Regional patterns in north America?

As a European, I tend to think of all American patterns as being universal to the US. This thread seems to be more about local preferences than regional knives?
However, the Congress, Cotton Sampler, Melon Tester all conjour up a vision of the South in my mind. I could be mistaken, but they likely originated or at least were most appreciated there. GEC's Stock Knife being called Dixie is a similar association.
 
I agree with what everyone says about the Ozarks. I mostly saw, and still see Case & Oldtimer stockmans and yellow Case Trappers or a Buck 110 on the hip. I also agree with folks not having a designated hunting knife and using their pocket knife for deer. First time I went to deer camp, about 1984 or 1985, when Rambo was popular, I pulled out one of those big cheap Rambo knives (with the compass and storage compartment) and about got laughed out of the camp by everyone. Most of the guys would just pull out their stockman or trapper from their pocket or use a 110.
I ended up using a Bucklite 422, olive green. I could still be a little bit Rambo and it still got a pass with the old timers in camp. It's funny how you read a thread where someone asks about "what knife to use for hunting" and everyone suggests fixed blades and they go on about how you should never use a slipjoint.
 
How many of those old timers had their pocket knife close on them because they were too deep, or because the handle insides got caked with guts etc? Unless you're in bear or wolf country, it's not a race to dress your deer, though.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
How many of those old timers had their pocket knife close on them because they were too deep, or because the handle insides got caked with guts etc? Unless you're in bear or wolf country, it's not a race to dress your deer, though.
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I never saw or new of anyone who had a pocket knife close on them while gutting a deer. I used a Schrade 8OT one year just to see what it was like and how well it worked. I had previously used a 110 before that. The 8OT worked great, easier to control than the 110 and it really was all the knife i needed. Clean up, well it takes a little elbow grease but its not that bad.

Jim
 
I've never had one shut on me or ever heard of anyone have one shut on them while working up a deer. I'm sure it has happened.
 
I'm guessing using your head for more than a hat rack, a good teacher and some patience will prevent injuries when using a folder to work on a deer. I've never gutted one, and I've only broken down two, both ones my little brother shot, with two small fixed blades. One a one off small 3" blade Kephart and a modified UNK from Scott Gossman. A2 on one and 440C on the other, they worked great, razor sharp, and with my hamhock hands/neuropathy/fingers locking up I still had great control.

My father alternated between a Schrade jackknife (a 34OT maybe) and a Schrade Sharpfinger when dressing his deer. I remember a few other folders, all slipjoints, he used when he dressed deer when I was a pup.

He likes to tell the story of when he was driving home from the hunting cabin with my uncle, his little brother, in the sleet and snow. A deer decided to try to get in his little Datsun truck, through the windshield. It's legs were taken off, but it was able to make a long distance. They limped the Datsun to the side of the road, and my father told my uncle to come on. They found the deer in front of a barbed wire fence, and they started to work on it right there. My father pulled out his pen knife, and got in close. He told my uncle, get in on this heat, as he gutted the deer. My uncle was not a fan of the smell, and my father told him to breathe through his mouth. They took the deer back to the truck, and drove as far as they could until the truck gave out, to an old gas station so they could call for a ride. My uncle was still up for shooting, but kinda done with hunting after that. It's fun to listen to their old stories, both are over 60 but they "remember" different bits of their story that the other forgets.

They know the guns used, but have no idea about the knives used. "Pen knife, Swiss army knife, Buck knife".
 
My oldest uncle (my father and godfathers big brother) has had a few junk knives he picked up at gun shows or wherever.

But he still has the sailors knife, presumably Chinese made, I got for him, my father and other uncle one year. Sheepsfoot blade, marlin spike and rope tool. He was at the marina working on his boat, and took that out, showed my father and uncle, proudly said "my nephew got this for me" and proceeded to use it. One marlinspike is being used on the Chesapeake!
 
One thing I've noticed, if nothing else, is that some of the "regional" knives do simply reflect what one is doing, i.e. hunting you've got knives that can work skinning, sailing/boating "at least one marlin spike on the Chesapeake", etc. I mean it does make sense-people generally have the knife that works the best for what they're doing. I'm sure melon testers are more popular(or were) where folks farmed them, just like a Spey blade being an option, or dedicated, in ranching/wrangling areas(cowboys herded cows, wranglers herded horses). I guess I'm trying to say terrain and job seemed to dictate what ya carry/ied as much as what you simply liked aesthetically.
Thanks, Neal
 
neal70 said:
as much as what you simply liked aesthetically.
Thanks, Neal
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From what I've read, especially in Knife World, everyone basically got what they could afford. One article about the authors grandfather, in Knife World, stated that his grandfather carried a stockman on his farm, and when the blades were sharpened down to tooth picks, he'd buy a new stockman. However, his "Sunday go to meetin'" knife was a small watch pocket style knife, when he visited the preacher with his wife after church.

I do not recall if the author mentioned the region his grandfather lived in.

I would think that many would like to get a knife with stag or mother of pearl covers, but as I think about it, some might think it was gaudy, and not good for their daily regimen. Who knows. My great uncle, my great grandmothers little brother, lived in Baltimore, but hunted and trapped in the area my parents live in now. Because he was an outdoorsman, he and my father became fast friends (my mothers great uncle). When he was in his 20s, during the 1920s, he rode his horse from Baltimore to my fathers neighborhood, for barn dances, wearing a sawed off shotgun strapped to his leg. Never knew which knives he carried. :( To clarify, he rode the distance of approximately 50 miles, and they didn't have interstates back then, so it was probably a longer trip. All day ride, then dance and drink all night (coats and guns turned in ;)), then ride back home. I wish I had spent more time with him, he was a very knowledgeable woods runner, gun enthusiast and I know he had quite a few knives.
 
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