Pen blades- am I the only one??

[JAB]

Count me as one of those who loves himself some pen blades. Heck, I'll even go so far as to be on the lookout for 'em whenever I find myself in the market for a new stockman.

 

[Thalestin]

I like them quite a bit. Use them mostly for carving.

 

[TLARbb]

I definitely like pen blades on knives like the SBJ. I have a Texas jack or two with the pen blade and it comes in handy for me. I much prefer pen blades to spey blades on stockmen or jack knives. On a mini trapper I would prefer a pen blade to the long spey if I couldn't find a wharncliffe to go with it.

Ed J

 

[cj65]

I asked this question probably back in 09. I said the same thing, but the concensus from the traditional guys use the pen blade alot. I have to say that I had a paradigm shift. I like it for blister packs, and even food packages and stuff. It is about control. I keep the pen blade surgical sharp.

 

[CUTS LIKE A KRIS]

Thanks for the replies so far. I know I am in the minority with many of my knife choices, but some strength in numbers is nice. I actually do ignore the blade often, and have a hard time not wanting a more task specific blade. Too bad it is hard to change them into wharncliffes, as I generally do with abused/broken clip blades. I can't even admit to liking them on SAK's- my preferred ALOX SAK's are the harvester and electrician plus- sheepsfoot or pruner blade. Just me being me, and would rather see a punch than pen as an option.

 

[jackknife]

Just me being me, and would rather see a punch than pen as an option.

Ya know bud, that simple statement got me to thinking. (Always a dangerous proposition.) What would my beloved peanut be like with a punch like on the Victorinox soldier/Wenger SI? Perhaps I'm ready for the rubber knife squad, but for many years I've had an old Wenger SI around, and I have to confess I like the Swiss military punch blade/tool with the single bevel that makes a decent cutting edge. With that tool, I'd still have a second blade for the rough dirty jobs, like stripping wire, or scraping, but with boring/piercing capability.

Hmm, a punch peanut? This could have possibilities!

Now you've done it, got me to thinking, and it's all your fault!

Carl.

 

[Planterz]

If the knife has 2 blades, I like one of them to be curved, one to be straight. Regardless of the lengths of the blades. When the knife is a SBJ or a half congress, that makes the curved one a pen blade, which I like just fine. As for other patterns, I'd rather have a single blade peanut or something like AGR's pinched peanut (with a small wharncliffe) instead of the typical 2 blade peanut (the main blade is as small as some pen blades on other knives). I'd much rather have a wharncliffe trapper than the typical trapper with a large spey. If the knife has 3 blades (whittler or stockman), give me a pen blade over a spey every single time.

 

[Smaug]

I think it is a good general purpose shape blade.

Nearly all of my SAKs have large and small pen blades. The large one is general purpose, and I sometimes forget to keep it super sharp. But my small pen blade is always razor sharp. Also there are times when I need more control towards the tip but still need a real point, and a sheepsfoot blade wouldn't do.

I have absolutely no use for a Spey blade, on the other hand. I wish my Old Timer stockman had a pen instead of the Spey.

 

[Raymond1000]

I always have a junior stockman on me. My small stockman always has a clip blade, a sheepsfoot blade, and a pen blade. I won’t buy a jr. stockman with the third blade a spay.

That pen stays sharp. I use it for any kind of delicate work. It’s my splinter picking blade. I can’t count the number of time’s I’ve used it for that purpose on the job.

The sheepsfoot keeps an obtuse edge, and it’s for rough work. Scraping, cleaning battery terminals, nicking the outer core of romex, and then stripping insulation off the wire.

The clip blade is for general purpose work like opening letters and boxes, or peeling apples.

 

[OzarkCreekWalker]

I use the pen blades on my knives all the time!



You'd like the pen blade on Case's tuxedo knife then. It's not quite a wharncliffe, but it is close, and I find it to be a very useful profile!

Here's mine:

That's handy looking little knife, that and the mini copperhead look very useful.

 

[Bigfattyt]

This is a good topic.

I like the pen blade, but like the clip/pen on the S&M grandaddy barlow even more.

The tip on that thing is so pointy it is like a needle!!!!!

This little guy would be even better as a pen/clip, or warncliff!

This little guy on my Grandfather's Western Barlow has seen a bit of use!

In fact, underneath the pen blade, wedged deep in the channel when I got to cleaning it out, was an old piece of aluminum foil blister package of something (looked like medicine or some such packaging)

 

[FuriousPace]

I use my pen blade more than any other blade. One of the things I've noticed over the years is when buying vintage knives the pen blade is almost always the blade showing the most wear. I have several old knives with an untouched master blade while the pen blade has been worked into a shape not recognizable as ever being a blade.

 

[WA Martin]

I prefer a pen blade to a spey blade also.

 

[jackknife]

I use my pen blade more than any other blade. One of the things I've noticed over the years is when buying vintage knives the pen blade is almost always the blade showing the most wear. I have several old knives with an untouched master blade while the pen blade has been worked into a shape not recognizable as ever being a blade.

I wonder if our grandfathers were not a bit smarter and more practical minded than us. I've also noticed that same thing with old knives. My old co-worker and friend who had a Buck cadet I inherited from him when he passed on, had the sheepsfoot blade well worn, the spey very worn, and the clip blade in very good condition. He usually used the two smaller blades for most of his cutting. I've seen a number of older gentlemen when I was a kid always seeming to use the small pen blade of their little serpentine jacks.

Carl.

 

[GLDNDomer]

I like a choice of blade types when I'm carrying a knife with multiple blades. I like pen blades when the main blade is a wharncliffe or pruner. I like sheepsfoot blades when the main blade is a spear or clip point. I like having my options. I do agree with you that I don't understand why on a two-bladed knife the two blades would be so similar (like a pen and spear) instead of gaining extra use advantages (like a sheepsfoot and spear). I like small blades for control, but a knife with different main and secondary blade types is just an extra nice touch and advantage.

I guess the one unused blade on these old knives was the blade that was kept shaving sharp in case of emergencies or certain situations. Some guys on this thread have even admitted to doing that with their small pen blades still. I usually use my main blade as a general blade because it's easier to get out and it's the only knife I have on me. I can see a lot of these old timers using the pen blade more than the larger clip blade because they might have had a larger fixed blade for the jobs that a small blade couldn't handle. They also only used fountain pens and pencils back then, so I'm sure a pen blade would have gotten plenty of use in general day-to-day tasks.

 

[black mamba]

I, too, think that a multiblade knife should have blades of differing sizes and bellys for different tasks. I find the pen blade the most used when it accompanies a spear master, because the spear is just too wide for some jobs. I still think it would be improved upon with a Wharncliffe instead of the pen, giving a straight and a curved edge to choose from.

Carl, I have carried a GEC equal end harness jack, and the punch, when sharpened correctly, does act just like a sheepfoot blade for accurate, straight cutting.

 

[mdsmith]

As a little experiment, I'm going to try to use only the pen blade of my yellow peanut for the next few days. Listening to all of the responses, I feel like I must be missing something.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

I find that there is an appropriate application for pen blades, but that often they're added to a piece "because every multi-bladed traditional folder has to have one" rather than strategically choosing them. I find the pen blade on my sway back jack incredibly useful, as it makes a perfect compliment to the wharncliffe primary blade, giving me both a smaller blade as well as one with a decent belly. However, I find it pretty useless on my coke-bottle jack, as its size and shape are too functionally similar to the clip point primary. Multiple blades should offer a range of function. Sometimes the inclusion of a pen blade accomplishes that. Other times it really just takes up space.

 

[billym]

I use my pen blade more than any other blade. One of the things I've noticed over the years is when buying vintage knives the pen blade is almost always the blade showing the most wear. I have several old knives with an untouched master blade while the pen blade has been worked into a shape not recognizable as ever being a blade.

Bingo! I find the same thing. The Pen is usually worn down but sharp and the other blade is often bent or broken. Especially if the lager blade is a clip.
I find wharncliff and sheepsfoot to be extemely useful, but I am definitely a fan of the pen blade.

 

[neeman]

When you talk about a pen blade you mean a small secondary blade?

I use a small secondary blade for fine cutting and cutting using the point of the blade
Because the blade is shorter I have much better control on the blade
I want this blade to have a good point
So the curve of a spey blade does not work, and a small sheepsfoot squared edge is good but does not have a point

What is left?
A pen blade or a small clip
I have very few knives with a secondary clip blade
So the pen blade is my favorite for small controlled cutting