The most popular One Hand Knife in the World

[Raymond1000]

I’ve told the story of my first pocket knife on this forum. I bought an Old Timer Jr. Stockman from a vending machine in a train station. I was seven years old.

Depending on how you slice it, that wasn’t my first knife. I never got an allowance. I only had four bits for that vending machine because my dad set me working on one of his jobs. He’d snap chalk lines over joists on a subfloor and have me nail the lines down. I would pick up blocks. Find where a power cord was unplugged and reconnect it. Sweep floors. Bring a carpenter a tool. Carry bricks. I don’t expect I was worth what little dad paid me. That wasn’t the point. He was teaching me a trade and a work ethic.

I had a cloth nail apron with a hammer loop and slots for tools. One of those tools was a Stanley utility knife. Aluminum handle, retractable blade. I used it for sharpening pencils, opening bags of cement, cutting line, cutting rock lathe, whittling plugs for holes in form lumber. That knife was one of the tools I used to earn the money to buy my Schrade. The little stockman was the first knife I really thought of as mine.

The original version of that the Stanley utility knife first sold in 1936. It was basically the same knife we have now, in a non-retractable format. My dad said, “That knife always cut the bottom out the knife slot in our overalls.” In terms of function, this first version counts as a sheath knife without a sheath.

It only became a one hand knife when Stanley introduced the utility knife with the retractable blade. Great move. Stanley single handedly saved the pockets of overalls and nail bags all over the world. That’s the knife I grew up carrying. It was a true one hand knife.

How many people around the world know about Spyderco or Benchmade? How many people know the Stanley knife? Spyder-who? In England, Australia, New Zeeland, Austria, Holland, any utility knife used in construction is known as a Stanley knife. Around the world Stanley knives outnumbers modern one hand knives by all other makers. They are certainly better known.

Do these knives even qualify as traditional? My dad is older than Jackknife and he used them when he was young. I submit that they past the grandfather test.

 

[Alberta Ed]

I remember those. There are probably millions of them mouldering in ancient tool chests world-wide. Thanks for your thoughtful and entertaining comments.

 

[jakemex]

Interesting story, Stanley has made its name a household word in lots of places with different things. For instance, my Collins Co. machete, that i bought in Mexico is also trademarked Stanley.

 

[jackknife]

Do these knives even qualify as traditional? My dad is older than Jackknife and he used them when he was young. I submit that they past the grandfather test.

HEY! I ain't old! Why I recall when I joined the army, they gave us those new fangled rifles that took cat'riges. Little brass things that held the powder and shot.

I remember the Stanley utility knives when I was a kid. They were kept around for those things that you just knew was going to take the edge right off your pocket knife. Dad kept one in the kitchen drawer and I do the same thing. Right tool for the job. If you're home, and you have to do some real dirty job cutting wise, why ruin the edge on your pocket knife if you don't have to. I believe that whole reason the Super knife thing got so popular is, most people are not knife nuts. They don't care about having a nice knife in their pocket. Even when I was in high school and dating my neighbor Suzi, I remember her dad carrying one of those little mini type of Stanley's that took a little half size blade. He carried it on his keychain for the same reason people carried a pen knife, only he liked not having to sharpen a blade. If it got too dull to use, he'd just change the blade. Times change but some things remain the same. It's a symptom of the throw away mentality.

Carl.

 

[Modoc ED]

I have a couple/three of the ones described above and even have one of these new-fangled, one-hand, folding, utility knives.

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[Jack Black]

I still have one of the non-retractable Stanley knives in my toolbox, came from my Grandfather. Great post Raymond, well-written, entertaining to read, and well-argued, though I have to say I baulk at calling Stanley knives 'traditional knives'. They replaced older utility or specialist knives that workers or craftsmen used, in my opinion, THEY were the traditional knives.

 

[neeman]

a one handed opener
legend that it was designed post the civil war between the States
for all the soldiers that lost an arm

And yes I also used a retractable Stanley in the 70s

 

[Raymond1000]

HEY! I ain't old! Why I recall when I joined the army, they gave us those new fangled rifles that took cat'riges. Little brass things that held the powder and shot.

I remember the Stanley utility knives when I was a kid. They were kept around for those things that you just knew was going to take the edge right off your pocket knife. Dad kept one in the kitchen drawer and I do the same thing. Right tool for the job. If you're home, and you have to do some real dirty job cutting wise, why ruin the edge on your pocket knife if you don't have to. I believe that whole reason the Super knife thing got so popular is, most people are not knife nuts. They don't care about having a nice knife in their pocket. Even when I was in high school and dating my neighbor Suzi, I remember her dad carrying one of those little mini type of Stanley's that took a little half size blade. He carried it on his keychain for the same reason people carried a pen knife, only he liked not having to sharpen a blade. If it got too dull to use, he'd just change the blade. Times change but some things remain the same. It's a symptom of the throw away mentality.

Carl.

I often sharpened those blades at work, when I had my whetstone handy. It's about as fast as changing the blade.

Waste not, want not.

 

[Jack Black]

An old Sheffield pattern is a one-hand friction folder, it has a 'swing top', which is one of the names it's known by locally, the other being just a 'one-handed knife'. I'm hoping a few of you know what the heck I'm talking about!

 

[LEGION 12]

I have dozens of Stanleys heres a couple that i have right here at work. I go thru at least 1 a year i have a few of the ones that dont retract at home go to for me when i dont feel like messing up any of my good knives i even keep the broken ones for parts . Great thread !

 

[Jack Black]

I was recently gifted this knife by forum member Martineden (Thanks again Alfredo :thumbup - This is also his pic.

It was made by Joseph Rodgers of Sheffield for the British GPO (General Post Office) in 1978. I don't know how many were made, but at least one other poster here owns one. My guess is that a substantially higher number of these knives will have survived than if the GPO had issued Stanley knives

 

[Raymond1000]

I have dozens of Stanleys heres a couple that i have right here at work. I go thru at least 1 a year i have a few of the ones that dont retract at home go to for me when i dont feel like messing up any of my good knives i even keep the broken ones for parts . Great thread !

Legion,

I was a teenager when I shifted over to the top knife in your picture. For years I thought they were great. No fiddling with screwdrivers and dropping the screw when I had to change a blade. Until a blade slipped between the plastic and the metal, edge out. There were bandages and intemperate words. I went back to the carrying the old style.

I may not have been the only one. Your bottom knife seems to be Stanley’s fix on the problem. I wish they’d kept the old pattern shape. But I've never cut myself reaching for one.

 

[midnight flyer]

I still have a couple of those old two piece, fixed blade Stanley knives out in the shop. I bought them in the 70s when the old timers I was working with told me that after a few months of hard use, the retractable blades knives would fail. Back in those days, they were right! So we all used the fixed blades when cutting sheetrock, insulation, and anything else that we didn't want to use our pocket knives for out on the job.

I used to sharpen up and clean the blades off with 220 gr sandpaper and use those disposable blades to the nub. Now they are so cheap I buy them by the 50 pack for my guys. Paying them what I do per hour doesn't make sense for me to watch them take 10 minutes to sharpen a blade that costs .45 cents and still won't be all that sharp when they finish screwing with it.

The problem with the retractable bladed knife cases failing was resolved many decades ago, and now they are all I use. Buy a Stanley brand of those type knives and it will provide years of service.

BTW, no one I know in the trades actually uses the "Super Knife" or its cousins as a work/everyday toolbag knife. They do for a few weeks after one is gifted to them or they get it in a contractor's promotion of some sort. They just aren't all that handy as job site knives around here. Everyone has those Stanley knives or a close relative of them, though. I can't imagine being on the job or working without one in my tool bags.

Robert

 

[Jack Black]

I still have a couple of those old two piece, fixed blade Stanley knives out in the shop. I bought them in the 70s when the old timers I was working with told me that after a few months of hard use, the retractable blades knives would fail. Back in those days, they were right!

That's been my experience too. Not that often I use a Stanley knife these days, but even if I'm doing something like laying carpet, I definitely prefer to go old-school

 

[zippofan]

I have both my dad's retractable, and my grandfather's old style Stanley's in dad's old tool pouch. I just wish I had found his liner lock hawkbill and TL-29.

I find myself reaching for grandpa's knife more often than the retractable when doing sheet rock, just does the job.

 

[sitflyer]

Got an old retractable, and its the ONLY knife I use for cutting sandpaper... I use it a lot!

 

[iSaur]

I just counted, and I have four of the retractable knives, two Stanleys and two clones. When I have any abusive work to do, I reach for these or an Olfa snap-off knife.

I have to confess to resharpening the utility blades if they aren't too badly damaged. (It's just that I hate waste. Really.) Usually it's just a quick touch-up on a diamond rod, quicker than a blade change. Recently, though, I came up with a way of sharpening the whole blade evenly. I have a razor blade scraper similar to this one:

The Stanley blade will fit between the metal springs used to hold the razor blade and will seat against the body of the scraper, making a fairly stable holder. A few strokes on a fine India stone, strop on a leather belt with green compound, and the blade is better than new.

 

[Jack Black]

Interesting device, does it do the job with razor-blades OK?

 

[Raymond1000]

I just counted, and I have four of the retractable knives, two Stanleys and two clones. When I have any abusive work to do, I reach for these or an Olfa snap-off knife.

I have to confess to resharpening the utility blades if they aren't too badly damaged. (It's just that I hate waste. Really.) Usually it's just a quick touch-up on a diamond rod, quicker than a blade change. Recently, though, I came up with a way of sharpening the whole blade evenly. I have a razor blade scraper similar to this one:

The Stanley blade will fit between the metal springs used to hold the razor blade and will seat against the body of the scraper, making a fairly stable holder. A few strokes on a fine India stone, strop on a leather belt with green compound, and the blade is better than new.

I extended the blade all the way out, and worked on that edge. I only sharpened half the actual blade. But it was the half I wanted to use.

The advantage is that you use the same hand and arm motions that you use sharpening any other knife. Usually a few strokes would do the job. Those blades aren’t some hard-to-sharpen super steel.

 

[LEGION 12]

Interesting device, does it do the job with razor-blades OK?

Jack those are more for scraping i use one to get old paint off windows getting my old stickers off my windshield. Since i took the pics a above i found a bunch more Stanley's got to be the Knife i use more than any other. I always have a some kind of folder on me or two! But for my work warehouse stuff a edge won't last long i cut through miles of cardboard, plastic, tape. But i will and do use my slipjoints if i don't have my retractable on me. Till i read this thread i never even thought about them i can't imagine not having one i would have to not only have to sharpen my blades but four other guys blades too . They sure couldn't do it themselves.