Origin of the toothpick pattern

Thanks for the link Ed, haven't come across that one before. I have read somewhere but can't find my source that the evolution went something like this, the Spanish Navaja was the inspiration for the the French Laguiole, and the toothpick was the American interpretation of the the French Laguiole.
That's all I got :-)

Pete
 
The origins of the toothpick are in the deep south a long time back. Mississippi, Louisiana, some bleed over into East Texas area. I don't have any documentation or proof, but I've always had a sneaking suspicion that there is a ancestral link to the French Laguiole. The Laguiole maybe came to the Louisiana area via the Arcadians and other French settlers, traders, merchants, and spread from there. The human race, being what it is, like to spread things. Someone see's something, and wants one like it. Heck, we do it all the time on this knife forum. It's easy to see how someone from Texas visits New Orleans on business, and takes a Laguiole back with him. Or same senerio with some farmer from Mississippi, taking a load of cotton down river to New Orleans for sale/shipment, and takes a liking of those Frenchie knives with a pointy blade. Soon, it becomes popular with the workingman.

You can extrapolate this down the road many years, until a lot of workingmen are carrying the Americanized version, the toothpick. They go by the local tavern for a drink or three, and an argument breaks out over who did what, or local politics or horse racing, and the argument turns heated, and they go at it with what happens to be the pocket knife of the day. And in Mississippi and the back bayous of Louisiana, that happens to be a toothpick a large amount of the time. After some more time, the toothpick gains a reputation as a southern fighting knife of tavern drunks and such. Not hard to see how it could happen. But put a toothpick alongside a Laguiole, and the heritage is unmistakable. But it's all conjecture in the end. But the fact is, a heck of a lot of toothpicks/fishing knives, and mellon testers have ended up stuck in another persons anatomy. They are long and pointy, don't cost a lot, and can do the job, even if the modern knife snob thinks you need a thick blade and axis lock to qualify as able to commit mayhem. You don't need a Chris Reeve or top of the line Bench made to kill someone. People get shanked to death everyday in prisons with sharpened toothbrush handles.

Toothpick as a fighting knife? Very possible.

Carl.
 
Could be. The Laguiole was developed in 1829. The French had arrived in the late 1690s in the Louisiana region, so about 140 years before the Laguiole was invented. That area was under Spanish control for the latter part of the 1700s, so there could have been direct influence from the Spanish navaja, which was developed in the 1600s and was very popular during the 1700s. I'd guess the Toothpick is a direct descendant / copy / homage to the original navaja.
 
jackknife said:
The origins of the toothpick are in the deep south a long time back. Mississippi, Louisiana, some bleed over into East Texas area. I don't have any documentation or proof, but I've always had a sneaking suspicion that there is a ancestral link to the French Laguiole. The Laguiole maybe came to the Louisiana area via the Arcadians and other French settlers, traders, merchants, and spread from there. The human race, being what it is, like to spread things. Someone see's something, and wants one like it. Heck, we do it all the time on this knife forum. It's easy to see how someone from Texas visits New Orleans on business, and takes a Laguiole back with him. Or same senerio with some farmer from Mississippi, taking a load of cotton down river to New Orleans for sale/shipment, and takes a liking of those Frenchie knives with a pointy blade. Soon, it becomes popular with the workingman.

You can extrapolate this down the road many years, until a lot of workingmen are carrying the Americanized version, the toothpick. They go by the local tavern for a drink or three, and an argument breaks out over who did what, or local politics or horse racing, and the argument turns heated, and they go at it with what happens to be the pocket knife of the day. And in Mississippi and the back bayous of Louisiana, that happens to be a toothpick a large amount of the time. After some more time, the toothpick gains a reputation as a southern fighting knife of tavern drunks and such. Not hard to see how it could happen. But put a toothpick alongside a Laguiole, and the heritage is unmistakable. But it's all conjecture in the end. But the fact is, a heck of a lot of toothpicks/fishing knives, and mellon testers have ended up stuck in another persons anatomy. They are long and pointy, don't cost a lot, and can do the job, even if the modern knife snob thinks you need a thick blade and axis lock to qualify as able to commit mayhem. You don't need a Chris Reeve or top of the line Bench made to kill someone. People get shanked to death everyday in prisons with sharpened toothbrush handles.

Toothpick as a fighting knife? Very possible.

Carl.
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I grew up in "the back bayous of Louisiana" in the 60s... I'm not sure I knew a boy without a toothpick. It was the preferred knife for playing "splits". And I knew quite a few men who carried one (if not a switchblade) as part of their Friday/Saturday night attire. On many, if not most, Saturday nights at the Two-Mile Inn (a once notorious place that has been closed for about 25 years), someone would get cut/sliced (and more rarely, stabbed) with a toothpick... or as most of us called it, a Dixie Switch. I don't remember hearing them referred to as toothpicks until years later.
 
I raised a Family from the late 1960's through 1980 making Arkansas toothpicks and Bowies.... I remember reading that during the Civil war some Rebel soldiers would brandish large tapered blades and pretend to be picking their teeth with the tip of the blade so the Yankee soldiers could see them... They became known as Arkansas toothpicks.....
 
I wrote on that original thread from way back when. I still stand by what I was told growing up. I grew up an hour north of New Orleans, in a VERY rural area! My ancestors were some of the first to settle New Orleans. I am also descended from some of the first settlers in south Mississippi. So I am deeply rooted in this area.
The ol' Dixie switch or toothpick was dropped in a backpocket and taken along when you were headed to bars, dances, etc. I know several young gents in our area will still drop brass knuckles in their backpockets when they are headed to social events. Sign of the times I guess??
If that pattern didn't originate here, I would be surprised. You don't see it much anymore, but thirty five years ago you would see it often.
 
To throw fuel on the fire, my great-grandmother lived in a dry county in Eastern North Carolina. On Saturday nights, a bootlegger sold booze from the trunk of his car behind Holloman's grocery store - Mr. Holloman got a cut of the profits. A fight broke out behind the store one night when a rather drunk fellow tried to steal a bottle of booze from the bootlegger. It quickly turned into a knife fight. Both men had Toothpick knives. The bootlegger managed to foil the drunks attempt at stealing his liquor. That was in August of 1948. As others above have said; these types of knives were popular throughout the south.
 
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My only first hand experience with the toothpick and the people who carried them was a long time ago. I had the luck, good or bad depending on point of view, to do some TDY duty at Ft. Polk, Louisiana. One of the soldiers I served with was from the Lake Charles area. His family lived some distance out of town, and were very heavy into the bass fishing, and other outdoor stuff. While we were there during the construction project on the premisses of Ft. Polk, he invited me home for a fishing and crawfish boil. I was an eastern city boy, used to the crabbing of the Maryland eastern shore, but was in for an eye opening. But I figured the crawdads were like a mini lobster, so I went.

I'd never seen real bayou country before, and meeting his family I found my high school French totally useless. I had no idea of what some of his family was saying. Johnny prided himself on being what he described as a genuine born and bred coon---, whatever that meant. The afternoon backyard feast, I saw pocket knives on display, and there was a lot of toothpicks. Back at our base at Ft. Sam Houston, I'd seen Johnny use his toothpick for all kinds of cutting jobs, on the job and fishing on Sallado creek. His family also used a large number of them. This was the late 1960's, and while on post the Buck 110 sold at the PX was the knife of choice of the soldiers, over there in Johnny's neck of the bayous, the toothpick was king.

Carl.
 
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Funny I live on the west coast of Canada and during the 1970's every fisherman I. Knes had the two bladed version
I wish I still had mine
 
Being a fan of the Toothpick/Tickler it's been fun reading all of these posts and the related linked thread...Fun stuff! :)
I grew up in the north and every kid I new had a "fishin' knife", which was basically a toothpick shell handled two blade with scaler and hook disgorger, and for those who doubt that slip joints can be used to stab, I personally witnessed a neighbor run one right though the meaty part of his brothers upper arm...never could forget that one...
 
genuine born and bred coon-ass

Raised as a 'cajun, i.e., Acadian. They are the descendants of the Canadian French of Acadie who were forcibly evicted by the English starting in 1752. Many went to Southwest Louisiana, some to New England down to Maryland. The ones in Louisiana were isolated and did not assimilate into the rest of French Louisiana.

OT
 
When I began making slipjoints the toothpick was the knife I liked more than
others------ still is. For wicked cutting or slicing they're hard to beat. Yeah
they work pretty well for stabbing to.
Ken.
 
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kc custom said:
When I began making slipjoints the toothpick was the knife I liked more than
others------ still is. For wicked cutting or slicing they're hard to beat.
Ken.
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Oh my........talk about temptation! I'm assuming these are your own custom made - just beautiful!
 
Yes they are mine - custom made, the bottom knife has lived in my pocket for going
on 6? years.
Ken.
 
This commentary on the tickler, or toothpick folder, is much appreciated. I've noticed they're a bit of a rarity in this neck of the woods, in peoples pockets that is. From what I gather it must be a regional thing. I know a guy from Lake Charles, he's pretty backwoods, and somewhat of a knife enthusiast, I'll try and see what he knows bout them the next time I see him. I guess it's sorta a traditional, folder with potential tactical applications. I'm aiming to pick up a #12 GEC now. I just like the blade profile. I prefer long, and slender blades it seems. I've heard of people pressing the large Case Toothpicks, into use as fillet knives.
 
Old Traf said:
genuine born and bred [southern person] {edited for language by ME}

Raised as a 'cajun, i.e., Acadian. They are the descendants of the Canadian French of Acadie who were forcibly evicted by the English starting in 1752. Many went to Southwest Louisiana, some to New England down to Maryland. The ones in Louisiana were isolated and did not assimilate into the rest of French Louisiana.

OT
Click to expand...

Been doing the whole genealogy thing, turns out that my fathers side of the family is Acadian (mix of french trappers and natives) that settled in Maine. This is pretty interesting stuff for me ;) Makes me wonder if i have family down here i dont know about and if this qualifies me as a coon LOL
 
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I have asked the posters to remove the slang term. It does not belong in Traditional.

If a phrase would be considered unacceptable on a 1950's G-rated TV show, it likely shouldn't be used in a post in Traditional.
 
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