Traditional German folding designs?

M

mr.trooper

Joined
Dec 5, 2005
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I'm building displays of traditional folding knives from various countries in Europe. I'm trying very hard to make each display consist of knives that are both built in said country and are also native designs or as close as possible.

I'm having no trouble at all finding knives which meet those criterion for Spain and France, but Germany is giving me much more trouble.

Its easy to find quality knives made in Germany; the problem for my application seems to be that the overwhelming bulk of German folding knives are what I think of of American patterns - muskrats, congress, stockmans, ect.

I realize most of these knives are made for export, and that's why I'm having that problem.

What I seek are German analogs to knives like the Douk Douk, Opinel, Nontron, Laguiole, ect. What are these and where can they be found?
 
The only ones I can think of, that seem uniquely German to me, are some of the older Puma folders ('70s or earlier). Stag-handled 'Folding Hunters' with 3 or 4 blades (saws, etc.), and camp/scout knives, uniquely different from American patterns by the same name. The Puma names for these (most or all in German) escape me at the moment.

Edit:
The Puma 'Jagdmesser' pattern is one that I had in mind. 3 or 4 implements, like spearpoint blade, saw, zipper/guthook and corkscrew.
Another Puma, the '501 Scale Knife', a fishing knife built to be used as a makeshift 'scale', for weighing your catch. Haven't seen anything remotely similar, from any other maker.
 
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My first thought was of this Löwenmesser brand Ankermesser.
Lwenmesser.png


The German copy on the sales page is, "Traditionelle Klassische deutsche Messer in alter Tradition aus Solingen,"
which means: Traditional classic German knife in the old tradition of Solingen.
 
The old, 'springer' style autos (usually stag/bone handled) come to mind. Seems like every one I've seen has a German maker's name on it (Puma has one), or at least a 'Solingen' stamp. Don't know for sure, if they're actually of German origins.
 
Sadly, out of the question for me. No autos in Indiana.

Loewenmesser seems to have several knifes that would work, but unfortunately I cant seem to find any English sites that sell that brand.
 
The closest I have found is the Mercator K55K lockback, though I dunno if you'd consider it strictly traditional. According to its wiki page it's been produced since the 1800s.

And it's a great knife to boot.
 
Jagdmesser patterns were in both Austria and Germany. As mentioned, a lot of them had corkscrews.

Here's one example (bottom knife):

Henckles1.jpg


For current knives, do a search on Hubertus.
 
Excuse me I never post on these forums, I prefer to just swing by and admire the Traditional forum knives, as I'm a traditional knife person. If you type:
www.otter-messer.de/ into Google you'll find a great website re: Solingen made knives. Be sure to click on Googles translation of the website, you'll find alot to interest you.

Hope this helps

D.
 
donn said:
Excuse me I never post on these forums, I prefer to just swing by and admire the Traditional forum knives, as I'm a traditional knife person. If you type:
www.otter-messer.de/ into Google you'll find a great website re: Solingen made knives. Be sure to click on Googles translation of the website, you'll find alot to interest you.

Hope this helps

D.
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donn, consider this an invitation for you to participate here more regularly...and thank you for your contribution. :thumbup:
 
I don't know specifically about German patterns and designs, but I know a person here who might have some clues so I'm gonna ask him, and then let u know.
Also, if I'm not mistaken, there is in Solingen some kind of institution about knives, so it might be a good idea to find it and send them an email and see what comes out of it.
Good luck for the effort. Once u get to build the Italian display, I may give u some help about Sardinian traditional patterns if u want.
:cool:
 
Blues said:
donn, consider this an invitation for you to participate here more regularly...and thank you for your contribution. :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Thankyou. Traditional knives....and Jacknife's stories of course. What else does a man need?
 
donn said:
Thankyou. Traditional knives....and Jacknife's stories of course. What else does a man need?
Click to expand...

twenty-pounds-notes.jpg


Sometimes this comes in handy when in buying mode...;) :thumbup:
 
mr.trooper said:
Sadly, out of the question for me. No autos in Indiana.
Click to expand...

That's been my situation too, more or less. A friend of mine traded one of those 'springers' to me years ago, in Texas. He'd literally found it on the ground, on some property he'd purchased. Blade was rusted heavily. He knew I had an interest in knives, so he traded it to me for a multi-tool. I cleaned up the blade & resharpened it, and the stag handle scales were still in remarkably good shape. Good, solid knife. I didn't know anything about 'em at the time, and the one he traded to me had a broken spring, the remaining 'stub' of which was almost un-noticeable inside the handle (apparently pretty common in this pattern). It took some time for me to realize it was 'formerly' an auto. I just thought it was a unique folder, with a unique lock. It had a 'Voss Cutlery Co.' stamp on it, from Solingen, of course. ;)
 
Mike Robuck said:
Jagdmesser patterns were in both Austria and Germany. As mentioned, a lot of them had corkscrews.

Henckles1.jpg
Click to expand...

Is that a clasp lock of some kind? I see Otter still offers a similar knife with wooden handles...

It like the looks of it, but the checkout software had a cow when I tried to progress though with "united states" selected, so I don't think I'll be ordering from them... Wasn't wild about the 19% tax and international shipping either.
 
It's a compression lock. Pretty strong lock. Did you search for Hubertus knives? Its US site has some of the older patterns.
 
I just did, yes, but the prices are salty.

I did see though that World Knives carries the Otter anchor knife, as well as another very traditional looking wood handle slip joint. Those are priced at a very affordable point.

I see Linder and German Bull both are offering a more traditional type spear point lock back. They are both a bit more than what I had planned 'per knife', but I need another locking blade, so I guess I will have to suck it up.

So far this is what I've got selected:
Mercator K55K Lg
Mercator K55K Sm
Otter 'large wood folder' (slip joint)
Linder spear point lock back

Maybe I will add one of the Boker / Kissing Crane 'Buck knife' type knives as well.
 
Hi,

I think the Okapi was originally a native German design from the turn of the last century. New ones are made in South Africa and deeply and clearly stamped in the blade as such. I'm not sure if original German made ones can easily be found.

Dale
 
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