Pen blade or not , technical question

[GaiusJulius]

I admit to kind of liking the “idea” of a coping secondary, but in practice in the real world it seems like a pen blade is just as useful, I’ve never had a situation where I couldn’t cut something thanks to only having a secondary with some belly. Also a coping blade with some heavy use tends to get a bit “pen shaped” anyway, the leading tip getting damaged and resharpened.

And if you really need to cut a quill pen, I seem to recall reading that the belly makes the job a lot easier than with a straight edge, although I have not tried this job myself.

 

[Prester John]

Hello,
Question for the scientists and historians :
I was wondering why when we have a traditional pattern with two blades the second one is so often a... pen blade ?

View attachment 2263593

May be those pattern date from the time when people wrote with pencils and pens that have to be sharpened ?

Because for my personal use this second blade is much more useful:

View attachment 2263594

So , do you have another explanation and what is your use of this pen blade ?

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[Just Tom.]

It took a little work (and a small belt sander)

Same idea, but a much cheaper knife, far less professional-looking work, and no power tools involved:

Sorry no “before” picture, but I removed material “up” from the edge to get the straight(-ish) line.

 

[Johnnythefox]

Thanks! I'm very pleased with it, though I don't expect I'll do that to all my knives. This one just seemed like a perfect candidate for a modification.

I would have thought it came like that, you've done a great job.

 

[Johnnythefox]

I like the look of the pen blade,but as I use the small blade mostly for picking at things and the like a straight edge would work better.

 

[Will Power]

It's an interesting question. Mainly, I suspect it's due to what Prester John alluded to... burden of tradition the secondary small had always been a Pen so it's always going to be a Pen, a variant of the "What's good enough for my grandad is good enough for me " imbecility, until somebody dares to wake up

Pen blades were I suppose originally for sharpening quills and more recently & credibly, pencils - although I think some quill knives as they were called, actually sported Coping type blades. Quill sharpening has long been an anachronism, the Industrial Revolution saw the introduction of mass produced disposable steel nibs for pens and the general rise in literacy fuelled this demand making quills more than outmoded- they don't travel well either. However, knife manufacturers obviously found there was call for knives with a master blade and a minor and Pen was the default- in English, Penknife is often a generic term for all 'traditional' or 'old fashioned' knives anyway. (We're talking about the uninitiated here...)

Pen blades are Ok for minor poking, fingernail cleaning, maybe pill cutting - they have been known to be toothpicks... how do I know? Well, still got every single tooth in my head even at this ghastly age Good for opening staples in magazines or books too, frankly they don't LOOK bad either so this might be a reason for their prevalence.

I too find other small blades more handy, a small Sheepfoot or Wharncliffe is always welcome, Coping blades are a bit too narrow for my liking but useful on the Whittler of course. The GEC 35 Churchill does have a fine combo but as it's quite a big Equal End Cattle type knife its Sheepfoot is broad and sturdy as it can also house a Spey or Pen too. The CASE/Bose Norfolk takes an interesting approach having Wharncliffe master (as the originals did) and small Clip minor which is a good match. Interestingly, I really like the CASE 32 pattern Stockman as it has a modified Pen blade (broader than usual) in place of a Spey blade, the Texas Jack has it too. GEC's 92 Eureka has a good pairing of spear/Coping same end. I have a Schatt & Morgan single spring that's Turkish Clip/Coping .

Here's GEC 35 blades each end (much prefer this to same end, less bulk) Schatt & Morgan Horticultural: Clip/ Sheepfoot, Eye Brand Clip/Sheepfoot.

Thanks, Will

 

[rishma]

I much prefer a wharncliff secondary in theory, though I don’t own any currently and haven’t modified any pen blades. I think I’m too chicken to mess it up. I do prefer a pointer pen blade over the more rounded one on my 33. The 14 is better.

 

[Will Power]

Some agricultural/horticulturals: GEC 38 Pruner / Budding spey and SAK Pruner - Spear/mini Hawkbill really useful SAK.

 

[black mamba]

Of course, with the right stockman, you get both a sheepfoot and a pen!

 

[eveled]

I don’t mind a pen secondary, as long as the main is a sheepsfoot.
I always preferred a coping blade on a stockman instead of a spey blade.

 

[Will Power]

Eureka opts for Coping over Pen

 

[r8shell]

I prefer a small Wharncliffe for the secondary blade. Actually any small straight edge seems more useful then a pen blade to me. I'm pretty sure I could make a quill pen with it, if I had to.
There are patterns out there.

I've always liked those A.G.Russell Pinched Peanuts, but they're above my budget, so a while back I modified a budget version from a Yeller Case.

 

[Modoc ED]

 

[Peregrin]

I've always liked those A.G.Russell Pinched Peanuts, but they're above my budget, so a while back I modified a budget version from a Yeller Case.

Nice work, r8shell ! I picked up my Pinched Peanut on the Exchange a few years ago. It was an offer I couldn't refuse.

 

[rishma]

I've always liked those A.G.Russell Pinched Peanuts, but they're above my budget, so a while back I modified a budget version from a Yeller Case.

I too admire the pinched peanut but above my pay grade. Nice mod

 

[HAKnPocket]

I’ll just sit this pic of my favorite GEC ever made. The only knife I ever regret letting go of was it’s ebony twin.

 

[rishma]

View attachment 2264289

Bring back the SBJ Case!

Ed, I tend to see you post larger knives. That is a beauty.

I’ll just sit this pic of my favorite GEC ever made. The only knife I ever regret letting go of was it’s ebony twin.

I didn’t even know those existed until recently. Love my 33. That would be an epic upgrade.

 

[HAKnPocket]

Bring back the SBJ Case!

Ed, I tend to see you post larger knives. That is a beauty.



I didn’t even know those existed until recently. Love my 33. That would be an epic upgrade.

Mike with a Collector Knives had these done up in 2011. Supposed to be 25 of each ebony and stag with and without bails.

 

[Hickory n steel]

I have nothing against a good pen blade secondary.



but I do like a straight edged sheeps foot or coping secondary blade more.

 

[dantzk8]

It's an interesting question. Mainly, I suspect it's due to what Prester John alluded to... burden of tradition the secondary small had always been a Pen so it's always going to be a Pen, a variant of the "What's good enough for my grandad is good enough for me " imbecility, until somebody dares to wake up

Will, you don't let any room to doubt and skepticism about the modernism ! "Burden of tradition"? "Imbecility"?
Isn't it a bit peremptory ?

I do like straight edges. They are perfect for wood whittling. It's easy, with some practice, to know where is the blade tip when cutting a chip without going over the stopcut and scratching the part which has to be saved.

But a Pen blade has some utility for many tasks including wood whittling. If used with a thumb as a pivot while rotating the knife you get a cut tangential to the curve of the edge. The effort on the blade is less and the cut more precise.



Dan.