America's Peasant Knife?

S

Slipperyfish

Joined
Apr 6, 2014
Messages
180
So I've gotten into peasant knives. I blame my brother.

France has the Opinel...Japan the Higo No Kami...etc.

Got me thinking, what is America's peasant knife? Must be US made and iconic. Has the Buck 110 been around long enough? What about the Sodbuster? Trapper? Bowie even! Whatever it is, if I don't have it I'll have to get it/them.

Let the debate begin and have fun. I know I will.
 
Hudson Bay knife definitely had the history. Might be difficult finding a historically accurate one. But it's on the list. Thanks Brony.
 
If we are talking about folding knives, I'd say the Stockman. The Sodbuster has its origins in Germany, but the 3-bladed stockman seems a more American pattern. Correct me if I'm wrong, y'all.
 
flint_knife_advanced.jpg
 
goodeyesniper said:
flint_knife_advanced.jpg
Click to expand...

^^That's every place on earth's traditional knife.

An American blade? I would be on the Barlow wagon with that one. A case can be made for the stockman, but the west wasn't settled and ranched for quite a while after the east had been established, along with the Barlow knife. I could be wrong there, but I'm interested to hear differing points on it.
 
You're probably asking the wrong question: America never had peasants.

I vote for the stockman, as the archetypal American working class knife.
I think trade knives were mostly affordable imports, rather than something that grew from the country's roots.
 
Mtangent, you make a good point. We'll go with working class = peasant. Kind of like Brony's suggestion of the Hudson Bay. Most were brought from England and is a European style. Makes sense since we are a melting pot.
 
I'm Australian, & we have a similar melting pot history, but very biased toward Britain. I don't think the convicts came up with a style.
 
mtangent said:
You're probably asking the wrong question: America never had peasants.

I vote for the stockman, as the archetypal American working class knife.
I think trade knives were mostly affordable imports, rather than something that grew from the country's roots.
Click to expand...

Just call it a "folk" knife. The "everyman" knife. Every culture has one. What's the knife every American had, or should have had at one time? The "douk-douk" has been around the world too, just not America. It's another folk knife.
For centuries, it was probably something like a Seax in Europe. A simple fixed blade that was both tool and weapon. In central America, it's the Machete. SE Asia has a bush-knife like a Parang.
 
Last edited:
I could be mistaken but I think the definition of a peasants knife is an inexpensive friction FOLDER.

I know there were friction folder on the frontier but don't know of any named patterns. I'm pretty sure that the slipjoint Sodbuster is the cousin of the German butchers knife and pretty sure the early German butcher knives were friction folders and considered peasant knives.

If we want to broaden it to inexpensive slip joint, I would say the Barlow.
 
Pinnah, I don't think it has to be a friction folder, but it seems that most of them are around the world.

I didn't think this was going to be easy. I've been struggling to identify an American peasant/working class/everyman knife and have yet to do so. Looks like I'm not the only one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top