Sailors of the Sheepsfoot Main

WinchesteRalox said:
How’s the Oakedge been?
Click to expand...
I have always been a bit of a Barlow fan, as well as a more recent admirer of Wright's knives, having had a few of their other patterns. I have been finding the Oakedge sheepsfoot to be very well made, as are the other knives I have purchased through them. The blade is well centered, and honed up very sharp, with a bit more effort than the Otter (I have been rotating several sheepsfoot knives since I started focusing on them with this thread!). I find the Oakedge is a little more difficult to pinch open than the Otter, the blade being less exposed when closed, and the spring being slightly stouter.
The filework on the knife certainly draws the attention of others, even non-knife folks appreciate the extra craftsmanship and see it as a bit of pocket art, especially when carried in the leather pouch.
Overall, I recommend them quite highly.
 
I thought perhaps a compare and contrast might be in order. As pictured below:

  1. Oakedge - left
  2. Otter-Messer large Anchor knife - center
  3. Case Whaler (1974) - right
Oakedge Sheepsfoot, Rosewood Worked Back. Made in England. This knife features some really nice file work on the spine and spring, although I believe I recall it also being available without the tooling. The blade is high carbon steel (not stainless), polished. Not a true half stop, but the action does get stiffer around the area where you'd typically expect a half stop. Pretty good snap open and closed. Decent pull. Brass liners and pins. Polished nickel brass bolster.

Otter-Messer Anchor - Made in Germany. This knife is the larger of two available sizes. It also features a high carbon steel blade, but with more of a satin finish. The bolster is also more of a brushed, satin (stainless) finished as compared to the other two knives. I'm finding that to be fairly common with modern, German made knives. The handle is sapeli wood, and is quite dark, nearly black in appearance, similar to ebony. Stainless liners, brass anchor inlay and pins. Features a lanyard, but I believe is also available without the lanyard. Very good snap open and closed. Slightly weaker pull than the Oakedge. Overall, the Otter-Messor is thickest in the handle of the three. In terms of a pure cutting tool, the Otter-Messer Anchor is more substantial than the others.

Case XX Whaler - Made in USA. This is the only of the three not of recent build. This particular knife was made in 1974, but is in very good to excellent condition. Polished stainless blade, bail and bolsters, brass liner, brass pins. The Case has a true half stop, and weakest overall pull of the three, but the overall travel of the blade from closed to open and back, seems the smoothest. The handle is walnut, and is the only one of the three to feature bolsters on both ends. Surprisingly, the Case is the thinnest in the handle of the three. The blade on the Case is a bit more "front leaning" than the other two if you take my meaning.

The Case and Otter-Messer are very nearly identical in blade, handle, and overall size, whereas the Oakedge is a bit shorter all around.


6uYfqgHh.jpg
 
Astronaut FX said:
Overall, the Otter-Messor is thickest in the handle of the three. In terms of a pure cutting tool, the Otter-Messer Anchor is more substantial than the others.
Click to expand...

An interesting comparison! Of course one should keep in mind that you are comparing the larger Otter to the Oakedge. The smaller size Otter is nearly the same size as the Oakedge. There is also a larger Otter Workman, as shown here, that is a very substantial:

5K Qs said:
Here's an Otter Messer I have, without the anchor inlay. I think it was called the "Workman" model, and it certainly lives up to that name in being a solid, heavy-duty knife. It was very inexpensive and does not have perfect fit and finish.
4fTe8cj.jpg


- GT
Click to expand...

Astronaut FX said:
Surprisingly, the Case is the thinnest in the handle of the three. The blade on the Case is a bit more "front leaning" than the other two if you take my meaning.
Click to expand...

I find that the rounded shape of the Otter's handle is the most comfortable of the three in my hand, but the Case is surprisingly getting a lot of pocket time, because of its handle's thinness.

The downward leaning blade may be an advantage on a knife made to cut rope or cordage, I notice in researching that a fair number of hawkbill type rope knives have appeared.
 
sassafrassdogs3 said:
I've been debating to leave it there or remove it? I picked this up many years ago...
Click to expand...
FWIW I kinda vote for leaving it, as long as it's not getting all over everything.
I'd guess it's not a showpiece on the mantle anyway, so why go through the enormous amount of effort and elbow grease? Besides, I doubt you'd get it all off, anyway.
Just my 2 cents.
 
OLd_gUY said:
FWIW I kinda vote for leaving it, as long as it's not getting all over everything.
I'd guess it's not a showpiece on the mantle anyway, so why go through the enormous amount of effort and elbow grease? Besides, I doubt you'd get it all off, anyway.
Just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...

Naw, it's old enough it purdy much stay's where it's at...I thought acetone would remove it. I'll probably leave it...
 
DeSotoSky said:
And this one... Buck 110 Sheepsfoot (sorta)
http://copperandclad.com/buck-knive...r-knife-w-sheath-factory-exclusive-110brssh1/
Click to expand...
Yep more spear than sheepie, this guy on the other hand........
WinchesteRalox said:
I almost forgot about this poor thing, It will be sent back to the Buck factory later this year to be repaired with a new blade so I thought I’d snap a picture of it in its current sheepsfoot stage.
Click to expand...
Yes I am leaving it the way it is.
 
With all the Sheepsfoot blade fans, I wonder why Buck hasn't made a true Sheepsfoot 110? I think it would be a big seller. They could at least put a Sheepsfoot blade as a choice in their build a knife section and see how many folks actually chose it.
 
AHOY Sailors of the Sheepsfoot Main,
I imagine a lot of you will recognize this modified Riggers Knife as it's been around for a while.
It was originally done by that baadman, glennbad, a very talented and selfless man whose generosity is to be admired - as this was originally done as a donated fund raiser.
To me, this knife epitomizes all that is good about the BF community.
She now lives with me and I am more than happy and honored to give her a home.
(I can't even take credit for the pic- wish I could take such a nice one).
Rigger's knife_modA.jpg
 
boykinlp said:
With all the Sheepsfoot blade fans, I wonder why Buck hasn't made a true Sheepsfoot 110? I think it would be a big seller. They could at least put a Sheepsfoot blade as a choice in their build a knife section and see how many folks actually chose it.
Click to expand...

The 110 is not a good frame for a true sheepsfoot. The spine is curved and the spring and springholder take up part of the pocket where the tip of the blade would be. There is no deep pocket for the end of the sheepsfoot blade to fit. Look at this knife linked below, there is a reason the edge is not straight because that is the shape of the pocket it fits into. It's really just a truncated 110 blade keeping the same profile curve because that is the shape of the pocket.

http://copperandclad.com/buck-knive...r-knife-w-sheath-factory-exclusive-110brssh1/
 
Last edited:
DeSotoSky said:
The 110 is not a good frame for a true sheepsfoot. The spine is curved and the spring and springholder take up part of the pocket where the tip of the blade would be. There is no deep pocket for the end of the sheepsfoot blade to fit. Look at this knife linked below, there is a reason the edge is not straight because that is the shape of the pocket it fits into. It's really just a truncated 110 blade keeping the same profile curve because that is the shape of the pocket.
Click to expand...
Great reply. Thank you for the info.
OG
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top