Main activities of the Forest NEnets are reindeer husbandry, hunting and fishing. Earlier the Nenets people produced tools for all this by themselves. There were no professional craftsmen, each family produced all household essentials. Men were engaged in work with wood, bones, metal, braiding of lassos and nets used for hunting, women processed animal skins and tailored clothing for the whole family. Children started helping adults at an early age, girls were taught how to sew, boys learned how to handle a knife.

Household inventory of every Nenets usually included an axe, an awl, a drill, a saw and a set of knives. A knife has always been the main tool as it is required to cut a reindeer carcass or to make a sledge. This tool has always been of great importance and had symbolic meaning too. Knives were carefully stored and passed down through generations. To lose a knife was a great misfortune, in such cases it was looked for thoroughly.

As a rule, a knife is stored in a scabbard attached with a chain to a belt. Any time it’s necessary, a man can reach it. The blade of a knife is always whetted with a few movements before the work is begun. There’s a special small bag for a grindstone tied up to a belt. A handle of a knife and a scabbard are made of reindeer antlers or wood.

According to the Forest Nenets beliefs, the process of making a knife is some kind of a ritual. Only if the craftsman enjoys it, the knife will bring luck at hunting or any other business. Handles and scabbards are usually decorated with geometrical carving, sometimes a haft is filled with copper rivets or fragments of cartridges, tin inlay can also be found rarely. Wooden scabbard in hides, decorated with copper embossing, can be seen attached to a man’s belt. Besides its decorating function, copper also serves as an amulet.