The Spey blade.

[TheGoldenWalrus]

Okay, okay, I've gone long enough without knowing how to respond to individual posts with the photos and text intact. My last post was supposed to include the above picture and doesn't make a lot of sense without it. Sorry to ask this here, but It's my most recent fail. A p.m. or a quick rundown would be greatly appreciated. Oh, and just to stay on topic, Do you guy's think that a traditional sod buster blade falls within the realm of spey? This has confused me for a while. Thanks.

i think that's just a clip point... also the belly is too long and stretched. a spey blade normally has a short belly that is nearly a 1/4 circle, and a very short abrupt cliped off, rounded off point and basically non existant tip .

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Okay, okay, I've gone long enough without knowing how to respond to individual posts with the photos and text intact. My last post was supposed to include the above picture and doesn't make a lot of sense without it. Sorry to ask this here, but It's my most recent fail. A p.m. or a quick rundown would be greatly appreciated. Oh, and just to stay on topic, Do you guy's think that a traditional sod buster blade falls within the realm of spey? This has confused me for a while. Thanks.

The spey blade is more of a clip point (normally), as evidenced by the short 'clipped' portion forward of the spine and above the tip, and with a more extreme upsweep in the belly. The sodbuster-style blade is usually more similar to a so-called 'skinner' blade (think of the secondary skinner blade on a folding hunter), albeit shorter and a little wider, relative to it's length.

( from A.G. Russell's Glossary page at -->: http://www.agrussell.com/Knife-Encylopedia/a/126/ )

"Spey Blade

Blade intended for the castration of livestock. The cutting edge curves up strongly to meet a very minor clip. Most often found in Stock knives or Cattleman's knives."

This is not to say a sodbuster blade couldn't be useful in the same way, as a spey.


David

 

[Peregrin]

Okay, okay, I've gone long enough without knowing how to respond to individual posts with the photos and text intact. My last post was supposed to include the above picture and doesn't make a lot of sense without it. Sorry to ask this here, but It's my most recent fail. A p.m. or a quick rundown would be greatly appreciated. Oh, and just to stay on topic, Do you guy's think that a traditional sod buster blade falls within the realm of spey? This has confused me for a while. Thanks.

Use the "Reply with Quote" icon at the bottom of the post, in the right hand corner. Here's a note from the guidelines that you might keep in mind;

"Please edit your posts and replies so that you don't have to unnecessarily copy images and quotes over and over in a thread ad infinitum. You can excise the images and portion of a previous post that are not relevant in making your point which will enhance the reading experience for your fellow forumites. Thanks for taking the time and care to do so."

Give me a holler, via PM, if you have any trouble.

 

[CB-R]

Thanks, Gary. I'll keep all that info in mind. The only times I want to include a previous post is when I'm specifically talking about the attached photo. . .I suppose that's the only reason why anyone would want to. Thanks for taking some time to lend a hand either way. I feel that the soddie blades are pretty interchangeable with the spey's on my stockmen, hence my previous question.

 

[neeman]

A long Spey like in a Trapper, I use for food prep.
It makes a great slicer, and very good for pull cuts on a cutting board

A short Spey like in a stockman, I sharpen the curve with a very acute angle so it is razor sharp
I use the tip with a curved slicing action, that lets me do very detailed work (very different from the tip of a sheepsfoot)

 

[Planterz]

I don't like spay blades. I don't think they're useless - no sharpened piece of metal is useless - but unless we're talking about a 7 or 8 bladed knife, I can always think of a different blade I would have more use for than a spay. In a trapper, I'd rather have a wharncliffe alongside the clip. In a stockman, I'd rather have a pen. In a congress, I like a spear, sheepsfoot, coping, and pen. I can keep going with this, and think of of a blade (or other tool) I'd rather have than a spay, until the the knife has too many blades to be practical for carry. I do own and carry knives with spay blades (all being stockmans), and they're good knives, but are perhaps prevented from being great knives in my view because they could be better with a different blade.

 

[Pete1977]

I once carried an Old Timer trapper for a while several years ago. It was the only carbon steel slip joint knife the local store had left and I wanted to try a traditional knife as a work knife for commercial fishing. I liked the 2 full sized blades and I did the opposite of most people here. I kept the clip blade polished to a razor edge and kept a toothy edge on the spey blade. The full sized spey with it's straight cutting edge excelled at cutting rope just like a sheepsfoot or wharncliffe does.

I have to agree on the small spey blade's usefulness on the stockman pattern though. Aside from using it as a type of gouge for carving and whittling, I mainly used it as a scraper or utility blade for prying and screwdriver-ing and the like....

 

[arcadiaknives]

I have always been a fan of the spey blade myself. The larger speys are used by me more often than I'd thought about before. They function well for slicing and skinning. They are great at camp for lunch making. I do agree that the little stockman spey are not worth their weight and mine almost never get any use. The clip blades have been getting thinner and that is not appealing to me. Their use seems to be more limited the thinner they are(spine to edge).

 

[Joe21]

Down here in Central Fl the spey blade is pretty popular amongst cattlemen and hunters, and its one of my favorites. My favorite pattern is a trapper which seems to be the same for the majority of people down here, and I keep my spey sharp for cleaning game, cuttinng food or its actual intended use, and use the clip blade for everything else.

 

[Kadmos]

Personally I've found the spey blade to be incredibly useful.

I have a teenage daughter, and when the fellas come calling for her I like to sit on the porch and sharpen up a spey blade.

The boys tend to say "Well, at least you aren't cleaning a shotgun"

"You ever see a blade shaped like this one here?....No?...let me tell you what it's made for"

Nice fellas those boys, always real respectful and drop her off early....

...yep, a spey is a mighty useful blade

 

[TLARbb]

Here's an interesting Rough Rider stock knife with a spey main and clip secondary. I bought it because it intrigued me.

It's different, but useful. The sheepsfoot is on the butt end and sits lower in the frame than a conventional stock knife. Makes for a more comfortable use for me. Not sure the long spey will be my favorite on the knife, but it would be good for a lot of things.

Ed J

 

[wintermute]

I love me a long spey blade, like on a trapper. A short spey blade, like on a stockman, wastes prime real estate, IMHO. That's why I'm not a stockman guy - I think a trapper is every bit as useful...and if I want 3 blades, I'll go with a whittler.

 

[CUTS LIKE A KRIS]

I feel about the Spey blade like others feel about pen blades. I find that the Spey is my second most used blade besides a Wharncliffe (And I almost never use a pen blade). I feel differently than others in that I prefer the shorter stockman style usually. I want the belly to be all there is on a secondary blade, and find the longer straight part of the edge to be redundant as my main blade (Wharncliffe or clip usually) has enough straight edge for my uses. A master Wharncliffe, short spey and awl are all I would need- although a hook blade would be nice to get all blade profiles included. I really like the way John Lloyd made my trapper with Spey primary and coping secondary, an interesting choice that I hope to utilize more this year, and I really like my double spey/broken clip turned Wharncliffe Kissing Crane knife as I have never before seen a double Spey on a knife before.

 

[Nixelplix]

They are definitely nice for detail work!

 

[b2edhmep]

I EDC a Case Trapper. The spey blade is used as a utility blade, and gets most of the use. The clip point is my skinning blade. When I used to wood carve, the spey blade was used. When holding a small piece of wood in the palm of my hand, I prefer the less pointy blade of a spey over the clip point for carving.

 

[cfoster2003]

Although Im not totally qualified to speak on this because I dont own it yet but I just ordered a gec scout trapper, should have it in a few months. In my decision to go with this model I looked at that blade and thought it would be good for food prep and other tasks that didnt need a point. Im thankful its on my knife!

 

[pertinux]

In light of a new TC barlow coming up with a spey blade main, does anyone have any further thoughts or impressions on the utility of a spey blade? The only spey blades with which I'm directly familiar are the shorter ones on stockman pattern knives, which I like very much for whittling. This one will be full, or, as full as a 3.5" frame will allow:

Spey Blade Barlows, single-bladed:

Spey Blade Barlows, double-bladed, with a change-up...

... two full-sized blades(!).

Since I won't be doing nuttin', food prep/spreading would probably be the knife's main use-- barring further inspiration and/or new ideas from y'all. If so, I lean towards a single spey blade. On the other hand, I like the notion of pairing it with a full-sized clip, though that would make for a far more substantial knife.

So again: anyone have a spey-bladed knife they haven't shown here yet? Any more ayes or nays on the blade's utility?

Thanks.

~ P.

 

[rinos]

While i don't care a bit for spey as a second blade(only one on Case trapper i converted somehow into spear ),something like this makes me google

 

[cards94]

i'm not a hater but i'm not a fan of the spey blade. i just don't like the way it looks. i would rather have any other blade but the spey for a secondary.
best of luck to all who like it and use it, but it's not for me.

 

[waynorth]

Nice going Sarah! I just did these scans, to add to the discussion of the upcoming Barlow, but it seems more appropriate to post it here in our ongoing part-time effort to save bandwidth!
I missed this thread mostly. I must have been away.
Here is a hastily gathered, somewhat motley collection of knives with Spey configuration blades, either as secondary, or in some cases, main blades.

As you can see, many main companies are represented; Case, Schrade, Camillus and Remington.

The Case at far left is a mighty fine peanut butter blade, and useful for other food prep as well.
We also have an ink eraser, and several budding/grafting blades that mimic the spey in appearance.

So this brings up the question, "Can you call a Spey, a Spey"?
In my opinion, the answer is, "Not Always"!