{ Quote mnblade - Interestingly, here in Europe, most any man who carries a knife carries a SAK. Once in awhile you might see a modern, single-blade folder or multi-tool, but I've NEVER seen anyone with a stockman or trapper or jack. And I've lived here on and off since 1993.
-- Mark }
This something I have also wondered about for many years. While serving just over 10 years of what was to be at least a 20 year career in the Army, I got to travel to some very interesting places. I spent one tour of a bit over a year at an American Air Force base in eastern England, two tours in southern Germany, a 6 month TDY duty at the old Wheelus Air Force base in Libya while the army engineers made the runways longer, and while stationed in Europe traveled a lot to take it in while I was there.
Being a knife knut, I of course watched very carefully for knife sightings to see what the locals were using, and I broused local shops to see what was for sale. Also, it was pretty standard practice to have the engineers working with local civil engineers on construction projects that had something to do with the local infrastructure. Like laying a pipe line to link in an American base with local water and sewer lines. So working with German, English, and even some Turkish and Libyan workers was the norm. These were not the suit type high ups, but blue collar workers just like us, leaning on a jack hammer, or using a D handle shovel feeding the cement mixer, or cutting off the right length of 2X4 with a Skill Saw.
In all my time traveling around the world, the only multi-bladed knives I saw, exept for sak's, were all carried by my fellow Americans. My buddy Paul carried a Case stockman, I carried a Buck stockman, a few of us carried two blade jacks, some the issue MLK knife, then of course the TL-29. But when I saw a knife in the hands of an English guy cutting open a bag of cement, or a German guy stripping some wire in a warehouse we were building, or anyone who was local, it was always a simple single blade knife. Sometimes it was a lockblade, like the K55 knife made in Germany. But sometimes it was just a simple sodbuster kind of knife, made by Kissing Krane or somebody else. I saw Douk-Douk's, Opinels, sodbusters, and even some big friction folders in northern Italy. In England, the universal knife of the working man seemed to be a mid size, dark wood handle, single blade knife with a sheepsfoot blade. But in my travels, I never saw a stockman, trapper, congress, or any of the other patterns we admire on this forum. The only exception was sak's. Even then, they were a popular carry item in the pocket, among the European folks.
Now I know that in their heyday, the Sheffield firms made all kinds of multi-bladed pocket knives for the gentry. Mother of pearl wonders with sissors, pipe stem reamers, nail files, and such. But were these the exception to the rule for the very wealthy? Or perhaps just the gilded age of the late 1800's?
From my own observations, the pocket knife with more than one single cutting blade seems to be an American taste.
Carl.
-- Mark }
This something I have also wondered about for many years. While serving just over 10 years of what was to be at least a 20 year career in the Army, I got to travel to some very interesting places. I spent one tour of a bit over a year at an American Air Force base in eastern England, two tours in southern Germany, a 6 month TDY duty at the old Wheelus Air Force base in Libya while the army engineers made the runways longer, and while stationed in Europe traveled a lot to take it in while I was there.
Being a knife knut, I of course watched very carefully for knife sightings to see what the locals were using, and I broused local shops to see what was for sale. Also, it was pretty standard practice to have the engineers working with local civil engineers on construction projects that had something to do with the local infrastructure. Like laying a pipe line to link in an American base with local water and sewer lines. So working with German, English, and even some Turkish and Libyan workers was the norm. These were not the suit type high ups, but blue collar workers just like us, leaning on a jack hammer, or using a D handle shovel feeding the cement mixer, or cutting off the right length of 2X4 with a Skill Saw.
In all my time traveling around the world, the only multi-bladed knives I saw, exept for sak's, were all carried by my fellow Americans. My buddy Paul carried a Case stockman, I carried a Buck stockman, a few of us carried two blade jacks, some the issue MLK knife, then of course the TL-29. But when I saw a knife in the hands of an English guy cutting open a bag of cement, or a German guy stripping some wire in a warehouse we were building, or anyone who was local, it was always a simple single blade knife. Sometimes it was a lockblade, like the K55 knife made in Germany. But sometimes it was just a simple sodbuster kind of knife, made by Kissing Krane or somebody else. I saw Douk-Douk's, Opinels, sodbusters, and even some big friction folders in northern Italy. In England, the universal knife of the working man seemed to be a mid size, dark wood handle, single blade knife with a sheepsfoot blade. But in my travels, I never saw a stockman, trapper, congress, or any of the other patterns we admire on this forum. The only exception was sak's. Even then, they were a popular carry item in the pocket, among the European folks.
Now I know that in their heyday, the Sheffield firms made all kinds of multi-bladed pocket knives for the gentry. Mother of pearl wonders with sissors, pipe stem reamers, nail files, and such. But were these the exception to the rule for the very wealthy? Or perhaps just the gilded age of the late 1800's?
From my own observations, the pocket knife with more than one single cutting blade seems to be an American taste.
Carl.
Great image. :thumbup: And that explains all the seal poop around here. 
