It's 1912...

1912? Hunting trip? Pocket knife?
There would have been pack horses involved for sure. Those boys didn't go light.
Harness Jack.
 
Assuming I would have the same occupation and be in an equivalent tax bracket then as I am now. I probably wouldn't own a slipjoint. If I did happen to score one, I would hope it be a Scagel of some sort.
 
Would be one of my Harness Jacks,
This ol' Robeson...
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Or this gorgeous Miller Bros HJ
myknives001-17.jpg

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Full sizes stockman for me in the wilderness. I would be trading out my "around town and country" (old timey for EDC :) pocket knife of a more modest size for a bigger set of blades. Something like a peanut.
 
I would be torn between a simple teardrop like this Southington
P5151327.jpg


Or a cattle knife like the Challenge
P5151356.jpg


Or this NYKC
P5151339.jpg


Tough choice!
 
Oh, ya, I forgot to put in my original post. If I had a Cattle Barron, I would probably take that. Warncliff, drop point, spey and leather punch.
 
ASBOB said:
A couple of thoughts.

First, this indicates you are a person of at least modest wealth, or at least quite comfortable. The vast bulk of Americans (farmers, workers) could not afford such an excursion.

So there's a good chance you bought this at a specialty store, like Abercrombie & Fitch (back when it was a gentleman's outfitter store, not a hip kiddie's mart). So you bought what ever company they had contracted with to put their own name on knives.


You already are carrying a fixed blade, which will get used for skinning and larger chores. Since you're with a group, the guide probably has an axe or at least a hatchet.

So what would you use this small knife for? Small chores, possibly some food prep (although again, the guide probably did that.

I vote for a folding knife with the following:

--a main, general purpose blade

--an awl. Horses and leather will be everything on this trip, so it would be good to have something that at least makes extra holes.

--can opener. For rations. Canned food was big back then.

--possibly a bottle opener. The crimped bottle cap had already been invented.

--a corkscrew. You're a gentleman, right? Thus, there has to be drinking. Keep in mind that hard liquor came with corks back then, and not just wine.

If it's after the Great War, things get easier, and the class lines diminish. I just got through reading Bernard Levine's book, Pocket Knives. Remington started in 1920 and quickly became a giant. At its peak it produced 10,000 "high grade pocket knives" a day, with "over 1,000 pocket knife patterns, along with hunting knives and household cutlery." Winchester started making knives around the same time, and was very big in hardware stores. So if you were a gentleman or a farm hand or the guide, there was a reasonable chance you had one of these knives.
Click to expand...


So did beer. The crown bottle cap was only patented ten years earlier. Most bottled beer still came with a cork. Men carried a dedicated corkscrew, or a knife with a corkscrew, as a matter of course.

I’d look for a scout pattern with a bottle opener, car opener, corkscrew, and harness awl.
 
Something like Svord Peasant knife,only folding knife available here,at that time(if im not wrong)
 
Not exactly sure that this pattern was available in 1912, but this would be it.

100_1918.jpg


If that's not a legitimate choice, then a Remington Guide pattern or my Kabar jack:

KabarJack012.jpg


Ed J
 
Mmmh! Interesting challenge. Fine idea.

I think our man in this scenario would be well-heeled and had travelled to Europe, or was a wealthy immigrant from that continent to the USA. As pointed out, the trip although authentic smacks of well-off authentic and most of the tools/equipment would be covered. Or a servant would be tasked in this fashion....

Assuming this, our man would have a fine Sheffield knife in his pocket for personal cutting tasks. Single spring Equal End with Spear/Pen or Norfolk with Wharncliffe/Pen from Rodgers et al shod with epic STAG from now alas long extinct herds. Gent needs to cut plugs of tobacco, cigars, tit-bits of food even post might be delivered etc you never know....
 
willgoy said:
Mmmh! Interesting challenge. Fine idea.

I think our man in this scenario would be well-heeled and had travelled to Europe, or was a wealthy immigrant from that continent to the USA. As pointed out, the trip although authentic smacks of well-off authentic and most of the tools/equipment would be covered. Or a servant would be tasked in this fashion....

Assuming this, our man would have a fine Sheffield knife in his pocket for personal cutting tasks. Single spring Equal End with Spear/Pen or Norfolk with Wharncliffe/Pen from Rodgers et al shod with epic STAG from now alas long extinct herds. Gent needs to cut plugs of tobacco, cigars, tit-bits of food even post might be delivered etc you never know....
Click to expand...

Thats what I was wondering when I thought maybe he'd have one of those fine Sheffield multi-use knives. Maybe even a nice Sheffield sportsman's knife. Okay, where's smiling-knife when we need him?

Carl.
 
Always liked the trapper pattern; I'm fondling my large, yellow Case one qright now. Boker makes (or made, not sure if still around) a scout knife with the same loadout as a Victorinox Spartan. I've always wanted one, but it costs too much for what I would get out of it. But, I think it would fit the bill for this exercise nicely, if I already have a skinner. Otherwise, I'd take my trapper too.
 
This knife is appropriate for the time and occasion. Critically, it has the all important corkscrew.

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You know, the original Victorinox SAK was out by then. Maybe I would have picked one up during my European holidays with the wife (her for shopping and the operas, me for shooting and purchasing bulk quantities of wine and port).

"This knife? Funny you should ask. I played golf at the spa in Carlsbad with a fascinating Swiss chap named Carl who has a little company that makes them!"

-- Mark
 
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What knife would help me communicate to the proper authorities in time to save the Titanic?

~ P.
 
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