Grindaknívur is the Faroese

Faroe Islands

The Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...

 pilot whale

Pilot whale

Pilot whales are cetaceans belonging to the genus Globicephala. There are two extant species, the long-finned pilot whale and the short-finned pilot whale . The two are not readily distinguished at sea and analysis of the skulls is the best way to tell the difference between them...

 hunt's most distinguished equipment. The haft

Haft

Haft may refer to:* Haft , the handle of a sword* Herbert Haft , American businessman and father of businessman Robert Haft * Robert Haft , American businessman...

 and sheath

Sheath

Sheath may refer to:* Scabbard, a sheath for holding a sword, knife, or other large blade, as well as guns, such as rifles.* The outer covering of a cable* Condom, a kind of contraception* Debye sheath, a layer of a plasma in physics...

 are usually made of high quality wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

 and have inlay of brass

Brass

Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...

 and silver

Silver

Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...

.

There are no specific formal requirements to the whaling knife. In most cases the length of the blade is between 16 and 19 cm. The whaling knife is considered as one of the foremost Faroese contributions to Nordic

Nordic countries

The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...

 artistic craftsmanship. The knife is used for the traditional method of killing pilot whales; to sever the spinal cord

Spinal cord

The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the brain . The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system...

with a cut across the back of the neck of the animal between the head and the neck.

External links

• Whaling.fo - Website from the Faroese Gouvernment (English)
• Information page from the High North Alliance (in favour of whaling)
• The North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission
• Information page from the Campaign Whale campaign (against whaling)