The defining US pocket knife

Rsmith_77

Rsmith_77

Joined
Jun 4, 2010
Messages
4,186
Just been thinking
In England it appears the lambfoot is the defining British knife (lots of history, and current usage) or possibly the Barlow.
In Australia one could easily claim it's the bunny knife
Germans might argue for either the sodbuster or Mercator
Opinel? For France
Etc efc


But in the US? I would figure it's either the stockman or the trapper and I am leaning towards the trapper (as my guess)

So I figure I'll put it to y'all as a porch group.
What are your thoughts?
 
Last edited:
There are many great choices of patterns and blades out there that I like and they each can be discussed but not argued but ::::::
For me the Barlow was the pattern that my Dad always carried back in 1946 , so that was my idea of what a pocket knife was but that changed after I got into collecting knives in 2014 and in 2015 I bought a Northfield 73 . Now the Northfield 73 , IMO is what a Pocket Knife should be .
mIullqI.jpg

KuGG9nW.jpg


Harry
 
I’m going with a stockman. Since I was a kid I’ve had a stockman of some kind and most of the people I was around growing up had a stockman. Even now I pair a medium stockman with a modern knife for my edc. I do have some trappers that I use occasionally when hunting small game. I would venture to say that most traditional knife companies have a stockman pattern in their model lineup and trapper patterns as well.
 
No such thing as a defining TRADITIONAL US pocket knife given this forum's definition of traditional. They all came from elsewhere or are a riff on another culture's pattern. If it wasn't restricted by traditional it'd be an easy answer...
 
I think it all depends on the era. American knife trends have been a bit more fluid than the other side of the water. In the 1850's to 1870's, the most popular knife shipped west was the plain Jane Russells Barlow. Then the cattle knife was phased out by the premium stockman. The trapper rose, as did a lot of other patterns. But the Barlow seemed to hang in there for a very long time. When I was a kid, I still saw a l to of Barlows, made by Imperial, Utica, Kabar, and other companies. Lots of shell handle Imperial Barlows in the hands of real working men. Suit types seemed to carry those small one and two blade keychain jacks sold at five and dimes.

But in 1964 Buck changed the face of cutlery over night. The "Buck knife" became THE knife to have. Construction workers, truck drivers, warehouse men, hunters, campers, military personnel, and even bikers, had the black pouch on the belt. When I served in the army, the PX had the Buck 110 for a price much lower than the civilian stores, and everyone, from the chairborne rangers in the headquarters to the cooks assistant had the black pouch. In Vietnam the Buck 110 was everywhere, as well as the Buck 119.

Now even with the so called 'tactical' knife thing, I still see a good number of Buck 110's on belts among road crews, ranch folks, and tradesmen. Even with the number of pocket clips I see sticking on pocket edges, the old Buck knife seems to have held onto a loyal following. I think the Buck 110 was the link to the modern locking blade knife, like the percussion cap was the link to the self contained metallic cartridge. A step in a direction to something else. People liked the idea of a locking blade, and there is a convenance factor in easy opening with work gloves on or just plain easy to open with no digging for the nail nick.

I think the Buck 110 is a definite American knife. Distinctive looking, ubiquitous, and it changed the knife industry over night.
 
Ya know
I didn't consider the buck 110

Not sure why... and it certainly has been accepted as traditional round these parts since before I got here

Lol except due to weight I am not remotely interested in picking one up. Might have to look at some of the light weight versions they got out there nowadays
 
I feel like many/most of the old timers carried stockman pattern knives or 2 blade penknives, with honorable mention to various straight handled jackknives. The Remington style trappers are popular but I don’t think they are the preeminent American pattern.

2 blade, single spring penknives aren’t particularly sexy compared to a big skinning knife or stockman, but they found their way into many millions of pockets over the decades.

Edited to add: Jackknife is right, era definitely matters here. I think Stockman knives became especially popular in the 1930s-50s. I’m going to generalize that penknives became popular in the 1910s onward. Straight handled jacks (by which I include Barlows) were an 1820s-onward phenomenon but have never really gone out of fashion.
 
Last edited:
GaiusJulius said:
Edited to add: era matters here. I think Stockman knives became popular in the 1940s-50s. I’m going to generalize that penknives became popular in the 1910s onward. Straight handled jacks (by which I include Barlows) were an 1820s-onward phenomenon but have never really gone out of fashion.
Click to expand...

I think era is an over whelming factor in American knife taste. This country is like a giant mixing bowl of salad stuff. From the mid 1800's on, there was such an influx of people from all walks of life from all other countries and cultures. They brought with them their own culture and preferences of food, clothing, tools, and more.

The "pen knife" as a small two blades cutter was a kind of universal pocket knife. Office types, city dwellers, gentry who where not out there castrating bulls didn't need much knife. But a ranch hand needed a knife with a little more strength of construction than a bank clerk or store keeper. Life style and economic status had a lot to do with it. But I think you're right, the Barlow has been a background figure from the 1800's on. There always seems to be a Barlow about in the hands of a working guy. Kind of like now, even with the popularity of the wonder polymer guns, Smith and Wesson is still selling a large number of the old snubby .38 revolver. Some things are just too good to go away.
 
Last edited:
My first thought is a ”Boy’s knife”, although the stockman, trapper, and penknife are certainly very popular.


And historically, pocket knives are definitely part of old customs brought to the US by all the many immigrants to the USA. Some old customs became part of the US melting pot. Any customs of old world pocket knifes, brought to the US, is something we can be happy about & proud of. Same for a design that was later modified by someone for whatever reason. A specific US pocketknife can be a fun discussion.. :)
 
Last edited:
One rebuttal to the Barlow argument
They don't seem to be currently in production by ANY american knife company
Only under old American names in foreign countries or as sfo's
 
Rsmith_77 said:
One rebuttal to the Barlow argument
They don't seem to be currently in production by ANY american knife company
Only under old American names in foreign countries or as sfo's
Click to expand...
I still see them offered from Case on certain sites though.. 😉
John:)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top