Congress pattern

jhp

Joined
May 22, 2011
Messages
19
Over the Holidays, my dad and I were discussing different patterns, and realized that between the two of us, we didn't own a 4-blade Congress. We have both set out to rectify that with nice examples. Any good or unique suggestions?
 
The only suggestion I can give is to find one without ridiculously redundant blades. :)
 
IMG_0791.jpg

My one and only. Its a very nice knife, great fit and finish, great carbon steel blades, but I just don't care for it.

I feel like Edward Scissorhands when I carry it :eek:
 
I tend to agree Kevin, I much prefer a Half Congress any day.

Smaller slimmer Congress are preferable I feel, some RRs/Colt could be experimented with here, one actually has Spear, Sheepfoot, Pen and Cope, much better! Some desirable Bertram Hen&Roosters exist, but they cost a good deal. GEC has some good models as does Böker but they are heavy, clunky and have redundant blades.....
 
The Boker Congress Carver is one that doesn't have redundant blades. I know I've seen others, but I can't remember which brands off the top of my head. I'm more of a fan of the half congress since most congress knives do have duplicate blades (I assume that is to reflect the Republican and Democrat halves of the U.S. Congress??)
 
Boker offers a lot of Congress models.

That said, my only Congress pattern is a Northfield Half Congress in Stag.
 
My one and only. Its a very nice knife, great fit and finish, great carbon steel blades, but I just don't care for it.

I feel like Edward Scissorhands when I carry it :eek:

richstag,

That's a nice piece. My pops is a fan of Henckels knives, I'll send that suggestion his way.
 
Yeah, by all means, its a quality knife for sure. If he likes it I wouldn't have a second though on suggesting it :)

I believe Boker made these for Henckels.
 
I have a Boker similar to the Henckels shown

It does not have redundant blades a large spear and sheepsfoot, and two pens but one is like a modified wharnie
It is in red picked bone in carbon
It is 3 5/8" long so it is very easy to carry

I have another two Congresses
A Queen 4" in D2 with redundant blade, a superb knife but a real handful and needs to be carried in a belt pouch too heavy for your pocket
The redundant blades would be excellent for carvings you would have much less need to sharpening while working especially with D2

I also have a 4" S&M 17th series with non redundant blades a beautiful example
 
I also have a 4" S&M 17th series with non redundant blades a beautiful example
I still need to get me one of those.

The Case 64052 has 4 different blades. Newer ones use 4 backsprings and have rather thin and flexible blades. Older ones (sorry, don't know when the change was made) use 2 backsprings and have thicker, yet still fairly thin and flexible blades. The larger 6488 also has 4 different blades, but these are expensive since they're all "vintage".
 
I have only one Congress, and that´s an RR. I´m not getting really warm with that pattern. There are four blades, ok, but every blade nearly the same length. But the two mainblades are sheepfoot. So that´s ok. I don´t often EDC that knife. Maybe I should give it a chance...

I´ll make a photo, when I get my camera back.

Kind regards
Andi
 
THE way I see it, the ONLY pocketknife better than a four-blade 4" Congress is a four-blade 4" Stockman........be still my heart.
 
Back in 2010 Great Eastern Cutlery made a 4 blade congress in which one of the pen blades was replaced by a medium sized spear point blade. The sheepsfoot blades were more wharncliffe in shape, so it gave the knife a slimmer profile when closed. Pretty unique and ingenious, in my opinion. Otherwise they make a plethora of regular congress models, all of which I would also highly recommend.

I have a Boker congress that I initially didn't like so much, as the blades sat too high in the frame. After filing down the kicks and sanding the backsprings smooth it's one of my favorite knives.

-nate
 
I have GEC 4 blade congress. 2 pens and 2 wharnies... About the redudant blades I thought that too but... then I got one. In use I found it 4 blade congress is great. No matter what way you pull your knife out, you always have 2 sharp blades ready in my case I always had wahrncliffe or pen blade ready for opening and no need to turn the knife around. Its small but notewothy thing really when talking about redundancy.
 
I have carried the 4 bladed Congress a few times, I have owned them before but never warmed to the pattern, I agree with Kevin, there seemed like just too many blades, as they were pretty much all the same - to a degree of course.
I find the Half Congress ( to me ) a much more favourable pattern for my tastes, I own 4 or 5 but my two favourites stand out ..... one is a Beautiful John Primble, and the other a lovely Red Boned Case Half Congress.
PM inbound concerning where-abouts on a couple of nice ones ;)
 
Last edited:
Back
Top