traditional knives in movies

btb01 said:
Although I'm sure he'd fit in great here, I think an online forum might be a little too on-the-grid for Ron Swanson. :D


Here's another scene in which Ron using a traditional pocket knife with a spear point blade to whittle.

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Here you can see the knife sitting on the desk. It appears to be some sort of scout knife (note the corkscrew in the second photo) with stag scales.

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LOL! :D I'll check out the show when I get a chance Barrett :thumbsup:

jackknife said:
Not a movie, but a series on Netflix. A series on Wild France with Ray Mears had an episode he was in the Fresh Alps. He and a guide were making lunch in the wild, and Opinel's were predominantly used. The guide and Mears both were using the Opinel's for food use and later in the series Mears used it for some rough work gathering some wild plants.
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That's funny, Ray used to positively rail against folders, and wouldn't allow them to be carried on any of his courses. The cause was an Opinel, which one of his students was using, when the locking-ring slipped (probably it wasn't engaged properly), and he severed a finger tendon. It's been amusing to see RM rehabilitate his views ;) :thumbsup:

btb01 said:
Although it's been mentioned in this thread more than probably any other film, I don't think there have been any actual screenshots posted of the traditional knives that appear in The Shawshank Redemption. And since I think this thread is more fun with screenshots (when possible, of course), and because I happened to have watched Shawshank this afternoon, here they are. :D

Here's Brooks Hatlen's Barlow that he uses to carve "BROOKS WAS HERE" on the beam at the halfway house.

Two-blade Barlow, main blade behind the secondary, half stop.

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Clip point, double-lined bolster, saw-cut bone, perhaps?

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Nail nick.

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Here's the knife in the Pawn Shop window, next to the compass that Red buys. Spear and pen blades, funky green-and-cream colored scales (celluloid?), looks like a Federal shield.

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You don't get a very good look at the knife Red uses to carve "SO WAS RED" next to "BROOKS WAS HERE." Perhaps its the knife from the Pawn Shop, but who knows. I can say that when he opens it in the film it does not appear to have a half stop.

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Fantastic detail Barrett :) :thumbsup: Brooks' knife has been discussed here many times, but never with pics of that quality. Well done :thumbsup:
 
In Oliver! Character Bill Sikes opens and closes a large wood handle sodbuster and sticks in his pocket, if you watch close enough is actually quite a bit of pocket knives in the Andy Griffith show Andy uses some clipoint traditional to whittle with in one of the early seasons and later uses the same knife to cut a chuck of of Aunt Beas lipstick to put on Barney’s face, in a later episode he gives a jacknife to his son Opie and in season season 6 episode 19 Opie finds his scoutknife(looks like a kamp king) in his shoe, on the Lone Ranger show there was a marbles ideal after they switched to using color film. Edit. Found another knife in season six Or seven, Opie’s sitting on the porch whittling with what looks like a large stockman with black jigged plastic or bone handles, Another Andy Griffith show knife, Briscoe Darling the patriarch of the hillbilly clan Who comes down from the hills Once or twice every season and while in town whittles with some clippoint trad. Either season six or seven
 
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In Kill Bill, Uma Thurman makes use of a Buck 110 or 112. Or something quite similar.

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She must lose it along the way, though. Later on, she uses a straight razor taken from her boot à la Bad Leroy Brown.

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This got me thinking. Clive Owen uses a straight razor in Sin City. So does Mr. White in Revervoir Dogs (no pictures from the movie for good reason).

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I appreciate that the straight razor reads as some kind of archetypal cutting tool for specific characters/stories- but wouldn’t ANY other folding knife of the same size be a better choice in real life? Has anyone ever really used a straight razor for their walk around knife? Just curious to hear if anyone has any stories...
 
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Perhaps it's been possible to tell the authorities you're not carrying a weapon, it's a grooming tool. Razors also have some intimidation value because everyone knows they're sharper than knives. Certainly some were carried in my school days.
 
Nice post, K KuduCuckoo ! :thumbsup:

Uma's Buck lockback has been discussed here before. I believe it was determined that it's a 112 (too small to be a 110).

I've always been curious about those "tough guy" types in movies (Tarantino's or otherwise) who carry straight razors as weapons. Maybe Jer has the right idea, that it could be construed as less incriminating than, say, a switchblade, but I don't really know, to be honest. (Also, I believe it was Mr. Blonde who used the straight razor in Reservoir Dogs, not Mr. White.)
 
scrteened porch said:
Perhaps it's been possible to tell the authorities you're not carrying a weapon, it's a grooming tool. Razors also have some intimidation value because everyone knows they're sharper than knives. Certainly some were carried in my school days.
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That’s a good point, screened porch screened porch . I hope I never have to make my case for carrying a big blade to a peace officer. I can’t talk myself out of a speeding ticket. Well, sometimes I can...

btb01 said:
Nice post, K KuduCuckoo ! :thumbsup:

Uma's Buck lockback has been discussed here before. I believe it was determined that it's a 112 (too small to be a 110).

I've always been curious about those "tough guy" types in movies (Tarantino's or otherwise) who carry straight razors as weapons. Maybe Jer has the right idea, that it could be construed as less incriminating than, say, a switchblade, but I don't really know, to be honest. (Also, I believe it was Mr. Blonde who used the straight razor in Reservoir Dogs, not Mr. White.)
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Thanks, btb01 btb01 ! This thread is a lot of fun. My ears always perk up when someone pulls out a folding knife in a movie.

You’re right! That was Mr. Blonde. I never remembered who was who. Except for Mr. Pink because he raised a bunch of hell over getting stuck with that name.

While I’m talking about Quentin Tarantino movies, Samuel L. Jackson has himself a great big clip point folder in the Hateful Eight. Looks to be about a 4 inch blade. Anyone know if folding knives of this size were common in the 19th century? Sorry for the poor quality, motion blurred capture. There’s never a really good look at the knife. This is more to show general blade length.

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The Spanish navajas go back farther than that. I'm not sure about the pointy-headed folding hunters.
 
In Escanaba in da moonlight Family patriarch Albert Soady whittles with a yellow handles pen pattern, later son Remnar Soady uses a stacked leather washer handle hunter to open a can of beer.
 
There some Bowie’s in Old Yeller and the sequel savage Sam, Also in savage Sam the older brother uses a bone handled single blade trapper to cut the rope’s when they’re trying to escape from the Indians.
 
Kind of related to this thread, you can see lot of puukko's carried and pipes smoked in older Finnish movies. Nostalgy and aesthetics. :)
 
I've been watching Into the Badlands and there have been two traditional knives so far in Season 1 Episode 4.

M.K. uses an Opinel when considering to bring on his power/curse/whatever it is.

Waldo has a Victorinox Fish Knife in his tin when he gives Sunny the army man.
 
Just watched an episode of Maigret where the camera fixes on an Opinel that a character is taking out of the dishwater (!). A little later, she has stabbed an assailant, presumably with the same Opinel.
 
In "The Hitman's Bodyguard" Ryan Reynolds uses a Victorinox Swiss army knife several times.
 
In the movie Lonely are the Brave the main character (Kirk Douglas) has his pockets emptied at the police station, they pull out what looks like a stockman or maybe a peanut. It’s smallish with a curvy handle, the film is black and white you can still see the scales are yellow. He later pulls some hacksaw blades out of his cowboy boot tops and uses them to cut the bars in jail to escape.

And in The Sacketts Sam Elliot carries one big old Bowie knife from what looks like a cross draw shoulder rig. Nice piece of stag too.
 
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Just discovered McQueen using what appears to be a Buck-style lockback folder to cut some canvas in The Sand Pebbles. This scene is from the roadshow edition.
Now to research how likely (or unlikely) it is for him to have carried a knife like that in that time period.
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Ok think this might be a good thread to ask a tv related question. Last week I was showing the horse carving I'm doing to a friend(pics in whittl'n thread) he said "wow! That's some real Roy Underhill kinda stuff". While I was much humbled to have anything I've done compared to Roy Underhill,(I'm not worthy!) That brings me to my question, does anybody remember seeing him use a pocket knife? If ANYBODY be using a traditional on tv it'd be St.Roy I been googling fer pics, no luck
 
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