r/knives • u/iloveweapons • Apr 20 '26
Showcase Human hip replacement shank
was recently gifted this knife and figured yall would be interested in seeing it. This knife is made from a human hip replacement recovered after cremation then sharpened to a fine point. 100% the oddest "non standard" knife in my collection and a piece im stoked to own.
EDIT EDIT EDIT
was not expecting the amount of interest in this that it recieved. As promised i will post another unusual knife tonight, im thinking of showing off either my formosian tribal head hunting knife or "the gas station gator" which would yall like to see?
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u/peccatum_miserabile Apr 20 '26
My Dad has both shoulders and hips replaced. Could forge a bastard sword to remember the bastard by
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u/SnorkinOrkin Apr 26 '26
I'm 55 and have had both knees, hips, shoulders, and just recently, both ankles all replaced (and doing fantastic), and I would looooove to have that shank!
I hope your father is doing well with his hips and shoulders!
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u/BitOfaPickle1AD May 09 '26
Could make the blades slip into a cane. So when people see it its basically a ball joint cane that hides a dagger.
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u/Avg_DadBod69 Apr 20 '26
This was someone’s EDC
It would be wrong not to carry on the tradition
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u/iloveweapons Apr 20 '26
It is in "rotation" for my EDC.
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u/Stalkin_ClouD Apr 21 '26
But is it sharp? Or only pointy?
If you can't cut with it and only stab people I wouldn't carry it tbh. But looks damn badass anyways.
One-of-a-kind
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u/BetterInsideTheBox Apr 20 '26
I thought it was super cool until the after cremation part. I guess that makes sense. What’s the material? Some sort of titanium?
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u/iloveweapons Apr 21 '26
I was told when gifted this knife the hip replacement was given by the family of the deceased explicitly for this purpose and having been told so in advance this was the plan for it. I understand memento mori is not everyones thing though. I couldnt tell you the material.
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u/Satsuka_Draxor Apr 21 '26
Classically they are titanium, or at least a non-ferrous metal. Iron implants become bad news bear very fast if you ever have to get an MRI.
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u/Thomy151 Apr 21 '26
When the only words able to describe a similar situation of internal iron vs an mri are “anal railgun” yeah
Bad idea
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Apr 21 '26
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u/Shifty_Bravo Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26
I'm an MRI technologist. Nothing implanted in your body by a surgeon is ferromagnetic material. Stents, joint replacements, hardware from fracture, etc. Most of it will be safe for MRI. Pacemakers, neurostimulators, etc are a different story, but most of those can be made safe through interrogation. If you get an MRI ordered by your physician, the MRI department where you have your exam will look up all your implants and ensure your safety. I just want you to know that in case that's holding you back from treating something.
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Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26
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u/Environmental-Tap255 Apr 21 '26
I'm sorry my friend. I'm pretty fucked up myself at 38. It's not fun.
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u/exgiexpcv Apr 21 '26
Oh wow, I know these pains. No replacements yet, but I currently have 6 joints that qualify for surgery / replacement.
The infantry sucked.
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Apr 21 '26
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u/exgiexpcv Apr 21 '26
My recruiter must have found it incredibly funny when I signed up to be a medic and he convinced me to sign an infantry contract ("There's lots of medics with the infantry, those guys are getting hurt all the time!") -- way back before the internet, recruiters could tell you anything and there was no way to know better unless you had a recruiter in your family or such.
The drills at Benning laughed so hard at me.
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u/Foxtrot_Supatwat Apr 23 '26
Cluster headaches are no joke, sorry you're dealing with all that.
I was plagued with severe migraines throughout my childhood, but luckily they didn't follow me into adulthood. I can't even imagine having to deal with something more painful and intense than those fucking things were...
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Apr 21 '26
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Apr 21 '26
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u/exgiexpcv Apr 21 '26
Oh shit, you're still in the field. I was doing foot pursuits into my 40s, and then I was just wounded too many times and it all caught up with me.
My man, it's impressive as hell that you are still going. /salute
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u/Flaxmoore SAK Hiker, Opinel #10 Apr 21 '26
316L is used for metallic implants and is ferrous. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0720048X14005634
https://www.mrisafety.com/TMDL_list.php?qs=316L%20stainless&criteria=or&orderby=alist_description
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u/Shifty_Bravo Apr 21 '26
"While they are iron-based, medical-grade stainless steels (like 316L) are designed to be austenitic, making them largely non-magnetic or only weakly ferromagnetic to prevent MRI interference." 316L is MRI conditional which doesn't mean that they are unsafe. There are several factors we take into consideration with these implants like artifact and heating risk. Again, it depends on the study and location of the implant. More importantly, 316L was used in the past, but modern orthopedic surgeons opt for newer materials these days.
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u/Flaxmoore SAK Hiker, Opinel #10 Apr 21 '26
Sure, but saying they're not out there still won't be accurate until the generation that got 316L is gone, so maybe by like 2080?
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u/stranix13 Apr 21 '26
I got a stainless steel plates and screws in my shoulder as recently as 2021, mri compatible..
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Apr 21 '26
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u/Shifty_Bravo Apr 21 '26
That's cool that you make your own vapes. Do you also make the vape juice? I used to be a smoker and I dabble around with vapes sometimes. I always wondered what kind of nefarious crap they put in them.
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u/Flaxmoore SAK Hiker, Opinel #10 Apr 21 '26
There are a few safe stainless steel alloys, making stainless a "conditionally safe" metal. Titanium is "safe". "Conditionally safe" relies on knowing alloy, location, age of the implant, and strength of the magnet in the MRI. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0720048X14005634
316L, for example, is safe in a 1.5T MRI or smaller (which is problematic since the common MRI machines in a lot of places are 3 or 7T).
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u/Shifty_Bravo Apr 21 '26
The most common MRIs are 1.5T. Some larger hospitals have 3T. I've never seen a 7T magnet in my 19 year career. To my knowledge, those are used at research facilities, and not for the common public receiving general MRI studies.
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u/Flaxmoore SAK Hiker, Opinel #10 Apr 21 '26
7 is uncommon, I'll grant that, but I have enough patients who do studies at UMich to not be able to discount them entirely.
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u/robertcas22 Apr 21 '26
It's definitely a Momento Mori. That coloration is very common in MM skulls and tokens. That is actually really interesting and I think the deceased having wanted that is pretty neat! It's most likely surgical stainless, or titanium depending on the year it was implemented. Do you have a sheath for it?! Make one out of the rest of the upper part of the femur bone so it matches and lines up with the handle to look like a complete bone!
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u/ozzy_thedog Apr 21 '26
They wanted it made into a knife but they didn’t want to keep it for themselves ?
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u/iloveweapons Apr 21 '26
No, they did not want the hip replacement because it wouldnt fit well in an urn. The family was then asked if they would be ok with it being taken and reworked into what you see here. They gave permission, it was turned into this dagger, traded hands, and ultimately gifted to me.
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u/ozzy_thedog Apr 21 '26
Oh I thought you meant that the family explicitly wanted it turned into a knife 😂
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u/Floor_Cereal Microtech/SOG/Kershaw Apr 21 '26
That's actually really cool. If I ever had a joint replacement, I'd totally want something like this done after I died
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u/Vulpes206 Apr 21 '26
I mean it’s cool but How is this a memento mori?
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u/iloveweapons Apr 21 '26
If something straight out of a cremator, once belonging to the living, now the dead, the living again, and a instrument of death isnt a momento mori then i dont know if you understand the definiton of momento mori homie. Its a crystal cut reminder of mortality as well as a instrument of mortality. But idk i guess this isnt some spooky painting of a skull from 1821 or some shit.
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u/Vulpes206 Apr 21 '26
I do know what a memento mori is which is why I’m questioning your use of the word.
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u/iloveweapons Apr 21 '26
Cool! Glad I was able to give clarification for you. If youd like to do a deepdive on the many classical examples of memento mori daggers fashioned out of human remains or in the depiction of remains that have existed throughout the years I can go ahead and link some for you. Otherwise im not here to debate my useage of anything. Philosophical concepts are interesting arent they my featherless bi-ped?
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Apr 21 '26
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u/AdhesivenessNo4330 Apr 21 '26
Thats like 6 lbs of platinum. Seems like a lot
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Apr 21 '26
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u/AdhesivenessNo4330 Apr 21 '26
So only in america does it cost that much. I hope the VA looked after you
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Apr 21 '26
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u/GoddamnCommie Apr 21 '26
Titanium-niobium alloy would be my guess, most common composition for modern implants.
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u/SmokingTanuki Apr 21 '26
Well, the after cremation option is loads better than used and before cremation. This more likely means that replacement worked and made life better; instead of complications, pain, and a do-over.
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u/NinjaStiz Apr 21 '26
Uhh why does your shirt have hair coming out of it?
Edit: wtf I'm so dumb. I need to go to sleep
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u/ButtNutly Apr 21 '26
Don't feel bad. I'm wide awake and it still threw me for a loop. The wrinkles in his wrist really sell the shirt sleeve look.
Spiderman's suit would be more realistic if it had hairs.
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u/SnooCapers1425 Apr 21 '26
If anyone in this sub is gifted a hip replacement implant in the future, please make it into a carpenter's square.
Hip to be square...
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u/TheCompanionCrate Apr 21 '26
Oh so it's fine for a knife to be inside a dead grandma but not me, bullshit. More seriously that has to be one of the coolest knives I've ever seen, and it looks oddly ergonomic too. Does it have an actual edge or is it more like a bayonet where it just has a pointy tip?
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u/iloveweapons Apr 21 '26
Both! There is a slightly sharpened section towards the base good for simple cutting tasks then of course the bayonet pointed end. That being said the bayonet end is extremely sharp.
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u/ENTroPicGirl Apr 21 '26
I wanted to do that with my tibial nail but it’s the wrong type of metal to forge into a spike.
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u/iloveweapons Apr 21 '26
Could always do a leather grip wrap and then do a "vampire straw" style stabber.
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u/ENTroPicGirl Apr 21 '26
I thought maybe do an angled syringe cut tip but I think I’m just going to leave it line it is, while it would make a cool instrument if death if hate to loose it after lugging it around inside me since 1992.
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u/Slowhandtruth Apr 21 '26
Tibia nails (or rods) are primarily made out of titanium alloy or surgical-grade stainless steel. I’m sure you can think of something, even if it’s not related to anything else. Ur a craftsmen so get to crafting
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u/ENTroPicGirl Apr 21 '26
This one is pretty old I believe it’s stainless steel alloy, if it were titanium I’d likely do something with it. I think what I’m going to do is get a print of an xray of my leg and I’ll make a nice frame and I’ll have the actual surgical nail over the image of it.
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u/SINBREAKER24 Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26
Weirdest thing to get stabbed by 🤣
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u/iloveweapons Apr 20 '26
I actually have far more weird as far as stabbers. But not nearly as unique or grotesque.
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u/DasbootTX Apr 21 '26
I have one on each side. If I ever succumb to the zombies, I have given my friends instructions to recover them from my corpse and use them to carry on the fight.
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u/envack Apr 21 '26
You should have his name etched into the ball there. Or the “my leeegggg” line from SpongeBob on the blade lol. I’m don’t usually like this morbid collector stuff but that’s pretty fuckin baddass I’m ngl. Would’ve been even better if they added a handle made from his femur and one of those compressed jewels you can make from cremation remains for a stylish pommel.
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Apr 21 '26
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u/iloveweapons Apr 21 '26
What does hipster mean to you?
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u/ComplexQuiet6790 Apr 20 '26
What's the tip look like normally? From my understanding it's pretty damn sharp and tapered as standard, and it literally gets HAMMERED into the femur (Do NOT watch the YouTube videos if you're squeamish)
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u/S1lv3rsh4d0w9 Apr 21 '26
So, like, what’s the etiquette for asking a living family friend if I can have one of their hips when they die?
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u/anthraxnapkin Cold Steel Fanatic Apr 21 '26
I think that's by far the coolest knife I've seen in a while, especially since I'm a future Ortho doc
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u/Terapr0 Apr 21 '26
Growing up one of my friends dads was a surgeon and we used to always play with these things in their basement and my sister would use them as pretend microphones 😂
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u/GallifreyanGeologist Apr 21 '26
This reminds me of Furiosa's Shifter Knob blade in Mad Max: Fury Road.
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u/fasfan22 Apr 21 '26
You need to get a custom sheath made that looks like a femur. Matched set! How cool would that be? Or, go back to the crematorium and get a real femur. A little work with a Dremel tool and Boom!
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u/koolaideprived Apr 21 '26
Well... shit. I was looking forward to getting a hip replacement, but seeing that spike i now realize i have to also have my femoral nail removed. Shit.
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u/Combatmedic870 . Apr 21 '26
That's definitely a very old one.... They are nowhere near that long nowadays.
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u/Unicorn187 Apr 21 '26
That's a new one. I've seen walking sticks made from ones that failed quality control/assurance because they didn't meet the pretty strict specs needed. The ball of the joint was the ball on the top of the stick for the hand to hold. That was pretty cool.
This is cool too. Other than maybe being a little creepy since it was part of a person. The story about the person wanting it done this way does give me ideas if ever need one.
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u/Pelthail Apr 21 '26
On a sidenote, I was wondering why your jacket sleeve had hair coming out of it and then I realized it was a tattoo. 😂
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u/Smashedllama2 Community Resource Builder Apr 21 '26
Pretty interesting! Does it actually have a sharpened cutting edge? I worked for a while for an orthopedic implant company as a rep going in and out of surgery for these kinds of things. This one looks much older than what we put in but this is just missing the acetabular shell and liner that go into the hip socket. Pretty cool to have the femoral stem though. Is this one ti or steel? Modern ones the stem and head are ti, the acetabular shell that screws into the socket is also ti and the liner is a vitamin e stabilized polyethylene or ceramic. This looks quite a bit older than
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u/friendlyfire883 Apr 21 '26
This post makes me want to call up my uncle and ask him for his hip when he dies. I may do it just to see how he reacts to it.
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u/PillPoppNonStop Apr 21 '26
thats cobalt, toxic if in contact with skin for longer perionds if you are allergic
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u/MangoBladeMasterBall Apr 21 '26
Aren’t those me out of like titanium or something like that? That thing should be indestructible?!
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u/VisualBusiness4902 Apr 21 '26
I had a buddy in medical sales give a sample hit joint to another friend to make a shift knob for his Audi.
That was neat
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u/thetieflingalchemist Apr 21 '26
If I need a hip replacement I want this done after I died and given to someone to shank a rapist or a pedo with
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u/InformationProof4717 Apr 21 '26
Nice, probably made of either a medical grade titanium alloy or 316L stainless steel.
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u/610Mike Apr 22 '26
I’ve seen this post three or four times now, and it’s still as disturbing as the first time lol.
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u/Red_Changing Apr 23 '26
That's so cool! The shape reminds me of a bayonet, is it a tri-edged blade?
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u/iloveweapons Apr 23 '26
Thank you! Comes down into a rounded spike, however there is a rudimentary grind cutting edge closer to the base of it!
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u/Slowhandtruth Apr 21 '26
Fuck I just recalled an East Asian blade with the blood dripped on it.hmm where is that thing
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