# 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:** 9
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2017, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/61 "2017-12-26T23:47:26Z")
> [@ZurBob](#):
>
> I’m off to develop a shit based replacement for the hulls of icebreakers in the Antarctic. :smack:
[del][Pykrete](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pykrete)[/del] poopkrete.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2017, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/62 "2017-12-26T23:53:02Z")
So, maybe you really _can_ chop down the mightiest tree in the forest using a herring. Who knew?
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### Author:  [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2017, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/63 "2017-12-27T00:18:41Z")
Or, construct the mightiest ship in the fleet, by merely utilizing a used condom. Is it really necessary to go back here?
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2019, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/64 "2019-09-22T21:18:36Z")
[Scientists science the shit out of the shit knife–the knife is shit](https://www.wired.com/story/knives-frozen-feces-kinda-crappy/amp).
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2019, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/65 "2019-09-22T21:40:02Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#):
>
> [Scientists science the shit out of the shit knife–the knife is shit](https://www.wired.com/story/knives-frozen-feces-kinda-crappy/amp).
It wasn’t even able to cut the cheese.
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### Author:  [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2019, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/66 "2019-09-22T23:11:50Z")
The knives were formed in the deep freeze, but used when the air temp was at the deciding line between wearing shorts or wearing light long pants. I’d be curious as to what the results would have been if the use had been in the deep freeze on cold but not frozen tissue.
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### Author:  [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2019, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/67 "2019-09-23T16:24:30Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#):
>
> Besides being an _ **excellent** _ name for a band, what do you think the likelihood that [it](https://www.google.com/#q=eskimo+shit+knife) actually happened, and would work?
Hey man! You follow ESK?! They rock!
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### Author:  [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2019, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/68 "2019-09-23T22:52:54Z")
> [@Muffin](#):
>
> The knives were formed in the deep freeze, but used when the air temp was at the deciding line between wearing shorts or wearing light long pants. I’d be curious as to what the results would have been if the use had been in the deep freeze on cold but not frozen tissue.
Agree. That would seem important to verify the results. After going through what I would imagine is the unpleasant and difficult part of the study, why would you go and change the parameters? Perhaps the reasons are in the published paper.
ETA I see real room for enriching this under examined branch of research. Winter is coming.
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2019, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eskimo-shit-knife-fact-or-fantasy/790696/69 "2019-09-24T03:32:14Z")
> [@Wired](#):
>
> A story this good naturally spread like wildfire, not just in the academic literature, but in popular culture as well. Kent State anthropologist Metin Eren first heard it as a teenager. “It’s one of the reasons I went into anthropology,” he admitted. Now he runs **a cutting-edge lab**
Groan.
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