Favorite novels that feature traditional knives, guys?

[smiling-knife]

"Well, who was the murdered man?" asked Holmes.

"There's nothing to show who he was," said Lestrade. "You shall see the body at the mortuary, but we have made nothing of it up to now. He is a tall man, sunburned, very powerful, not more than thirty. He is poorly dressed, and yet does not appear to be a labourer. A horn-handled clasp knife was lying in a pool of blood beside him. Whether it was the weapon which did the deed, or whether it belonged to the dead man, I do not know. There was no name on his clothing, and nothing in his pockets save an apple, some string, a shilling map of London, and a photograph. Here it is."

Holmes is 'reported' to have pinned his correspondence to the mantle above the fire with a clasp knife.

 

[jackknife]

"Well, who was the murdered man?" asked Holmes.

"There's nothing to show who he was," said Lestrade. "You shall see the body at the mortuary, but we have made nothing of it up to now. He is a tall man, sunburned, very powerful, not more than thirty. He is poorly dressed, and yet does not appear to be a labourer. A horn-handled clasp knife was lying in a pool of blood beside him. Whether it was the weapon which did the deed, or whether it belonged to the dead man, I do not know. There was no name on his clothing, and nothing in his pockets save an apple, some string, a shilling map of London, and a photograph. Here it is."

Holmes is 'reported' to have pinned his correspondence to the mantle above the fire with a clasp knife.

Pocket knives have a role in many of the Holmes tales.

From the Adventure Of The Abbey Grange;

"Quite so. As a matter of fact, that screw was not used. This bottle was opened by a pocket screw, probably contained in a knife, not more than an inch and a half long. If you examine the top of the cork, you will observe that the screw was driven in three times before the cork was extracted. It has never been transfixed. This long screw would have transfixed it and withdrawn it with a single pull. When you catch this fellow you will find that he has one of these multiplex knives in his possession."

Holmes speaking of a sak type of knife used to open a wine bottle at a murder scene.

 

[smiling-knife]

Knives with corkscrews... my favourite. Thanks very much for that post jackknife.

"Holmes speaking of a sak type of knife used to open a wine bottle at a murder scene."

Maybe something like one of these Victorian era knives,

 

[Berkley]

"He took out his knife, opened it, and stuck it in the log. Then he pulled up the sack,reached into it and brought out one of the trout. Holding him near the tail, hard to hold, alive, in his hand, he whacked him against the log. The trout quivered, rigid. Nick laid him on the log in the shade and broke the neck of the other fish the same way. He laid them side by side on the log. They were fine trout. Nick cleaned them, slitting them from the vent to the tip of the jaw. All the insides and the gills and tongue came out in one piece. They were both males; long gray-white strips of milt,smooth and clean. All the insides clean and compact coming out all together. He washed the trout in the stream. When he held them back up in the water they looked like live fish. Their color was not gone yet. He washed his hands and dried them on the log. Then he laid the trout on the sack spread out on the log, rolled them up in it, tied the bundle and put them in the landing net. His knife was still standing, blade stuck in the log. He cleaned it on the wood and put it in his pocket." - Ernest Hemingway, "Big Two-Hearted River"

If jackknife had written that, we wouldn't have to guess what kind of knife it was.

 

[Hans_McPhee]

"Swiftly he got out his Case XX, still secure in the watch pocket of his Levi's, thanking God for the good Case knife that would hold an edge all down the many years and thanking God also for his own stubborn ways that made a small knife as much a part of daily dressing as boots and socks." Stephen Hunter, "Point of Impact"

 

[augustus88]

Not necessarily high literature, but the following is one of several times the authors make a point of mentioning Nora Kelly's penknife in The Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

"Nora made a circuit of the living room, examining the floor, gridding it off, plotting her lines of attack. Then she knelt and, taking a penknife from her pocket – a knife her brother, Skip, had given her for her sixteenth birthday and which she never traveled without - eased it between the edges of two bricks. Slowly, deliberately, she cut her way through the crust of grime and old floor wax. She rocked the knife back and forth between the bricks, gently loosening the stonework...

 

[Jeff Clark]

In the Jeffery Deaver novels Amelia Sachs carries a "traditional" switchblade. Here is from "The Twelfth Card":
"The outfit was functional and frumpy, a far cry from what she'd worn on the job before she became a cop; Sachs had been a fashion model for a few years. The jacket bulged slightly at the hip, where he Glock automatic pistol rode, and the slacks were men's; she needed a rear wallet pocket--the only place she felt comfortable stashing her illegal, but often useful, switchblade knife."

 

[yobbos1]

Hemingway was known to carry a variety of knives and they were featured at their utilitarian best in his work. I just happen to be reading A Farewell To Arms this weekend and the main character uses his pocketknife to open a bottle of brandy while escaping tp Switzerland. Must've been a SAK!

 

[rmfnla]

Guess I'm going to have to lay off my Sci-Fi adiction.

I frequently read about "monomolecular edges" that will slice through a tree trunk and never get dull; hardly traditional (or real).

 

[Foilist]

Not necessarily high literature, but the following is one of several times the authors make a point of mentioning Nora Kelly's penknife in The Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

"Nora made a circuit of the living room, examining the floor, gridding it off, plotting her lines of attack. Then she knelt and, taking a penknife from her pocket – a knife her brother, Skip, had given her for her sixteenth birthday and which she never traveled without - eased it between the edges of two bricks. Slowly, deliberately, she cut her way through the crust of grime and old floor wax. She rocked the knife back and forth between the bricks, gently loosening the stonework...

Ahh, I really enjoy the Preston & Child "Pendergast" series. Pendergast himself carries some sort of tacitcal SOG Reliquary (alas!) but Constance has some sort of ivory handled scalpel in one of the more recent books.

 

[augustus88]

Ahh, I really enjoy the Preston & Child "Pendergast" series. Pendergast himself carries some sort of tacitcal SOG Reliquary (alas!) but Constance has some sort of ivory handled scalpel in one of the more recent books.

I've read a few other Preston & Child novels, but The Cabinet of Curiosities is the first of the "Pedergast" series for me. I only have about 40 pages left then it's time to hit the used bookstore. I'll have to start paying attention the the knives in their books.

 

[Foilist]

I've read a few other Preston & Child novels, but The Cabinet of Curiosities is the first of the "Pedergast" series for me. I only have about 40 pages left then it's time to hit the used bookstore. I'll have to start paying attention the the knives in their books.

FYI Brimstone is, I think, the best of the ones featuring agent Pendergast. I don't own that one but if you shoot me an email I have a couple others I can send your way.

 

[knarfeng]

I grew up reading Robert Heinlein, a graduate of Annapolis who had studied fencing while there IIRC.

Tunnel in the Sky featured survival knives.
Glory Road had a number of traditional knives and swords.

Guess I'm going to have to lay off my Sci-Fi adiction.

I frequently read about "monomolecular edges" that will slice through a tree trunk and never get dull; hardly traditional (or real).

See first comment. Heinlein wrote Sci-Fi.
One of his plots was made into a Star Trek episode in the original series.
Several have been made into movies.


However, back on track.
More Sci-Fi. Frank Herbert's Dune featured knives and knife fights.

 

[rmfnla]

Wow, Glory Road, that takes me back!

I believe that one also included a National Match Springfield (or was it a Garand?).

Guess old REH knew is weapons.

Dune was a bit more traditional. The Fremen's knives were made from a predator's teeth; can't get more traditional than that!

 

[augustus88]

FYI Brimstone is, I think, the best of the ones featuring agent Pendergast. I don't own that one but if you shoot me an email I have a couple others I can send your way.

Thanks for the very kind offer. E-mail coming your way.:thumbup:

 

[chiangmaiheadman]

I just finished reading a novel called Island Quarry, by Ernest Herndon. It is about a reporter who is a balisong expert that writes a story about a drug dealer who puts a hit on him, so he flees to Okinawa to escape. There are alot of passages in the book about the balisong.

 

[Foilist]

The Fencing Master by Arturo Perez. It's a good murder mystery featuring some realistic sword play.

 

[Raymond1000]

Stuart Edward White’s The Long Rifle tells the story of Andy Burnett learning to become a beaver trapping Mountain Man in the early nineteenth century. Knives are used throughout the book.

 

[street soldier]

I am an avid reader. It probably stems from my BA in English, but I love to read. With the discovery of this place, my interest as of late has been on 'frontier type' reading. I think I have Jackknife to partly blame for this, as his stories are very entertaining and really make me appreciate those simpler times in America's past.

Can anyone recommend books or authors where they have used traditional knives in the story? Stuff where the characters rely on their knives to accomplish their tasks, whether it be for survival or just your average everyday work. (Think of Jackknife's parables regarding Slim and the ranch he worked on.)

Thanks for the help.

Edit: Thanks to whatever moderator moved this. I guess I didn't search far enough back in the older posts to locate this thread.

 

[SilverFoxKnows]

It features a Joseph Rogers pocket knife, mentioned by name, in several chapters.

Frank