During our camping trip (for which I do hope to obtain a few merit badges once the relative photos are ready
) we went to Babakale -a town in Çanakkale, Turkey- that is the most Western point of Anatolia. FYI, Anatolia is the name given to the Asian section of Turkey.
To have an idea where Babakale is, here's a map:
https://www.google.com.tr/maps/place/Babakale,+17860+Babakale%2FAyvac%C4%B1k%2F%C3%87anakkale/@39.7649584,26.2494905,10.25z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x14ba9fbd21affc25:0x33706fcbef9e587e!8m2!3d39.479531!4d26.064824Apparently there is a family there, they have been making particular knives for generations. I'm posting some photos below. The knives are forged steel and according to the cutler (this is the correct phrase, I hope) they are prone to rust, so they need to be kept dry. The handles of these knives are made of horn, though he also had an American customer a while ago, who brought complete deer horns with him and wanted these to be used as handles for his two knives. I have seen the photo of the final product, looked quite interesting (dunno whether practical, though). He actually sells online, too, but only to European customers, it seems. He said that the regulations of the USA does not allow knife shipments, so US customers need to be there to pick their products.
The most obvious design feature is the fork-style end of the handle. The cutler said, the tip of the pinky finger is inserted in that "gap" which makes it easier to grab the handle and gives some extra leverage, that is useful especially when cutting game meat.
In the final photo the upper knife has the date 1946 on it, it's quite visible. The other one has been recovered by the cutler from another city. Judging from the pattern on the knife he realized that it had been made by his grandfather and is dated 1912.
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