Recommendation? American Icons, cont.

baxtrom

baxtrom

Joined
Jan 15, 2012
Messages
858
Hi fellow traditionalists,
A year ago or so I asked you guys for the most iconic 🇺🇸 traditional patterns, and you replied Trapper, Stockman and Barlow, and Congress and Sodbuster sort of popped up as honorary mentions. Buck 110 was also mentioned although I guess that is more of a model than a pattern…

What about the other patterns,
Peanut, Copperhead, canoe, muskrat, what have you.

Please forgive this 🇸🇪 guy for his ignorance 😊. I’m interested in American knife patterns and want to learn more. Please share your opinions
 
There isn’t much more American than a Buck 110, and a Barlow, stockman or trapper, by Case, Schrade, or Camillus.

Peanuts I don’t know. I never seen old timers with them. They are more of a modern fad I think. I’m not sure when the pattern originated; the 1970s? I’d certainly like to know.

I don’t think the copperhead was really that popular in older times. Kinda like the Texas toothpick. Sure there was some, but you never see the old ones for sale.

Stockmans, trappers and barlows And pen knives I think were the most prolific pre 1970s pocket knives.
 
Growing up in southwest Missouri during the 70’s and 80’s the stockman was easily the most common pocket knife I saw pulled from pockets. Schrade was the most common brand with a few Bucks mixed in. Occasionally I would see a Case stockman.
Schrade 77Ot Muskrats was the second most common pocket knife I remember seeing. I would probably see 3 or four stockmen for every muskrat sighting.
I remember seeing a couple of Barlows. Buck 110’s and the Schrade versions were common during hunting season. That’s it. I didn’t see anything else until I was probably 20.
So based on my American experience it would be stockman, muskrat, barlow and lockback folding hunters.
 
I have been researching the one arm razor and believe but still dont have prooof that it is the only blade pattern actually invented in America. Spear points, sheeps foot etc had been around thousands of years.

I have a rough ryder reserve and other than the half stop it is a good example of the type.
 
As a modern era hunters knife (but still traditional in style) you simply need a Buck 110. It sold thousands, still does, and spawned numerous copies (some very high quality copies too). Here I am about to cut the bullet out of a big doe shot in 2018. Even though I most often clean deer with a Buck 118 fixed blade that I keep in my pack, I always carry a Buck 110 on my belt and use it often enough that it is my number two deer knife. A collection of American Hunting Knives needs an example of the Buck 110. OH
OSHC-12-18-18-bullet-in-deer.jpg

Buck_110_Two-Dot_Folding_Hunter.jpg
 
jdswitters said:
I have been researching the one arm razor and believe but still dont have prooof that it is the only blade pattern actually invented in America. Spear points, sheeps foot etc had been around thousands of years.
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My understanding is the one arm/one armed bandit blade was invented/developed in the 1860's for the large number of Civil War vets (of both sides) who during the course of that war lost an arm or a hand. Most were farm boys who needed a knife for their daily lives, and a sheath knife wasn't a viable option for daily carry for a lot of them.
I don't know which company brought it to market first. As far as I know, it wasn't a patented design.

As for an "American" developed pattern, the canoe, and possibly the sunfish?
I think the canoe dates to the early 20th century. The sunfish the late 19th or early 20th century.
They have never been as popular as the Stockman, Trapper, Barlow (which may be a European pattern) muskrat/moose, and the pen knife.
 
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JM2 said:
Peanuts I don’t know. I never seen old timers with them. They are more of a modern fad I think. I’m not sure when the pattern originated; the 1970s? I’d certainly like to know.
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The peanut (AKA: "Pen Knife") dates back far earlier than the 1970's. That size knife was popular with attorneys, judges, bankers, teachers, students, businessmen, clerks ... pretty much everyone who used a quill pen, in the 1800's before metal nibbed pens were invented, widely available, and affordable.
 
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Old Hunter said:
As a modern era hunters knife (but still traditional in style) you simply need a Buck 110. It sold thousands, still does, and spawned numerous copies (some very high quality copies too). Here I am about to cut the bullet out of a big doe shot in 2018. Even though I most often clean deer with a Buck 118 fixed blade that I keep in my pack, I always carry a Buck 110 on my belt and use it often enough that it is my number two deer knife. A collection of American Hunting Knives needs an example of the Buck 110. OH
OSHC-12-18-18-bullet-in-deer.jpg

Buck_110_Two-Dot_Folding_Hunter.jpg
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Yes!
I have a 110 - on the downside, I’ll not edc carry it, because I will have issues justifying it if a police officer asks why I carry a folding Rambo knife 😊

But when I’m out in nature it is definitely a carry option, in addition to its role as eye candy in my small collection 👍

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I always considered the Barlow a Sheffield pattern.

If you want to carry a Buck 110 or something similar try the Buck 112 (sort of smaller version of the 110) or some of the lighter versions of the 110
 
Case's '220 Peanut pattern dates back to the pre-1940 'Tested' era. I don't know if it's an 'iconic' pattern as compared to the trapper or stockman. But it's definitely unique and pretty recognizable by many Traditional fans. Other makers like Schrade and (I believe) Queen also had their versions of the small 'dog leg jack' pattern like the Peanut - I don't know how early those came into being.

Below, the oldest example I have, a 'yellow composition' (pre-Delrin) 3220 from the latter portion of Case's 'XX' era (1940-'64). This one has the pattern stamp, which dates it within the 1950-'64 timeframe. Prior to 1950, Case's knives didn't include the pattern stamp.
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afishhunter said:
The peanut (AKA: "Pen Knife") dates back far earlier than the 1970's. That size knife was popular with attorneys, judges, bankers, teachers, students, businessmen, clerks ... pretty much everyone who used a quill pen, in the 1800's before metal nibbed pens were invented, widely available, and affordable.
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What I know as a pen knife has two blades, one blade on each end. It never occurred to me that it would be related to ink pen sharpening though. I guess that’s why those small knives are called pen knives?
 
JM2 said:
What I know as a pen knife has two blades, one blade on each end.
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They can be double ended as you describe, or single ended with both blades on one end.
Over the years people may have started calling the single enders a "jack knife" tho.
JM2 said:
It never occurred to me that it would be related to ink pen sharpening though. I guess that’s why those small knives are called pen knives?
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Yep. 😊 That's how the "pen blade" got its name, as well. 😁
 
calm said:
I always considered the Barlow a Sheffield pattern.

If you want to carry a Buck 110 or something similar try the Buck 112 (sort of smaller version of the 110) or some of the lighter versions of the 110
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Barlow may be a Sheffield pattern but those Imperial Barlows have been around here since Huck Finn was a kid, plenty long enough to gain American Icon status. American farmers and workmen of every description used a LOT of them. Kids loved them too.
 
Boattale said:
Barlow may be a Sheffield pattern but those Imperial Barlows have been around here since Huck Finn was a kid, plenty long enough to gain American Icon status. American farmers and workmen of every description used a LOT of them. Kids loved them too.
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Along with the masses who STILL love them! I would be willing to bet it's possibly the most sought after traditional pattern nowadays.
 
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