/37 "2017-07-09T04:25:00Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#):
>
> This is a link to a story about Peter Freuchen, not Wade Davis.
If you bother to read the entire text of Muffin’s link, you will find a reiteration of Wade Davis’s story near the end (that I was referring to), which is the subject of this discussion, not Peter Freuchen.
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### Author:  [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2017, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/38 "2017-07-09T04:42:58Z")
One could fashion a bust of Trump’s head out of shit and allow it to freeze, and it would not replicate his stupidity. I wouldn’t insult a frozen turd that way.
Likewise, just because you can fashion some art de feces and freeze it, doesn’t mean that it will somehow magically perform the function of the object it represents.
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### Author:  [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2017, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/39 "2017-07-09T05:06:26Z")
The way I understand the story, there’s nothing about shit that makes it particularly good for making implements. But the elder has no tools of any kind, and he’s out in the elements, presumably surrounded by solid ice, which he has no means to chop or shape. He just needs a substance he can work into shape as it freezes, and shit is readily available to him. I suppose he also might have pissed on some ice to temporarily melt it so he could work it. Either way, the key is that his family thinks they’ve taken away all his tools, but he’s far more resourceful than they can imagine.
Whether it happened, or is even plausible, I have no idea. It sounds to me like it’s intended to be a parable rather than a real story. But, I dunno.
I am still laughing at “Eskimo Shit Knife” as a band name, though.
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### Author:  [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2017, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/40 "2017-07-09T05:19:22Z")
> [@ZurBob](#):
>
> If you bother to read the entire text of Muffin’s link, you will find a reiteration of Wade Davis’s story near the end (that I was referring to), which is the subject of this discussion, not Peter Freuchen.
I did _bother_ to read the link. Did you bother to read the OP? At all? The subject of discussion is “Eskimo Shit Knife–fact or fantasy?” I mean, it’s only written right there in the _Subject_ line. Among the specific questions at hand–had you bother to actually read the OP–is “would [it] work”. The answer to that questions is “yes”. It has worked. There are first hand accounts of it actually working.
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