Traditional Knife of the Week--The Sunfish

Joined
Jun 29, 2000
Messages
168
The Sunfish (Elephant's Toenail, English Rope Knife, Pocket Axe, etc.) is one of the most unusual of the two-bladed, two-ended slip-joint folding knife patterns. Most Sunfish knives are equal end jacks though Bernard Levine, in the fourth edition of his Guide to Knives, notes that other patterns were used, as well. The common denominators of these knives are that they are large, 3 7/8-inches closed to about 4 1/2 inch closed, and wide for their length. Being two-ended, these knives are also relatively thin for their size, making them relatively "pocketable", considering the fact that they are such large knives. These knives also generally feature strong springs.

The derivations and primary uses of this pattern seem to be somewhat mysterious. Levine contends that the Sunfish is a mid-to-late nineteenth century and early twentieth century pattern that was primarily used in the Northern Midwest and was most popular with immigrant framing carpenters and electrical workers. Other sources claim that the pattern was used as a rope knife, at least in the South and Southern Midwest, and was also used, in the Midwest and West, by surveyors to cut wooden stakes. In addition there are at least a few Sunfish in Western museums. Of the two that I know of, one is said to have been used by Kit Carson and the other seems to have been confiscated from a stage coach robber. Why these latter knives were selected by their original owners is unknown to me.


Sunfish are popular with collectors, in part, I suspect because of their impressive size. In an article about his favorite slip-joint patterns in a past Knives annual, Levine quotes Crocodile Dundee's line of "There's a knife!" In addition there are not a lot of them around, old or new, and that kind of thing can run prices up on high-quality specimens.

Information becomes really limited when the usefulness of the Sunfish is considered. As I noted above, there is little consensus about what the pattern was even used for, in the old days, and descriptions of how well these big slip-joints did the jobs that they were asked to do is sparse, indeed.

In my small way, I have made some attempts to recreate what the original usefulness of the Sunfish must have been within the limitations of the fact that there are obvious limitations on the usefulness of trying to duplicate tough ninteenth and early twentieth century use conditions in the relatively "soft" early twenty- first century. I have tentatively found the following, however:

First, I believe that I have found yet another reason why the old timers wore suspenders. The "big" (4 1/4-inches closed, plus) Sunfish are real "pocket weights" that are only slightly less heavy when celluloid handle scales are substituted for bone of mother of pearl. My favorite size, 4-inches closed, is rather less of a load. I suspect that the 4 1/8-inch size rather splits the difference.

Second, their weights aside, all but the very largest Sunfish are relatively "pocketable" due to their relatively thin cross section.
For such a large knife this pattern makes a very modest
pocket "signature".

Third, I was surprised to find just how good these big knives feel in the hand when they are used. They fill the hand nicely but are not overly cumbersome unless the knife is very large. This, obviously, is an individual determination, however. I wear a man's "large" glove and I find that a 4-inch closed Sunfish fits my hand perfectly and a 4 1/4-inch Sunfish is large but useful for such heavy work as I have found for it. Larger hands than mine might find even the huge 4 1/2-inch, plus, examples to be comfortable and useful, as did a fair number of the old-timers'.

Fourth, being heavily sprung, one would expect that these knives might require a certain amount of persuasion to open, especially when they are new, and this is reflected in my experience. On the other hand, they would seem to be less prone to close on one's fingers during heavy work than less heavily sprung patterns might be.

Finally, the blades that occur on Sunfish are worthy of note. The master blades on these knives are nearly always large, wide, spear points, though a few, notably modern day Bulldogs, have been made with large clip point blades. I, personally, have no first hand experience with clip master blades in this pattern. I have, however. found some minor, though interesting variations in the spear master blades. Most seem to be of more of less "standard" configuration, with a fair amount of "belly". Some, in fact, like my Winchester 4-incher, have so much "belly" to their blades that the blades are configured very much like skinning knives, with almost no useable point, at all. Others, like my John Primble 4 1/4-inchers have a edge configuration that is almost "tanto-like", with a long straight section ending with a sharp, staight, upturn to the point. I have no idea why this last configuration was developed (a "spey application", perhaps?). In all cases, the Sunfish's master blades give indication that skinning may have been one of the anticipated uses of these knives.

The "pen" blade on the Sunfish is interesting, too. It is not only big, at least as large as the master blades of many lesser knives, but it is also often sharply pointed, almost in anticipation that these blades might be used for reaming.

It is almost too bad that the Sunfish is now seen by many knife enthusiasts as a collector's curiousity. This reaction is, however, understandable. Their size, configuration, and ponderous grace set them apart from nearly all other slip-joint folding knife patterns. If a Sunfish was well made, and is currently in good condition, it has an eye- and hand appeal that is truly its own. However, like so many other kinds of knives, to just look at and lightly handle these friendly giants might not do them complete justice. These big knives were made for jobs and men that many of us can only imagine, today. Perhaps it may be time to do more with these knives that to simply "collect" them and, instead, to drop all but some of the most rare and valuable antiques into pants pockets, once again, and actually use them to cut some of the kinds of things that we now think that they were designed to cut. Who knows? We might even learn something. It might even be fun.


(As an aside, I strongly recommend that anyone who does not already have a copy of Levine's book, fourth edition, obtain one as soon as possible. It is now out of print and the Krause-modified fifth edition is not nearly as useful. I understand that Levine still has a few copies that he is willing to sell, autographed, at about the old list price. A.G. Russell also seems to have a few copies, unautographed, but A.G. is now charging a premium for his books.)
 
Great start John! Well my knowledge of the pattern has quadrupled just reading that post. It seems you are staging a one man Sunfish revival :D like you say its sad that certain pattern seem to fade from favor because of changes in lifestyles and fashions. Its true its not a pattern you see around a lot, maybe in danger of extinction?
I do not have a Sunfish in my collection - looking at them on the web the largw flat handles seem to give a lot of real estate for decorative scales/patterns.

:o Could someone clarify the term jacknife for me? Is it an older version of slipjoint, a coverall term for non locking pocket knives?
 
John
Great disertation on the Sunfish,but alas I do not have one in my collection and cannot comment with any authority.Maybe that will have to change.
Wheres mckgreg?I know he has a couple.:)
 
Gus has some good looking sunfishes. He'll be chiming in.

Actually, this is about the only traditional slipjoint pattern that doesn't really appeal to me.
 
The Sunfish pattern comes in 3 basic shapes. The equal end, the unequal end and the swell center. When I started collecting knives, I started out collecting Sunfish patterns. My thinking was that they were few and that would prevent me from gettin' too many of them. I was in error. The Equal End is the most common. The Case sunfish for one example. Then the Unequal End. The Swell Center is the most rare and is often referred to as the "Eureka" sunfish. Eureka as in "I found it!!" The Sears "Tom Thumb" sunfish is an unequal end that is about as rare as the swell center just to name one. Bulldog and Fight'n Rooster are some more recent companies that made unequal end sunfish. The swell center sunfish had a huge master blade and was difficult to keep operating. It is very hard to find a custom maker that will attempt to make a replica of the Platts swell center just because they usually don't work for very long. I will post some pics of all three types ASAP. I must admit, I do love these lumbering giants of the pocket knife kingdom.
Greg
 
The photo shows all three shapes. The top knife,Union Cutlery, Tidioute and the bottom knife,Platts $ Sons are both real close to 100 years old. The center knife,Fight'n Rooster, was made in the early 1990's. So here ya have a equal end, unequal end and swell center. There are other terms used for these shapes but this is what I know them as.
Greg
 
A friend of mine, that collects older pocket knives, had a neighbor that was remodeling his older turn of the century house near Chicago. When they demolished the fireplace to make room for a entry into the next room, they found an old Platts Sunfish lying on the bricks inside the wall. One of the carpenters had left it there and it was subsequently covered up by the plasterers. It was in close to mint shape from being closed up in a dry area. The fella that was having the work done to his house, having no use for an old and ugly lookin' knife, gave it to his knife collecting neighbor. One of these old swell centers, that is in reasonably good shape, goes for about 2500 bucks. What a deal huh!!
Greg
 
Don't remember seeing too many Platts even close to mint. Those stories are great. Thanks mck!

Tell ya what, I have a lot of good books in my knife lib., but that is the best write up on Sunfish that I have read. Thanks John! Fantastic job.


Here are some Case Classics from the mid 90's.

Don't get these confused with regular Case knives. There is no comparison. These have high carbon steel blades. (They will pepper if you look at them wrong :) ). Most of the Case Classics were made by Queen.
attachment.php
 
The more recent Case Classic Sunfish patterns are a good representation of the older one. The one thing that stands out as being very different is the shape of the master blade in the sunfish that were produced in 1993 and '94. Those years the master blade came to an abrupt point. Almost triangular in shape. The sunfish made starting in '95 had the more familiar, more rounded shape to them. I also believe that in '95 or '96 some of the Sunfish would have numbers on the bolsters. In a lot of ways this is a good thing. You don't have to look too hard to be able to tell a Case Classic from a Double X. Now or even 50 years from now this is quite helpful to folks just gettin' to know their kives. I think that I am correct on my dates here. If I am in error, please correct me. I have posted a pic with a 94 on top and a 95 on the bottom. The dot on the bolster of the bottom knife is the camera lens. Jeeeez
Greg
 
Rick posted a beautiful redbone sunfish from the 50's a while back.
Sunfish.JPG
 
Hi Greg,
The ones min my pic with long pulls are 94's. (except for the white pearl, which is original pre production sample knife. The double pulls are 95's and 96's.

The open knife on top shows your statement well. The latter ones did have a drop (small belly).

Another good thing about the classics is that all were stamped with a date.
 
I believe that the sunfish pattern was created and at least got it original start as a rope knife, not for sailing ships, but for working in the oil fields. The area in NW PA where a lot of the old knife companies were located (including many over the border in NY) was the birthplace of the oil industry. The old oil derricks used large heavy hemp ropes since wire cables were not available then.

The sunfish as others have noted is a very unusual pattern, very large and heavy yet not suitable as a "folding hunter". Therefore, one would expect that it would be a rare and little produced pattern. In general this was true, as I have never seen an English or German example (from the old days) and I don't believe that any of the early New England cutlery factories made them. In fact, the only maker in Connecticut that made the pattern (as far as I know)was Challenge. Remington and Winchester, the largest knife companies of their day, never made them.

By far the vast majority (99%) of the older original sunfish that I have seen were made by the knife companies in NW PA and the surrounding area in NY. This includes the well known firms such as WR Case, Case Brothers, Union, NY Knife, Robeson, Ulster, Utica, Camillus as well as obscure firms including Platts, Crandall, Phoenix, Little Valley Knife Assoc., Napanoch,and Honk Falls. I have seen fewer that two dozen NApanoch knives in 30 years of knife collecting, but over half of them have been sunfish. This would tend to lend support to the idea that the pattern got its start as a regional favotite in this geographical area due to the oil fields.
 
Wow, excellent coverage on this knife. Thanks, guys. I have been on the fence about tracking one down, but, not now. Let the hunt begin.
It is funny how knowing a bit more about the history can make it even more appealing.
Great looking knives, Gus. My fasvorite of those is the one that looks like a roll of life savers.
 
Great info and pics guys. I'd never heard of these type of knives until the traditional forum started here. While I don't own one I'm sure I will when I can come accross one. These knives look like they could take some serious use. Do they make a sheath for belt carry for these things?



Dean
 
The large scale area of the Sunfish gives a scrimshander a great canvas to work on.
Greg
 
Does the Sleeve Board fall into this pattern of knives? It looks a little like the unequal end.


Thanks Dean
 
Back
Top