Does anybody like penknives? If so, please show them here.

[gonebad395]

What makes it a pen knife I'll never know if I don't ask

 

[Peregrin]

Here's a definition that I found with a Google Advanced search. Looks as good as any I've seen.

A pen knife is a small single spring two blade knife (one blade pivoting on each end) with at least one blade being a pen blade (usually the secondary blade).

I'm adding this quote from an old thread. Sheds a little more light on the subject. The 3 1/2" reference is something I've seen before in another very informative thread which I can't seem to find. Under 3 1/2" with a blade at each end and it's a penknife. Over 3 1/2" and it's whatever the recognized pattern name is. I may be wrong though .....

Naming and names assigned to traditional pocket knives is muddy water indeed!

I think this thread can raise some good discussion about these names.

The best reference that I have found , as many already know , is LG4(Levine's Guide To Knives and Their Values,4th). While not the only reference available,I think he takes the best shot at trying to put names and the reasons behind these names down on the printed page. After studying and reading as much material as one can, you start to get a feel for what a particular pattern of knife is. You will always get folks that can submit a valid argument to the contrary. The waters are muddied by collector's, seller's, maker's and even by the cutlery companies themselves, both old and new.

Here is one example that recently comes to mind. The champagne knife. Many collector's and even maker's refer to a champagne knife as a bartender's knife. According to the online posting and writings of Mr Levine a bartender's knife is a smallish fixed blade knife for cutting limes.

All that being said I will address a few of the patterns raised here in the thread. These are my personal views and believe me, I have been wrong about knives and other things(ask my wife! ) so here goes.

For starters I think coining the term "half" for a whittler, stockman, even a congress is veering off proper terminology.
A premium stock knife in my mind has at least 3 blades, sometimes four, sometimes five and will always be built on a serpentine stock frame. In the case of the stockman, it is frame and blades that qualify it as a "stockman".

A double ended jack can be built on different frames, but what distinguishes it from a pen knife(which commonly have a blade hinging from both ends) is the length, generally over 3 1/2 inches.

Easy opener. I think in this case the easy open notch is the defining attribute. Some would argue that the knife is still a "jack" first and foremost that just happens to have the easy open notch feature.

While there is always going to be disagreement on names, I find this a fascinating subject that all can learn from.

 

[kamagong]

This one is 3 5/8" closed.



Penknife or serpentine double-end jack?

 

[knarfeng]

- ok, so forgive me if I'm being stupid here............but that Muskrat looks a tad like some of the others, so what is a 'penknife' please.....?

Penknives are typically small knives under 3½", usually more like 3-3⅛" closed, and usually in equal end or sleeveboard patterns. Muskrats are larger knives, usually 3⅞-4¼", and typically with serpentine frames.

A pen knife is a small single spring two blade knife (one blade pivoting on each end) with at least one blade being a pen blade (usually the secondary blade).

Honest questions are not "stupid".

These features match my understanding of the term "pen knife".
►Small knife. To me it has to be less than ~3 1/4" closed.
►equal end or sleeve board pattern (usually equal end)
►At least one blade has to be a pen blade.

Edited to add:
►two blades

 

[supratentorial]

Ken put that copy of LGIV to very good use. I wish that I had more copies to giveaway on the forum!

 

[T. Erdelyi]

Here's a pen knife I've never seen before, wish it was mine.

 

[onejim]

Question. Does case's 87 pen knife pattern use one spring? I would assume it does.

Curious because their 08 'half whittler' pattern of recent switched to a two spring knife. I would consider both patterns to be pen knives. Just curious because most pen knives I've dealt with have one spring.

Jim

 

[Don W]

I have a few pen knives around here are two lil Case an 8261 and an 82053 with bail.

 

[wazu013]

 

[T. Erdelyi]

I have that same exact Mikov somewhere.

 

[screened porch]

Thanks for the definitions above, which I should have read before posting the unnecessary post I'm over-posting now.

 

[James Y]

There are also 'lobster' pen knives. Common examples are the Victorinox Classic and Executive.

Jim

 

[arrowhd]

I am happy to see anybody's ideas of pen-knives here, and hope that those with more rigorous definitions can endure those less rigorous.

OK then. Here are a few of mine.

 

[Jack Black]

Some beautiful knives folks It's well worth nailing down what is a penknife and what isn't :thumbup: It's also worth noting that there also three-blade penknives

Here's some penknives :thumbup:

Abram Brooksbank



Albert Oates



Lewis Barnascone



Baxter & Sons



Henry Boker



Joseph Elliott





Green & Green



Halma



Harrison Fisher









Herbert Robinson



John Howarth



George Ibberson





George Wostenholm











John Petty



John Wigfall



Joseph Rodgers





James Ryals



R.Kelly



Max Weyde



Nahco (Canada)



Needham Brothers



Palo Alto



Richards









Schrade



Southern & Richardson



Taylor's Eye Witness









Thomas Turner



Thomas Mitchell Bingham



George Warriss



John Westby



William Rodgers







William Morton

 

[screened porch]

Quite a treasure hoard, Jack.

 

[screened porch]

OK then. Here are a few of mine.

I had to google Crandall Cutlery. Interesting story and handsome knife.

 

[smiling-knife]

Knife collection Jack. Thanks for posting your pen knives.

 

[Chui]

Gentlemen - very many thanks for the responses, very grateful.

The penknife of the early days was something akin to what we occasionally - and loosely - refer to as a gentac today in so much as it was not for hard use and a slim convenient size/shape for the pocket, however small.

Some astonishingly wonderful examples - a great thread, and many thanks for sharing so many. Some stunners there, Jack.

Have to say, I have only recently started collecting slippies and the like, and find a disconnect in knife-making history regarding Sheffield. To that end, probably best to start a new thread as I cannot understand where Sheffield, apparently, got it all so wrong in these latter years, when they actually started so much of the knife-making roots all those years ago...

 

[knarfeng]

Gentlemen - very many thanks for the responses, very grateful.

The penknife of the early days was something akin to what we occasionally - and loosely - refer to as a gentac today in so much as it was not for hard use and a slim convenient size/shape for the pocket, however small.

Ummm...I believe the term dates to when "pens" were quill pens, and a small knife was kept by gentlemen in their pockets so as to modify the pen tip as it wore down in use. So, it had a very specific use, though not a "hard use".

 

[Jack Black]

Thanks for the kind words gents :thumbup: