Traditional knife for the Great Lakes region

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raja

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Nov 2, 2005
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I recently vacationed around Lake Superior, spending time in Duluth and Grand Marais, MN. I had a Kershaw Nerve and Vic Farmer with me but felt like I should have had something more traditional.

I'd appreciate your feedback on what traditional folder is/was used by the hunters, fishermen, and ship workers in the area. I would guess that it may be the trapper - in fact, I ordered a yellow handled Case trapper when I got back.

Thanks for your replies.

Kevin
 
Wow, Kevein, I don't know if you can get any more traditional than a yella handle trapper!!
 
Marble Arms in Gladstone MI made some of the best and now most sought after fixed blade knives of all sizes and types. Gladstone is located in the Upper Peninsula and they were very popular knives for the commercial fisherman, loggers, and hunters 100 years ago.

I agree with Carl on the trapper. :thumbup:
 
Good choice on the trapper. Interesting question, and I have no idea about the fishermen, but I'd bet they had it on a lanyard.
 
That's an interesting question. I don't know of any knife companies that were made in the Lake Superior region. And all of the knife companies up there now are modern/recent, like Northwoods and Bark River. My guess is that historically the people of the northern great lakes used the exact same pocketknives and hunting knives as everywhere else in the USA: Schrade, Case, Kinfolk, Union, Utical, Ulster...
 
Wow awesome on the yellow Trapper! Post up some pics when it arrives... I love yellow delrin, it's a fascinating scale material.

Of course the obligatory yella Peanut pic...
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If we're going to consider the Great Lakes region, I guess we have to include any state with borders on any of the Great Lakes - so, I'd say many traditional knife patterns are representative of the Great Lakes region. The Case yellow delrin trapper sure does qualify as a traditional knife of the Great Lakes region.

Very nice choice raja.
 
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My favorite place to visit in Minnesota, been there many times! The North Shore area of Minnesota was/is heavily influenced by fishing, mining, and forestry. A lot of Scandinavian and Eastern European influences, as well as French voyagers if you want to go back a couple hundred years.

I would say maybe a Norwegian Puuko, or some kind of fishing knife. I could see miners carrying Buck 110's, Case's, or USA made Schrades. The loggers would have axes of course. When I think of the area you visited, Scandinavia enters my mind so Mora, Fallkniven, EKA, and Helle pop into my head...
 
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