"Sheepsfoot" blade etymology help

[Drakkar]

I understand the definition of a sheepsfoot blade, but don't understand its etymology. Sheep do not have "feet," they have "hooves."

So why isn't the blade more accurately labelled a "sheepshoof's" blade?

I've never lived on a farm, so maybe I'm missing something basic. Thanks for any help!

Drakkar

 

[kirch]

I'm no linguist, nor a animal physioligist, but isn't the hoof part of a sheep's foot?

Who knows how these things work their way into the lexicon? Someone familiar enough with sheep thought that it looked like a foot and the name stuck. It's certainly a lot easier to say than "non-point straight-edge."

Your best bet for the true history of that particular blade style is over on Bernard Levine's forum.

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"I can't believe you stabbed me with this cheap piece of mail-order sh*t"
James Caan in 'Eraser'

 

[lifter4Him]

You guys really have too much time on your hands

As for sheep, when I was in the military some of the good ol' boys mentioned wearing boots when with sheep, but I don't think it had anything to do with blade shapes

 

[swede79]

It really depends upon whether or not you tuck your jeans into your boots...

 

[Drakkar]

I had posted this question in Mr. Levine's forum with no response, yet. I thought with more traffic here, I might get an answer.

With anatomy, I was under the impression that it was either a foot or a hoof. Not that a hoof was part of a foot.

This may not be one of those really serious questions, but it has been an imponderable that has troubled me for quite some time.

Just hoping someone might know.

 

[hillslikewhiteelephants]

maybe off topic, but I heard that the Scots just discovered a new use for sheep ....wool!
..enough Scots in my ancestry I can say that one...

 

[cockroachfarm]

I thought the hoof on a horse, sheep, etc. was actually the toenail? Any equine veterinarians out there?

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Holger :c{{{<
AKTI Member No: A001324
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www.cockroachfarm.com

 

[Esav Benyamin]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by cockroachfarm:
I thought the hoof on a horse, sheep, etc. was actually the toenail? Any equine veterinarians out there?

</font>

Sounds good to me, and I'm not even an equine veterinarian. (Umm, what part of a horse is the 'veterinarian'?)

Let's try my dictionary:

hoof (noun), plural hooves also hoofs

[Middle English, from Old English hof; akin to Old High German huof hoof, Sanskrit sapha]

First appeared before 12th Century

1 : a curved covering of horn that protects the front of or encloses the ends of the digits of an ungulate mammal and that corresponds to a nail or claw

2 : a hoofed foot esp. of a horse

 

[Bugs3x]

I haven't been around many sheep since I left Montana --

-- and that was never very much. I guess I always thought that sheep had feet --as opposed to hoofs. I know that deer have feet. Pigs feet are great pickled, after at least 3 beers.

Am sure I've heard talk of goats feet -- and they're closest to sheep genetically. I think the knife blade is properly named, unless it's a blunt Wharncliffe.

Thanks, Esav. Amazing what clarity of words a dictionary can bring.

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Asi es la vida

Bugs

 

[cockroachfarm]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Esav Benyamin:
a curved covering of horn that protects the front of or encloses the ends of the digits of an ungulate mammal and that corresponds to a nail or claw
</font>

Hey, you mean I was correct? Please don't tell my wife.

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Holger :c{{{&lt;
AKTI Member No: A001324
-----------------------
www.cockroachfarm.com

 

[Esav Benyamin]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by cockroachfarm:
Hey, you mean I was correct? Please don't tell my wife.

</font>

If a man speaks in the forest, and there is no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?

 

[SGTKnifeman]

I'm new to this, but have messed with horses and the like in my day, and can say that "foot" is the part of the animal from the ankle down. The hoof as most folks know it is the toe, especially with horses.

 

[kirch]

Okay, I'll take another stab at it (though not with my sheepsfoot blade - no point in it).

God I kill myself.

Here's the way I understand it:

A horse's hoof is actually the horny covering (very similar to our own fingernails, but thicker) of the middle digit (toe) of the foot. Horse's ancestors had a regular foot with 5 toes, but the middle toe evolved to become the sole contact point with the ground, allowing them to become more fleet-of-foot on the ancient plains and grasslands of central Asia. Less resistance (i.e. contact with the ground) meant they could move faster with greater agility. Horses' other five digits are still there, but they're vestigial bones that don't protrude beyond the skin. The joint about midway up a horse's leg would actualy correspond to our own ankle.

Pigs, sheep, goats and other "cloven hoof" animals (the "unclean beasts" according to my Jewish friends) evolved with two digits in contact with the ground with the same material (the hoof) providing protection for the soft tissue.

That's it for today's veterinary science lesson. If I got any of that wrong, don't correct me. Allow me my illusions.

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"I can't believe you stabbed me with this cheap piece of mail-order sh*t"
James Caan in 'Eraser'

 

[Drakkar]

"Pickled pigs feet." I've never thought of that (nor eaten them). Unless there are more misguided people out there. OK, well, maybe sheep do, then, have feet.

 

[Matt Shade]

At least with horses, the hoof is cup shaped and made of the same material as horn. The outside layer is like a fingernail, as you go deeper into the wall or the sole of the hoof, you get into live tissue which has feeling and can be bruised etc. Inside that is the coffin bone, which evolved from toes which the horse had back when it was about the size of a dog, and had more of a pointed upper lip and different teeth so it could eat fuit and leaves off of trees and bushes. As it evolved, it got bigger, the toes became less prominent, and the upper lip took on a the squared shape it has today as the horses diet changed from it being a browsing animal to it being a grazing animal. Eventually the hoof developed along with the other parts of the body to its present day form. Which makes it a wide ranging grazing animal that might walk up to 20 miles a day as it eats.
As for knives, there is a special knife, called a hoof knife,that is used in conjunction with a few other tools to trim a horses hoof. Wild horses hooves wear naturaly as they grow, but with domesticated horses, you have to trim them. It helps maintian the correct shape and angles to keep the horse healthy and allow it to perform whatever duties it needs to without going lame.The knife used has a chisel ground edge which is slight bent to the side.The tip is bent compltely over to form a gouge at the end. The bend of the knife allows you to slice out the excess growth in the sole of the hoof to maintain a the right shape. The gouge shaped end is to trim away excess growth in the bars, which are the V shaped grooves in the bottom of a horses foot.
I don't know what's involved in trimming a sheep's hoof or foot, but I'm guessing that that's what a sheepsfoot blade was originally meant for but has become a popular blade style for utility as well, and has probably been changed some over time.
Geez, didn't mean to take so long saying it

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I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer... but I've got the sharpest knife in the room.

 

[Drakkar]

Thanks Matt for your thorough response. And thanks everyone.

This is making more sense. I think I can sleep at nights now.

 

[MarcV]

We use the sheepsfoot style blade aboard ship for cutting rope. The blade is used as a wedge with a slicing cut, usually hammered on the spine with a marlinspike or other hammer-substitute. The point of a common blade is just trouble, likely to stick into something undesirable while the boat heels and rocks.

We've all been told that the origin of the pointless blade was during the golden age of sailing. The ship's captain would break the tips off himself in order to limit the use of the knife as a weapon during a fight.

I don't always believe everything I'm told, however.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by kirch:
... allowing them to become more fleet-of-foot on the ancient plains and grasslands of central Asia.

Pigs, sheep, goats and other "cloven hoof" animals (the "unclean beasts" according to my Jewish friends)

If I got any of that wrong, don't correct me. Allow me my illusions.</font>

Horses evolved in the Americas, and only migrated to Asia after they had become fairly large and 'modern'.

Those "unclean beasts" either lack a cloven hoof or don't chew their cud. To be "kosher" a beast must have a cloven hoof AND chew its cud. That leaves out pigs, who don't chew their cud, and lions, who have neither a cloven hoof nor chew their cud, but it does allow cattle, sheep, and goats.

Sorry about the unwanted corrections, but no illusions are allowed around here. Knife knuts have to stay sharp.

 

[Bugs3x]

Don't believe I've eaten many, if any, pickled pigs feet since I left Vietnam. I've seen them in tavs, but haven't been as protein starved as I often was in Vietnam. As indicated, half a buzz was necessary to eat without thinking too much about the muck in barnyards and pigpens. If you think the feet sound bad, I often purchased canned pork tongue to get needed protein over there.

Again, Esav, thanks. Many significant points in the Old Testament deal with offering sheep -- goats too? -- as sacrifices. Know the Isrealites didn't eat pigs. Really believe that such an incorrect illusion, provided by very suspect Jewish friends shouldn't be allowed in this day of TRUTH!

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Asi es la vida

Bugs

 

[allenC]

I thought horses were brought to the Americas by the Europeans.