Queen knives

fudo

fudo

Joined
Aug 27, 1999
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I bought a Queen MOP Doctor's knife about 18 months ago and I really like it, so I got a Queen red bone Muskrat this week (both with D2 blades). I have always carried bigger, tough tactical folders and these knives have gotten me to appreciate these light weight and elegant gent's knives.
Can someone say what the usefulness of a Spey blade? I don't farm or raise animals (except Jack Russell Terriers) so these days it's just EDC for office and general use.
 
On my Case Trapper, I use the spey blade for any cutting that I'd normally do such as cutting twine, fruit, pruning, opening push-ups for my 4yo - basically any time I don't knife a fine point.

But, I prefer other blade designs and mainly prefer to have two(+) blades of various sizes for added versatility. My Muskrat has two clip blades, I figure if one goes dull in the field the other is good to go.

I have used it for breasting out birds and think it would excel at skinning small game with the rounded tip, avoiding damaging the pelt.
 
fudo said:
I bought a Queen MOP Doctor's knife about 18 months ago and I really like it, so I got a Queen red bone Muskrat this week (both with D2 blades). I have always carried bigger, tough tactical folders and these knives have gotten me to appreciate these light weight and elegant gent's knives.
Can someone say what the usefulness of a Spey blade? I don't farm or raise animals (except Jack Russell Terriers) so these days it's just EDC for office and general use.
Click to expand...


Where did you find a red bone muskrat with a spay blade in D2? Just curious since I have never seen a D2 in red bone from Queen.

Also, the Queen doctor's knives have never been made in D2 as far as I know, unless you have an oddity. All D2 Queen knives will have PH-D2 as part of the tang stamp.
 
I agree with pinetree. On my trappers or stockman knives that have spey blades I just use the spey for "rough" work that doesn't require a fine point thus saving the clip (and sheepfoot with the stockman) for other work.
 
Blues said:
I agree with pinetree. On my trappers or stockman knives that have spey blades I just use the spey for "rough" work that doesn't require a fine point thus saving the clip (and sheepfoot with the stockman) for other work.
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Yep. +1.

On custom trappers, I go with this same idea but ask for a wharncliff in the spey's place. On stockmans, I opt for the sheepsfoot when tough work needs to be done. One of the reasons I like Queen's Canoe pattern is the main blade is broad and stout and the smaller blade, while broad, is fairly thin and is very useful for finer cuts. Also, as a single spring design, it pockets very well. It has an "OK" point - good enough for most of my work. That said, a Queen Canoe with a small Wharncliff blade would be very nice.
 
fudo said:
I bought a Queen MOP Doctor's knife about 18 months ago and I really like it, so I got a Queen red bone Muskrat this week (both with D2 blades). I have always carried bigger, tough tactical folders and these knives have gotten me to appreciate these light weight and elegant gent's knives.
Can someone say what the usefulness of a Spey blade? I don't farm or raise animals (except Jack Russell Terriers) so these days it's just EDC for office and general use.
Click to expand...

I really like Queens Muscrats as well. I have a Hawbaker model and really like the thin, sharp D2 blades. I have found the Spey to be a great shape for apple cutting.
 
I tend to agree that a Wharncliffe blade is far more useful on a knife than say a Spey blade.
 
willgoy said:
I tend to agree that a Wharncliffe blade is far more useful on a knife than say a Spey blade.
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I'm sure there's a hapless critter or two that might take issue with that statement. :p
 
As usual i'm backward i keep the spey blade reserved for when i need a REALLY sharp edge and the clip gets most of the work. Only reason for this i guess is one of my early knives was a case stockman with the spey marked "for flesh" I guess i just figured all spey blades should be saved for surgery. I would love either a wharncliffe or sheepfoot blade overa spey. later,ahgar
 
ahgar, you're not alone. I know of several folks who do the same as you. Six of one...
 
ahgar said:
As usual i'm backward i keep the spey blade reserved for when i need a REALLY sharp edge and the clip gets most of the work. Only reason for this i guess is one of my early knives was a case stockman with the spey marked "for flesh" I guess i just figured all spey blades should be saved for surgery. I would love either a wharncliffe or sheepfoot blade overa spey. later,ahgar
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:thumbup:
On my oldtimer stockman the sheepsfoot sees most of the of the work with the spey being saved for tasks requiring a fine edge, and the clip only gets used when I need that much of a blade.
 
I had a habit I got from my grandad, and that was to leave the spey blade semi-dull. Since we did not have any bulls to make steers out of, (and its really hard to castrate a crab or oyster) the spey blade was made into the pipe bowl reamer, misilanious scraper, putty knife, and do anything you don't want to use your good blades on blade. I always kept the clip blade very sharp, and the sheepsfoot fairly sharp. I did alot of the cutting with the sheepsfoot, used the main clip for my very sharp blade, so the spey was really not needed exept as the super substitue for a thumb nail.

I always thought it would make sense for a stockman to have a clip/sheepsfoot/can opener screwdriver blade in place of the spey. Kind of a stockman/sak.
 
FWIW, I just bought a Hen & Rooster stockman pattern, and instead of the spey blade it has a small pen blade. That might be an option. The sheepsfoot is smaller, too, more of a whittler. The main long clip blade is center mounted, so none of the blades has to bend sideways to close. All in all, a well thought out knife. Haven't heard much good about the new H&Rs, but this one looks like a keeper.
 
scattershot, it sounds like you have a whittler instead of a stockman.

If the clip is the master blade on one end of the knife, and the smaller pen and coping (like a sheepfoot) blades are on the other end, that is what you have. Many whittlers have the master blade operating on the combined backsprings of the two smaller blades.
 
knifeaholic said:
Where did you find a red bone muskrat with a spay blade in D2? Just curious since I have never seen a D2 in red bone from Queen.

Also, the Queen doctor's knives have never been made in D2 as far as I know, unless you have an oddity. All D2 Queen knives will have PH-D2 as part of the tang stamp.
Click to expand...

My MOP doctor's knife says 96S on it. The Muskrat has 2 long clip blades. My question about spey blades was related to a Trapper I bought. I knew that they had some sort of animal husbandry application but I didn't know exactly what.
The Muskrat is a Red Stag, not red bone, sorry.
 
Blues, that's what I have. It was called a stockman where I bought it. Thanks.

BTW, I'm having a heck of a time sharpening this thing. I can usually get an edge on a toothbrush handle, but this one is taking some work! It's carbon steel. The factory grinds were way off, so maybe it just needs some more work, any ideas?
Thanks
 
If the edges are thick, even carbon steel will take a bit of time. Try using an aggressive hone (silicone carbide, aluminum oxide, diamond) to get it down to where you want it. After that you can use finer abrasives like ceramic or fine diamond (600 grit and higher).

If you have further issues there are great suggestions and threads in the "Maintenance, Tinkering & Embellishment" forum.
 
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