The curved blade was common in the early decades of the 19th century when surgeons preferred to cut through the skin and muscle before amputating the bone

In this vivid painting by @theartofchrisfisher, you can see a surgeon using a falciform amputation knife. The curved blade was common in the early decades of the 19th century when surgeons preferred to cut through the skin and muscle before amputating the bone.

To do this, the surgeon would take the falciform knife, hook it around the injured or infected limb, and cut in a circle to separate the flesh and muscle from the bone. Afterwards, he would use a saw to cut off the remaining appendage. All this was done without anesthetic. A good surgeon could remove a limb in under two minutes.
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Robert Liston, famed for being the “fastest knife in the West End,” could do it under 60 seconds. It was said of this great surgeon that when he amputated, “the gleam of his knife was followed so instantaneously by the sound of sawing as to make the two actions appear almost simultaneous.” His left arm was reportedly so strong, he could use it effectively as a tourniquet while he wielded the knife in his right hand—a feat that required immense strength and dexterity, given that patients often struggled against the surgical assault.
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