The 121

bucklife301

bucklife301

Joined
Nov 3, 2018
Messages
1,597
I have always thought the 121 was called the 121 fisherman lately I have seen a few of them and the box says Guide ? So what’s up with that ?
 
Yes all mine are the thinner ones does that mean their fisherman’s. My half one is a thicker one
 
The scaler disappeared from the Fisherman in the early 2-line period, about 67/68. Blade breakage was supposedly an issue due to weakening at the notches. The introduction of the more conventional kraton handled 123, 125, and 127 fillet knives in 83/84 may have led to the redesign of the 121 as a more general purpose camp knife called the Guide shown first in the 1985 catalog. /Roger
 
Last edited:
The name changed to GUIDE in the 85 catalog.
Still unanswered is the progression of blade thickness.
If no one else comes up with that I'll go thru the cabinets tonight.
Right now I'm planted on the sofa watching Crossing Jordan.
 
DeSotoSky said:
The scaler disappeared from the Fisherman in the early 2-line period, about 67/68. Blade breakage was supposedly an issue due to weakening at the notches. The introduction of the more conventional kraton handled 123, 125, and 127 fillet knives in 83/84 may have led to the redesign of the 121 as a more general purpose camp knife called the Guide shown first in the 1985 catalog. /Roger
Click to expand...
I did some digging 121 Fisherman first appeared in catalog in 1964 and was described as a flexible filet knife with scaler added until the 67 Catalog where the scales weren't present on the knife. The 82 Catalog the description doesn't mention flexible. In the 1985 Catalog it was renamed the "Guide". I have also heard that a lot of 121 Fisherman didn't survive and would break at the scalers. I was able to get a chart from someone who actually measured the thickness of the blade material from different era's. 64-67 .0583", 67-72 .0770", 72-99 .0776", 2005 .121"
 
I never understood scalers on knives anyways. A soup spoon is the scaler of choice of any seasoned fisherman I’ve ever met.

The only thing worse than a scaler on a knife is a bottle opener cut into the Ricasso of a knife.
 
Never have liked a spoon for scaling a fish, have used scalers years ago. But i just use a knife usually 3-4" blade and not with the spine.
Mostly use the 501 cause thats whats in my pocket.
 
Yes, I use a spoon. The 121's were not very flexible because the grind gave it a stiff blade. The 6" boning blade of the Empress Trio was a little
more flexible but still not like a fillet knife. Here's a photo of the 6" Empress model. DM
EmpressTrio2.jpg
 
I use a soup spoon. But I use it for soup.

:D

Actually the first 121s were very flexible. But, they tended to break at the scaler portion of the blade. So, they lost the scaler and gradually got thicker and thicker until they were worthless for filleting.

The Guide is a great all around knife, though.

Let's face it, a scaling knife has to be sturdy and a filleting knife has to be flexible. The idea of putting both functions together was never going to work.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top