Who knows? A lot of people here get exercised because one company supposedly steals a pattern from another. I expect most patterns were worked out before JC became a corporal, everything since then is derivative.
I think it's more realistic to approach blade design from the evolution of materials: sharpened wooden sticks > flint napped tools > bronze age > iron age > steel age. And how they were intended to be used.
Seax versus skean dbu? One's a big knife, the other is a small knife. One's a warrior's knife, the other is a woman's knife. Unless the warrior wants a small knife to do small craft work; or the woman wants a big knife to chop herbs or scare off an ugly bastard.
The old Celts and Hindus were working in iron and steel when other folks were still messing with copper and bronze.
Also consider the knife designs of an old knife culture like the Finnish/Suomi people compared to the American Bowie culture.
It's a very good question and should lead to an interesting thread. :thumbup:
Edit: The "Ticonderoga" is just a rusty old blade that was found at Fort Ticonderoga, NY. Nothing special about it, it is typical of all the trade/butcher/kitchen knives that were imported by the barrel load from Europe in the 17th-18th centuries.
