Reason for the shield?

sierra11b · Nov 1, 2006

Is there a historical reasoning behind the shield on most slippies? Is it so the owner can engrave his initials? Curious to know...

knifeaholic · Nov 1, 2006

Good Question!!!

Some would give that as a reason, but out of the 100's of thousands of antique and modern slipjoints that I have examined, I have probably seen one or two with anything engraved (post-factory) on the shield.

lambertiana · Nov 2, 2006

That seems to be the accepted idea, but not many people have actually done it. Of all my antique slipjoints, only one has initials engraved on the shield.

zerogee · Nov 2, 2006

I think originally the idea probably was to have a place to engrave initials or a name -- and I've seen a number of antiques from the 1800s with engraved shields. Almost always one with a long bar shield (either with square or rounded ends).

Even so, it's quite rare even with such old knives to see the shield engraved -- and I don't think I've ever seen any other shapes of shields engraved - even from those times.

I think it was quickly realized that a shield was just the right amount of decoration for a special finishing touch. Considering now nontrivial it is to precisely fit and pin an inset shield by hand into natural handle materials, it could be considered a sign of a top quality knife.

Gramps · Nov 2, 2006

I always thought initially they were "heraldic" in nature, descended from the tradition of emblazoning a coat-of-arms on a edged weapon and that the shield evolved into a sort of proprietary identification used by the knife maker ???? ....don't know were that came from..I guess I just always assumed ??

-regards

sierra11b · Nov 2, 2006

Like a makers mark then? I can see how all of these are true. I've had the urge to engrave a nice slippie on the shield for awhile now. Will I actually do it is another subject...

Gramps · Nov 2, 2006

sierra11b said:
Like a makers mark then? I can see how all of these are true. I've had the urge to engrave a nice slippie on the shield for awhile now. Will I actually do it is another subject...

Yes...but I have no authority to back me up on this......and we ALL know it can be quite dangerous when an old man starts to speculate.....nearly as disastrous as when the elderly reminisce, prattle, digress, wander and dis-recall !

-Best

mtds · Nov 2, 2006

Shields also help the user to orient the knife in his hand. With some multiblades it is quicker to figure out which end is which by glancing at that shiny bit rather than by looking at the blade backs.

sierra11b · Nov 2, 2006

Good point. I never thought of that. I guess it could be confusing at first, especially with a multiblade knife that has a symmetrical handle.

waynorth · Nov 2, 2006

Besides lookin' good, and decorating the knife, I agree with mtds that the most convenient part of a shield is that, with a quick glance, you can go for the right side to open it.

lambertiana · Nov 4, 2006

zerogee said:
I think originally the idea probably was to have a place to engrave initials or a name -- and I've seen a number of antiques from the 1800s with engraved shields. Almost always one with a long bar shield (either with square or rounded ends).

Even so, it's quite rare even with such old knives to see the shield engraved -- and I don't think I've ever seen any other shapes of shields engraved - even from those times.

I think it was quickly realized that a shield was just the right amount of decoration for a special finishing touch. Considering now nontrivial it is to precisely fit and pin an inset shield by hand into natural handle materials, it could be considered a sign of a top quality knife.

The one engraved antique that I have is an Ulster with a Federal shield.

zerogee · Nov 5, 2006

Heh,

I was just digging around in my collection today and came up with a tiny 4 blade pre-1890 Joseph Rodgers MOP senator that had an engraved federal type shield - just two initials, but there it was. Forgot about that one -- not even sure why I got it, since it's not a pattern I normally collect.