Canoe

[dynamicmoves]

I have a couple questions. First is where did this pattern come from?

The second, what interesting canoes do you guys know of? I was browsing around and found a lockback canoe style three blade from Rough Rider, and it looked interesting. It got me thinking about the Wharncliffe in a canoe...

 

[aadhtbb]

I don't get the point of this pattern as the you cannot put your finger on the bolster thus it makes the handle "shorter" .

Then what is the bolster for ? Just cover the angle of the tang when closed ?

 

[Jack Black]

I've got a Rough Rider Rifleman canoe, the first knife I've had from RR, so I've been very impressed with it for the price. While I like the knife, I can't say it's my favourite pattern, and in the case of the RR, the blades are set at slightly odd angles (when both blades are open the profile is akin to a banana).

 

[Peter Parker]

The bolsters make the pattern more pocket friendly. I'll let someone else explain that one since it's too early in the morning for me to explain. I hold mine so that my fore finger is in between the front bolster and the tip of the kick like a finger choil when using the master blade. I've had several canoes but the only one I still have is my Case Canoe and it's a favorite for sure...

 

[Humppa]

I have a Carl schlieper Canoe in stag on the hand. I have no idea where the knives comes from originally. Mine is made single spring and rides nicely in the pocket.

But you should try to get one, when you can. they are nice things to carry and using

 

[midnight flyer]

This info is as they say, from another forum (AAPK):

"Prior to the modern "collector" era, the canoe was not a widely produced pattern.

If we look back to the "golden age" era of late 1800's up to WWII, very few companies made the pattern. The three that producrd it the most were Case Brothers Cutlery Comapny, their arch-rival WR Case & Sons, and Union Cutlery Company, which later became KABAR.

Actually, Case Brothers and Union cutlery mainly produced the large canoe or "gunboat" pattern. I have never seen a Case Brothers "standard" size canoe (3-5/8"). Union Cutlery listed the smaller canoe in their catalogs in the early 1900's, but I have never seen one. Union did produce a lot of the bigger gunboats, though.

The only two other companies that I know of that made either canoes or gunboats in that era were Boker USA and Utica Cutlery....but neither company widely produced the patter and canoes or gunboats with these markings are super rare.

In the Pre-WWII era, WR Case & Sons was the highest volume producer of the "standard" size canoe - they made the 2-blade version (52131) and the very rare 3 blade version (53131).

After WWII, Case was the only company to keep the canoe in their product line, in the 2 blade version only.

An intersting factoid about the Case canoe....it was ONLY offered in genuine stag (52131) from the Case Tested era up to late 1964. In 1964 Case did a pilot run of the canoe in bone (62131)...and these had the CASE XX tang stamping. They did not put the 62131 into regular production until the following year (1965)...and all of the regular production models had the CASE XX USA tang stamp. This makes the CASE XX marked 62131 SUPER SUPER RARE. Beware as a lot of them have been counterfeitedout of newer 62131 patterns.

Case continued production of the 52131 along with the 62131 until genuine stag was discontinued in 1970.

As far as what company originated the pattern, if you count the gunboat as a canoe, I would say that Case Brothers probably originated the pattern. Just a guess. "

His cite: Steve Pfeiffer, author of Collecting Case Knives: Identification and Price Guide released October 1, 2009.

Personally, I haven't seen a response or history more well researched than that.

Robert

 

[dynamicmoves]

Midnight, that's quite interesting, thanks.

 

[TLARbb]

I have a few canoes. I like the pattern a lot, but don't carry one all that often since I started carrying my mini copperhead and my mini trappers. It's probably just a cycle that I'll come back to eventually. My all time favorite canoe is the single blade model in my avatar with my (chinese) Colt being next. I have a four blade canoe from Fight'n Rooster that was said to have horn handles. I don't know for sure that's what they are made of though. I have always wanted a Canal Street cannitler (canoe-whittler).

The Mutz single blade:

The Colt:

Ed J

 

[Daniel Dorn]

I have the 2007 Bladeforums traditional, Canal Street Cannitler in mastadon. Don't have any pictures of it, but it makes it into my EDC rotation quite often.

Love the looks of that Colt above!

 

[Nick D. Fingerz]

Most of my pocket knifes are modern designs, but I grew up with traditionals and always have a few. My Cannitler gets more pocket time than my other traditional patterns put together. A good looking and highly usable knife.

 

[zippofan]

Only one Canoe (vendor photo), and a Cannitler: