History of the trapper pattern?

There are knives with a single spey blade and two-bladed knives with spear and spey blades of equal length in the 1875 Wostenholm catalogue. They are called 'speying knives' rather than trappers but look to be precursors to modern trappers.
 
Very interesting reading. I would have thought it was older. I see the real trappingtimes in the 1800-hundreds. As Jackknife and sunnyd wrote the men in the old times often carried one for all duties. Its not the knife that does the skinning, its the person holding the handle. A spear or a clip you use with knowledge is a good skinning blade for smallgame.
Im intrigued by the pattern as I got a new one due to a friendly man but Im just now exclusively carry a new stockman that intrigues me even more thanks to the same man.

Bosse
 
Thats it. I'm taking my little easy opener out of my pocket right now and getting my trapper.
 
Was the trapper very popular back in the 1950's or early 1960's? When I think back to the knife displays in drug and hardware stores, I remember mostly stockmans, two blade jack knives, scout knives, and the yellow handle fishing knives (with the scaler). I don't remember any kids back then carrying a trapper pattern and all kids in that day and age had a slip joint or wanted one. Then again, maybe I just didn't notice them if they were for sale.
 
smiling-knife said:
There are knives with a single spey blade and two-bladed knives with spear and spey blades of equal length in the 1875 Wostenholm catalogue. They are called 'speying knives' rather than trappers but look to be precursors to modern trappers.
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I don't s'pose you have a picture of one handy? My brief search didn't turn up anything.

James
 
smiling-knife said:
There are knives with a single spey blade and two-bladed knives with spear and spey blades of equal length in the 1875 Wostenholm catalogue. They are called 'speying knives' rather than trappers but look to be precursors to modern trappers.
Click to expand...

Thanks S-K!. I kinda thought this might be the case. Lets face it Sheffield had it going on long before the USA did. If you have re-print to share here that would be wonderful?!

NirreBosse said:
Very interesting reading. I would have thought it was older. I see the real trappingtimes in the 1800-hundreds. As Jackknife and sunnyd wrote the men in the old times often carried one for all duties. Its not the knife that does the skinning, its the person holding the handle. A spear or a clip you use with knowledge is a good skinning blade for smallgame.
Im intrigued by the pattern as I got a new one due to a friendly man but Im just now exclusively carry a new stockman that intrigues me even more thanks to the same man.

Bosse
Click to expand...

Very well put!

By the way, I'm glad you like them both. I sure hope you are enjoying them and they are treating you well. I sure do LOVE my NirreBosse Scandi grind hand made and cannot seem go fishing with out it. I also have the new mora on my belt today as it happens. :thumbup: :D Thank You too Bo! Much obliged.


Anthony
 
Sorry for my ignorance but what exactly IS a Trapper pattern?

I thought it was 1 long and one short blade on each end?
Do they have to be at opposite ends? I have a GEC northfields that has the same blades as a Trapper but at the same end and they call it a Scout ,but then the Scout pattern seems to be a 4 blade with 1 of the blades being a can opener and another a screwdriver/bottleopener?

So what is this pattern? (pic swiped from KSF)
gecnf73alm.jpg


Most slippie patterns are fairly understandable ,a Canoe looks like a canoe for example.

Thanks for humoring a newbie!

Edit ,
What exactly is a stockman? is it like a trapper with a third blade?
 
The image you posted of the Northfield is a trapper pattern.

There are a few variations of "trappers". The standard trapper has two blades of equal length opening on the same end of the knife (as in a jack knife).

There are standard trappers, light trappers/slim trappers, heavy trappers, saddlehorn trappers and double-end trappers.

Most trappers feature equally long clip and spey blades, but some modified trappers feature another blade in place of the spey (wharncliffe, et al). The double-end trapper has a clip at one end and the spey blade on the other end.

If you "google" the pattern and choose images you'll find many images (not to mention the images available here).

Edited to add:

There are also single blade trappers which have been very popular in recent years.
 
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300Bucks said:
Heres some info on the Buck 313 Trapper if anyone is interested....300bucks







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Single backspring too.Nice. So the trapper sort of morphs into a muskrat pattern with a spey. In skinning the blunt blade doesn't stick into anything when your hands buried into a carcass
 
Thank you very much. I am really liking this GEC ,it is quite a handy little knife.
Without knowing anything about them I saw the 2 blades as 1 a hunting knife/everything sort of blade and 2 the whittler or wood working or skinning blade. You could use the first blade as an EDC but have that second blade handy for when you needed a real sharp edge.

It seems a tad bit heavy for pocket carry but is not impossible. I had a buddy make me a really nice leather case though and it is supurb.

I have the mid sized GEC trapper a Large ivory Northwoods/Queen Toothpick so now I just need a nice little mini.
 
Not much to add, but I'm finding Case knives to be more-and-more attractive...much to the dismay of my wallet...and my wife...if she knew. :)
I have several old trappers which my dad had collected, and almost all have been sharpened down to the point that the blades are worn into 'sharpened ice-picks' practically. The old timers got every bit of use from the steel... :)

Anyway, AllAbout Pocketknives has this, about the Case #54 pattern:
"
54-82_small.jpg
This pattern is a 4 1/8" jack knife that is most well known as a trapper.
Case started manufacturing them in the Tested era (1920 - 1940).
The pattern will almost always have two blades; a clip and a spey of the same length.
You may find two variations of clip blades on some older knives. In the mid 60's, the company produced some knives with a narrower clip blade known as a muskrat, or California clip. Knives made with the narrow blade often trade at a higher value.
The frame was changed in the early XX era to one that had longer bolsters (less handle material).
Some trappers that were manufactured in the early XX era (1940 - 1964) were made on the tested frame which has shorter bolsters. These are much more valuable."

Image and info from allaboutpocketknives.com:
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/wr_case/patterns_by_number/46_60.php
 
300Bucks said:
Heres some info on the Buck 313 Trapper if anyone is interested....300bucks



To me this would be the moose pattern. Similar blades to the trapper but on oposing ends. I know the moose goes back at least into the 1800s, but if I remember right it goes back to the mid 1800s
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You know I really have never thought it out more than it is named the Muskrat and it is a knife shape desired by small fur trappers.

So, Levine's 5th, Page 222 says" A 'trapper' is a jack knife with two specific full length blades. The master blade is a clip-point with a very long clip. The second blade is a long spey.......Premium trappers are built on serpentine premium stock handles, both round-end and square-end..... Double-end trappers are similar to premium trappers, only with one blade in each end. A variant of the double-end trapper is the Muskrat. It has two identical "muskrat clip" blades, one in each end."

I was considering the 313 to be a double-end trapper as it fit the description of long clip and spey opposite. I have seen some other manufactors pure muskrats with double clips in photos in the forum. Since it was named the Muskrat, it had the long clip and spey opposite, even with square ends I was thinking it fit in the trapper ballpark, as do muskrat and the heavier bladed moose patterns. I do know in the recent past the muskrat men of the southern costal swamps, liked it for a skinning knife.
300Bucks
 
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