Let's see your... Marlin spikes!

Nutoknives, your Joseph Rodgers knife is a modern example. The Egginton Group of Sheffield owns the Rodgers name and trademark and still makes these knives today. Various online sellers list it as a Joseph Rodgers Army Knife.
 
This is my well-used Buck Yachtsman that I received as a birthday gift in 1985. The blade and spike are a little loose from abuse, but it still cuts very well. I was a Merchant Marine Officer from 1988 to 1998 and this knife traveled the oceans with me during that period. We used to use the roughest stone that we could when sharpening our knives as they sawed through rope much better than a knife with a fine edge. I can't say that I ever used the spike for its intended purpose on board a large ship. It worked well at prying up the little tabs that are on the edge of a metal five gallon paint bucket lid.

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I found this old photo of me aboard one of the ships that I sailed on. This was probably taken around 1994 while I was the 2nd Mate on the Overseas Boston.

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Snipe 1, that's what is so great about the spike, it is a tool and is always there. I think these knives are very handy, i would actually like to see a marlin spike on a knife with more of a two blade set up, or even a stockman type pattern with a marlin spike. I think it would be something i would never leave on the shelf. It would always be in my pocket.
 
oilburner -if you search up sheffield knives i'm sure they make the british army knife in several configurations. here are three of varying quality.
all pretty good though.
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This one is quite rare. A British 6353 pattern made by Hunter Sheffield with a Broad Arrow I mark. GI for troops in India pre or around WWI. Wonderful stag scales but the blade is a little worse for wear.

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Yes, that blade shows some use. Must've been used to cut up hard-tack or ship's biscuits:D:eek:
 
smiling-knife said:
This one is quite rare. A British 6353 pattern made by Hunter Sheffield with a Broad Arrow I mark. GI for troops in India pre or around WWI. Wonderful stag scales but the blade is a little worse for wear.

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But you know what, this may be about the most beautiful knife in this thread so far. That knife has more character, and more stories to tell. Wow, just wow. Thanks for sharing that one.
Mark
 
Oh my god, now I have to start up a line of these in my collection. They are all great knives and thanks to all.

SEMPER-FI TIL I DIE
 
oilburner said:
I carry this knife pretty regularly for work, and most everytime I open up the spike, someone new standing near by has there eyes bug out of they're head and exclaims "What's that"!? I got this knife years ago from my grandfathers stuff when he passed. He wasn't a sailor, so I wondered why he had it. Then I figured it out after carrying it a while myself. He was a mechanic and honestly about the best in his day in our area. He was very inventive when it came to special tools and I'm sure this one got used once or twice for anything other then what it was meant for. I am a tower rigger, I work on cell phone towers for a living, and started carrying it thinking I would use it for getting knots out of the rigging ropes. Yea, I've done that a couple times, especialy when the knots freeze into solid balls of ice over night. BUT, I've used it more for other stuff. A scribe, a spud to line holes up to put things together, a small pry bar. I've used it as an awl on a canvas tarp for shelter at a remote job site during a storm. I've even stuck it into a log and tied some fishing line to it to "get another line out there". They really are a great, but over looked pattern. I wish more companies produced them, I would collect them specifically.

So, anyone else have these? Post'em up if you do. Mark.

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Mark, I love this thread of your's! It inspired me to get back to a little rope work. I ordered the colonial, (China) which seems as far as design goes, to be a match for your first one. I didn't expect much, but it has proved to be as solidly built as any knife I've owned. Government specs apparently. Went for the composite grips. Thank you again and keep posting this great stuff!
 
This knife was made in India. Similar in pattern to the British WWII Army knife it is in between the smaller WWII and larger WWI knives in size.
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This is a Schatt & Morgan circa WWI. Schatt & Morgan and Camillus made this pattern for Canadian forces in WWI.

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Some really nice knives here. Some old, some new and currently available. I have been collecting marlin spike knives for a few years now and have around 100. I have been looking for a marlin spike specific forum but haven't found one. Figured there wasn't much interest in them to warrant a forum. But by the responses to this thread, it seems there is quite an interest in this knife form.

Bill
 
Humppa said:
My granddad served in Kriegsmarine during WWII.
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Mine did also! He was drafted at the age of 16, and his ship was torpedoed and sunk, at which point he had to swim until he was rescued (must have been COLD!!!).

I generally use a separate marlinspike, which I made out of a 3" long bolt with a nice long shank. I ground the threads down, made a blunt point on the end, and wrapped the head of the bolt in a Turk's Head knot. Going to have to make another, I suppose, since mine is on the bottom of the Delaware River now.
 
You guys are driving me nuts. (more so than I usually am) :D I have only owned one knife with a marlin spike. Nothing as special as many of the knives in this thread just a Case from the 70's or 80's that was in decent shape until I gave it away to a kid at a show (with his dad's permission of course).

Kind of wish I had kept it now. They can make untying a tight knot a lot easier.
 
Here's a Mark 1 Navy with some nice mar-line work, with some marlinespike knives.

http://db.tt/ulnFskwQ

And a better picture of the rigging/yachting knives-

http://db.tt/Ms3FngMc

That's an HM Slater (Sheffield) with the can-opener, a Buck 315, a no-name Japanese from a surplus store in the '70s, and a Camillus Coast Guard (with no spike).
The Slater's middle liner is elongated into a screwdriver or a shackle key, apparently.
 
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