Spey vs. Sheepfoot

rbmcmjr

rbmcmjr

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Apr 10, 2005
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I didn't want to derail the 2015 Forum Knife discussion but there seemed to be a distinct preference for the Sheepfoot over the Spey blade. Would anyone care to articulate why? I find the spey to be quite useful on my knives that have it.
 
I for one just prefer the blade shape of the sheepsfoot. It fits my eye and it doesn't hurt that I use mine everyday at work.
I've tried to stray from the sheepsfoot, but I always come back to it because it just fits my needs.
 
The sheepsfoot is the best blade for releasing whatever is imprisoned inside those stupid clamshell packages. :eek:
 
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rbmcmjr said:
I didn't want to derail the 2015 Forum Knife discussion but there seemed to be a distinct preference for the Sheepfoot over the Spey blade. Would anyone care to articulate why? I find the spey to be quite useful on my knives that have it.
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But you didn't articulate why you like a spey? :)
 


This modified Moore Maker is a frequent user and it shows some wear and tear. I modified the long skinning blade into a semi sheepfoot.

The long spey was useful for skinning but not much else. A short straight edge has a lot of good uses since it can make very controlled cuts. I probably use it as much or more than the clip blade on a stockman.
 
I've never had much use for a spey blade. I don't hunt anymore, and when I did I used a fixed blade for skinning. I don't use my pocket knife for food. I just don't find that blade shape useful. YMMV.

But I find all sorts of uses for a sheepsfoot. If you need to make a cut which has to be made with the point, a sheepsfoot is hard to beat. You can press as hard as need be and the you will still be pressing it open. No way to have it fold in on your hand. This is THE blade for starting a cut in the middle of a surface. There are very few chores that I do with a pocket knife which cannot be done with a sheepsfoot.
 
My experience is exactly what Frank posted. I never had a use for a spey blade. When I hunted and trapped I always used a fixed blade. The sheepfoot or wharncliffe is a blade I use all the time, for all the tasks previously mentioned. It's also very easy to keep a super sharp edge on a straight blade.
 
Well, I'll further echo what both Frank and Gary say as well. Frank makes a great point about the point of a Sheepfoot:thumbup:

When it comes to the trades, my Sheepfoot rules the roost:cool:;)
 
knarfeng said:
I've never had much use for a spey blade. I don't hunt anymore, and when I did I used a fixed blade for skinning. I don't use my pocket knife for food. I just don't find that blade shape useful. YMMV.

But I find all sorts of uses for a sheepsfoot. If you need to make a cut which has to be made with the point, a sheepsfoot is hard to beat. You can press as hard as need be and the you will still be pressing it open. No way to have it fold in on your hand. This is THE blade for starting a cut in the middle of a surface. There are very few chores that I do with a pocket knife which cannot be done with a sheepsfoot.
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Can't really add anything to this. The only "negative" I could possibly ascribe to the sheepsfoot might be that it just doesn't "work" in every frame, either physically or aesthetically. Functionally, as Frank mentioned, it's nigh-perfect. Sharpening that straight edge is easier (for me), too.
 
The sheepsfoot / lambsfoot / wharnecliff is such a unique blade style, it covers whatever the bellied blades don't. In a knife with a clip point, the spey is almost redundant. I modded some of mine to pen blades with a narrower point.
 
For me, if I'm going to have 2 blades on a knife they should be very different profiles so they compliment each other. A clip with a good bit of belly make for a great food knife but still allows for puncturing cuts. A sheepsfoot is almost the reverse of the clip in that it has no belly but has a nice point and a long straight edge. Sheeps are great for controlled scoring cuts as well as most general tasks. I usually find a Speys (especially GEC's pointy Speys) to be too similar in function to their clips. I could see having a sheepsfoot and a Spey on one knife or all three as on a stockman but it usually don't go for clip Spey combos ie most trappers. But hey that's me. I think it would also be better if GEC's offering used the 82 frame as I generally prefer rounded bolsters on bigger knives.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
The sheepsfoot / lambsfoot / wharnecliff is such a unique blade style, it covers whatever the bellied blades don't. In a knife with a clip point, the spey is almost redundant. I modded some of mine to pen blades with a narrower point.
Click to expand...

I love a sheeps foot over a Spey, and a pen over Spey. Agreed with uses for it, but I never understood a wharncliff as only blade. I do use clip or drop main blade more but love having that straight edge and good point as a second blade.
 
The Sheepfoot is perhaps my favorite blade shape. Very precise cuts can be made. It's perfect for draw cuts in cardboard, paper, leather, etc. It's very easy to sharpen the straight edge and it's an excellent utility blade.

I carry a large Stockman whenever working, it's short/sturdy Sheepfoot blade does the majority of the work by far.
 
I love everything about the Sheepsfoot blade - except that it isn't a Lambsfoot! :D ;) That said, for some applications, I'd choose it over a Lambsfoot :)

The spey blade I really don't have a lot of use for :thumbup:
 
Sheepsfoot is a pull cut using the tip of the blade
Accurate cutting of leather or paper
Clam packs
Insertion cuts for carving
 
The only use I've found out of the spey blade on my stockman is for scraping. I use the sheepsfoot or clip point for cutting.
 
Long live the Sheepsfoot blade. When I had a custom Jack knife made to my specifications I had it made with a Sheepsfoot master blade. If I could only have one knife it would have to be a knife with a Sheepsfoot blade.

I'm not really a fan of most Spey blades but I have used them from time to time. The exception is the double hip Spey blade found on the GEC Calf Roper knives. It has a different shape than most Spey blades and I could find many uses for a blade like that.
 
The perfect knife would have a Clip and a Sheepfoot (reasons well articulated above in several posts) - a Stockman knife will do the job, but a minimalist approach would offer only those two blades - i.e., the Schrade Wrangler. Of course the newest possibility would be Eric's CSC creation in the running for the 2015 Blade Forum Club Knife.

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To borrow (poorly) from a beer commercial theme; I don't whittle much, but when I do it's with a Sheepfoot. OH

2012-09-28_18-33-51_406.jpg
 
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