The mini knives.

J

jackknife

Joined
Oct 2, 2004
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Okay, maybe my memory is not that good, but when I was young, back when hardware stores, sporting goods stores, and lumber yards all had the big wooden display case's of Case pocket knives, I don't recall seeing the so called mini knives. The mini trappers, mini toothpicks, baby butterbeans which I think of as mini canoes. Oh yeah, there were the little knives in the case, like the peanut, Eisenhour, and once in a while you'd see a tuxido, but no "mini-----" by name.

Is this a relitively new thing in Case's history, or did I just not take notice of them?

Or has the post WW2 urbanization of America created a demand for the little guys?
 
Carl,

Not new in England.
When I was a boy about 8 years old, there was a little pen knife for sharpening pencils.
It had about a 1" blade and a bail.
I carried it in my pencil case.

(I still have the scar on my finger from it slipping off the sharpening stone)
 
Small knives have been part of the cutlery lineup for eons. As far a the "mini" designation, yeah, that's probably a newer term, but Case did have the highly collected "Tadpole" from years back, though I don't believe it was marketed with that name:confused:
 
Here's a tiny Case Tested pen knife with the smallest stamp I've seen on any old Case knife. I am unsure if they were marketed as "Mini's". I have a small collection of Mini's made by several company's. This one is 1 3/4"closed
MINI%20STMP%20W%20COIN-1.jpg
 
Hmm.

yeah, it seems to me that the Case 'mini' named versions of larger patterns are a new thing in the last few years... I've only been into pocket knives for several years, and I remember the increase in these half pint versions of larger knives from case coming out...

Specifically, the mini trappers stand out to me, seem to have appeared in the last couple years. Either that, or they just started promoting them a whole lot recently...

G.
 
Yeah, I know there's always been tiny pen knives, even minatures, but what I'm talking about is the shrinking of a time tested design that was always a man sized knife. The full size trapper is a example. The trapper is not a knife one would expect to see in dress pants, and a toothpick has always seemed to be a fish knife sized knife. But in the last few years, they came out with the mini trapper and a mini toothpick. There's a few other examples, Like the small stockman in the sub 3 inch size, but it seems to me that when I was a kid, the trapper and like patterns were 'man's knives' to be carried in work overalls. Now it seems like there's tiny versions of them that I don't recall seeing many years ago.

When did they come out with the mini-trapper and tiny toothpick?
 
going into the hardware stores I remember the regular barlows and then the big 5 inch ones.Fixed blades too mostly. No mini trappers, just trappers and stockmans, and utility knives like scouts. thats all I remember except for the ones on the counter displays like the Cristy knives or small imperials.
 
I know what you mean, and the ones you mention Jackknife, are recent Case knives, kind of special editions, and particularly offered in MOP if I'm not mistaking. There have been a lot of the sub 3" stockman, particularly Schrade since 1970's, but those were standard offerings.
 
The "mini trapper" as we know it today was actually invented by Queen in 1977 as a knife in their "Master Cutler" limited edition series. Queen did not produce the mini trapper as a standard pattern until much later.

Case is the company that really put the mini trapper on the map so to speak, when they introduced their version (the 6207 SP SSP) in 1979 as a replacement for the time honored 6207 dogleg jack pattern.

Other Case mini's like the "pocket hunter" and the "mini muskrat" and the "tiny trapper" are very modern and really aimed at the collector market.

Case did make mini toothpick patterns back in the Case Tested and Case Bradford eras.
 
I have several "mini" knives, a tiny toothpick, a baby butterbean, and the Laguiole shown. Of the three I really like the wide handled Laguiole, it is easier to hold onto and also easier to fish out of a watch pocket...

minis.jpg
 
Absintheur said:
I have several "mini" knives, a tiny toothpick, a baby butterbean, and the Laguiole shown. Of the three I really like the wide handled Laguiole, it is easier to hold onto and also easier to fish out of a watch pocket...

minis.jpg
Click to expand...

Love that shadow pattern baby butterbean!:thumbup:

I wish Case ould make more shadow's.
 
I have a soft spot for the bolsterless look too JK. I think sometimes it's the way folders started. simpler, earlier time.
 
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