Cane knife

File:Sugar-cane-knife.jpg

Typical cane knife, also used for banana plants.

A cane knife is a large hand-wielded cutting tool similar to a machete. Its use is prevalent in the harvesting of sugarcane in dominant cane-growing countries such as Peru, Brazil, Colombia, Australia, South Africa, Ecuador, Cuba, Jamaica, the Philippines and parts of the United States, especially Louisiana and Florida, as well as Hawaii.

Design

A typical cane knife is characterized by a hardwood handle, a full tang, a deep blade and a hook at its tip used for picking up the cut cane, although some types do not employ this feature. The blade is usually thick, thinner than a machete or bolo, and more than long. The thin blade facilitates cutting cane quickly as the harvester slashes the cane at an angle: a thin blade slices through better than a thick blade.

Gallery

• Sugar cane knife, 1800s, used by enslaved Africans to cut sugar cane in the Danish West Indies
  Sugar cane knife, 1800s, used by enslaved Africans to cut sugar cane in the Danish West Indies
• 1888 drawing of "Queen Mary" Thomas, one of the leaders of the 1878 Fireburn riot in St. Croix, holding a cane knife and torch
  1888 drawing of "Queen Mary" Thomas, one of the leaders of the 1878 Fireburn riot in St. Croix, holding a cane knife and torch
• A sugar cane cutter in Cuba during zafra
  A sugar cane cutter in Cuba during zafra
• Canecutters in Ayr, Australia c.1907
  Canecutters in Ayr, Australia c.1907
• Female cane cutters in Barbados, 2011
  Female cane cutters in Barbados, 2011
• A well-used cane knife
  A well-used cane knife
• Old cane knife in south Louisiana, of the type that was the most common weapon in the 1811 German Coast uprising.
  Old cane knife in south Louisiana, of the type that was the most common weapon in the 1811 German Coast uprising.

See also

• Kukri
• Golok
• Bolo knife

References

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