Knife references in books.

[stevekolt]

The latest Tom Clancy/Mark Cameron novel has John Clark opening his Douk Douk and stepping down on the handle to make it more of a fixed blade...before taking out the bad guy

 

[desmobob]

In the Border Trilogy Cormac McCarthy gave the boys a Marbles hunting knife and gave the pimp that fought John Cole an Italian stiletto.

McCarthy's knife fight scene at the end was horrifying. What an incredible writer he is. Doesn't "Blood Meridian..." have some knife references in it, too? I've read all of his stuff, and that book twice and can't remember...

 

[jakemex]

“Beowulf” his sword describing the sharpness of the blade and material and ineffectiveness against the animal's scales and later, as a last resort, the thrust kill of the dragon with his dagger.

 

[DMG]

McCarthy's knife fight scene at the end was horrifying. What an incredible writer he is. Doesn't "Blood Meridian..." have some knife references in it, too? I've read all of his stuff, and that book twice and can't remember...

there was the prison knife fight and the fight with the pimp in the Border Trilogy. Plenty of scalping with knives in Blood Meridian but I can’t remember the details.

 

[DMG]

From The Streets of Laredo, the final book in Larry McMurty’s Lonesome Dove series, said by Charlie Goodnight.

“Woodrow Call had his time. It was a long time, too. Life's but a knife edge, anyway. Sooner or later people slip and get cut.”

 

[not2sharp]

That's why I thought Barlow was in quotes, because it wasn't real

Do we know if these knives came sharp? In a pre-air conditioned world it may have been more practical to let the user put in his own final edge.

n2s

 

[Arathol]

that is a great one that I forgot. I don’t understand why he couldnt cut anything with it.

It was either a dulled knife for children or it was a cheap knife with no edge

I doubt the were making childproof stuff in the 1840s and it said in the book that it was a genuine Barlow. Maybe he dulled it and wasn’t able to sharpen it?

this is something I have wondered about every time I reread Tom Sawyer.

Do we know if these knives came sharp? In a pre-air conditioned world it may have been more practical to let the user put in his own final edge.

n2s

You are trying to apply modern day adult knife-related thinking to the world of a 10 year old boy in the mid-19th century.
Knives from the early 19th century were pretty soft, maybe 50-ish on the Rc scale for a good one. The chances of getting a edge comparable to that on a modern knife are pretty slim, especially for a 10 year old boy.
"Barlow" was a term that could have applied to most any folding knife at the time and often was, sort of like the name Buck is today. A "genuine Barlow" knife, one that looks like todays concept of a Barlow, would have been Excalibur to a young boy at the time, and as such much fantasized about.
Chances are the "Couldn't cut anything" has more to do with the expectations of a 10 year old boy and the soft steel than anything else...

 

[DMG]

You are trying to apply modern day adult knife-related thinking to the world of a 10 year old boy in the mid-19th century.
Knives from the early 19th century were pretty soft, maybe 50-ish on the Rc scale for a good one. The chances of getting a edge comparable to that on a modern knife are pretty slim, especially for a 10 year old boy.
"Barlow" was a term that could have applied to most any folding knife at the time and often was, sort of like the name Buck is today. A "genuine Barlow" knife, one that looks like todays concept of a Barlow, would have been Excalibur to a young boy at the time, and as such much fantasized about.
Chances are the "Couldn't cut anything" has more to do with the expectations of a 10 year old boy and the soft steel than anything else...

Maybe. But that low RC will make for an easily sharpened knife and certainly wouldn’t prevent it from attaining a razor sharp edge although it wouldn’t hold it long.

Barlow was a pretty well established pattern back then, just like a trapper or stockman.

 

[Arathol]

Barlow was a pretty well established pattern back then, just like a trapper or stockman.

Yes, it was. In fact it was probably the first mass produced pocket knife, dating well back into the 18th century. It was the Buck 110 of its day. The Barlow was so popular and familiar that the name eventually became synonymous with folding pocket knives, just as Buck has today with hunting knives. At the time the story takes place a "genuine Barlow" meant a real Barlow pattern knife, with rounded handles and a long single bolster, probably made in England.
As for the origins of the other patterns mentioned....
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/design-dates.117679/#post-916060
If you want a good idea of what was available in the way of folding pocket knives in the 1840s look up the sinking of the steamship Arabia. A bunch of well preserved knives were recovered from the wreck site.

 

[John A. Larsen]

Jack Carr, retired USN Seal in his three Books "The Terminal List", "True Believer", and "Savage Son" several mentions of Dan Winkler's knives and hawk and also for Half Face Knives. John

 

[pvicenzi]

Richard Marcinko often mentioned his Emerson CQC7 in his books. He helped sell a lot of Emerson's

 

[gadunz]

Alice, vorpal blade, from the game , from the book

 

[Grendelsnap]

Frank Herberts original Dune has a feudal civilization that existed for millennia where the main means of personal combat was the knife. Personal shields had rendered firearms obsolete thousands of years ago, and the knife became the Meta, studied and taught by masters who dedicated their whole lives to the art. It's a great story from any angle, but especially for someone who appreciates this aspect.