What did they really use?

silenthunterstudios

silenthunterstudios

Slipjoint Addict
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A recent thread got me thinking about the mystique we associate with different patterns. Cowboys and their stockmans, the everyday working man and his jack knife, the guys working the trap lines and their trappers, the farmer and his sodbuster, the banker or office worker and his lobster pattern.

But what did they really carry? The stockman pattern didn't come out until the late 19th century and many cowboys had big clasp or jack knives. How many trappers carried the famous pattern, how many just had a simple jack knife and/or a fixed blade? The average joe, what did he carry to and from work? How many office workers actually had a luxurious lobster?

Any information you may have, any observations of your family/friends, any pictures with knives in use of the old days, please share. These men didn't just walk into the hardware store or close their eyes and point to a knife in the Sears Roebuck catalog, they put a lot of thought into their purchases, even if they weren't knife nuts. Most of these guys had the best tools they could afford. Maybe they couldn't afford much.

Thanks in advance for anything you can share.
 
This has always been in the back of mind for sometime as well, so I appreciate your posting this thread:thumbup:

My wife says I notice the unusual, mundane and things that she thinks goes un-noticed by most people:o I'm only 52 but have worked in the trades my, I've worked in the trades almost all my life, Summers since I was 12yrs old and full time since I was 18yrs old. We owned a Family Furniture store that I managed for a while and used a pocketknife to cut down massive amounts of Cardboard, help in repairing furniture, cut carpet and linoleum, strapping and zip ties on an almost daily basis. As far back as I can remember I've carried and used a knife. The knife has changed over the years but 95% of my carries have been traditional knives. Today it's a 100%.

I've worked as an Electrician, Carpenter (Broad Scope of projects there) and in part General Labor pouring Concrete and the like. But in the Electrical field, there was no ONE knife that stood out. Among the older electricians a TL-29 perhaps but if I summed up what most carried when I was just entering the electrical field it would be a two blade Jack Knife or a dedicated "Sheepfoot Skinning" knife for wire. Today ALMOST all the Electricians I know simply carry a razor blade/utility knife or a modern OHO.

I spent four Summers working on a Farm/Ranch and the two main men that worked Livestock carried Large Yellow CASE or Schrade Trappers---not a Stockman? Many of the Farmers I knew carried what ever pocket knife the local Elevator gave away as a promotional thank you knife. It's giveaway knives where usually Imperial shell knives or Kutmaster knives that carried the Elevators name on it.

I then witnessed the BUCK 110 boom and most everyone I knew in the trades carried those for sometime and even today. I briefly carried a 110 but I felt a sheath knife interfered with my tool belt so quickly went back to a traditional pocketknife:thumbup:

We had both CASE and SCHRADE displays in our local hardware stores and I saved Summer lawn mowing money to buy a CASE #62087 knife I treasured and still have to this day.

These were just my observations growing up but have wondered like you if the pattern really fit the actual type of work being done? In my experience it really hasn't:)

It will be interesting to follow the thread and get the insights of others here:thumbup:
 
I had a small Samual Barlow years ago, that I imagined had been carried by who knows. Anyone from the Civil War to some local farmer. This stuff fascinates me.
 
My grand father worked a team of horses into the early 70's when he sold the farm, harness were always in good shape. He even had sleigh bells. Based on that you would assume a harness jack, Instead it was a muskrat.
 
Well, we have a great piece of photographic evidence of what may have bent he most popular pocket knives way back when. I imagine that shops and general stores would order whatever sold the best to the general populace, soif we look at the knives pictured in that great photo of what was recovered from the steamer that sank in the Missouri river ( the Arabia?) in the mid 1800's, they were most likely a good example of what people were carrying back then. I remember a good number of single blade jacks with sheep foot blades.

And cowboys being cowboys, that being young and without much money, I imagine the knives they carried were of the lower cost. More like sodbusters and the plain jane jacks. MOre prosperous people, like store/business owners may have had higher end knives, perhaps even some very nice lobster gentleman's knive from an importer of Sheffield wares.
 
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A Moose, a short butcher knife (nessmuk))) and a double bit belt ax. :D

Best regards

Robin
 
I remember that post. My Barlow looked about identical to the one on the bottom. Intergral bolsters.
 
I'm not too sure about the real cowboy days in the 1800's, but from my experience with modern day cattle ranchers, and horse and mule packers, a yellow case trapper has been the most commonly seen pocket knife. Occasionally I see a medium sized old timer stockman, but for the most paŕt those yella trappers seem to be the go to, at least in my part of the country.
 
I knew an old guy who was an avid crappie fisherman who carried an old Case Toothpick. The blade was wobbly from constant use. Beautiful knife. I tried to trade for it but he passed on. It was a real user knife.

Buzz
 
My dad was a school teacher. He carried a tiny Case walnut bone stockman when he was teaching. Later on he carried a Barlow. Back in the day ever man and boy had a pocket knife.

Buzz
 
The Coal Miners in this area for many years used a Hawkbill. The mines used to issue them to the miners, to be deducted from their pay of course. Also available at the Company Store (to be charged against your pay). A lot of Folks still carry a Hawkbill although the Company Store's are long gone. Some of the mines still give out knives as Safety Awards. Mostly Case Hawkbills or 54 Trappers.
 
from another thread...

kamagong said:
Check out these knives that were in the steamship Arabia when it sank in the Missouri River in 1856. Plenty of single blade slipjoints in attendance.

SteamboatArabiaknives1856.jpg


- Christian
Click to expand...
 
I worked in the textile business for 35 years, what I saw was mostly sheepsfoot type knives used by my loom fixers. Case made a pattern called the Loom Fixer, the local hardware store carried them, but I saw a ton of 31 pattern Cases over the years. This was in the early to late 1970's when shuttle fly looms were still the primary method of weaving. They had leather lined "boxes" that acted as brakes to receive the shuttle on each end of the loom. The blunt blade shape was handy to trim the leather and adjust the "boxing" of the shuttle, a pointy blade was unnecessary. A good pair of scissors was a must for both weaver and fixer, usually Gingher or Case blunt pocket versions, used for trimming and repairing yarn breaks (my warps had over 11,000 ends per loom). At the time I had over four hundred production folks in my weave room, consisting of 1175 looms. I worked in weaving for 21 years, mostly as superintendent of production.

My dad was a rural mail carrier from 1946 to 1977. I recall him carrying a pocket knife of some type in the 50's and early 60's, a time when parcels were still secured with string. He might have to help a patron tie up a package and always had a small ball of string in his route car when I was a kid. When he retired, he usually had an Imperial hawksbill or barlow. He had a huge garden and used them for everything from trimming twine to opening a bag of fertilizer.

My wife's granddad was a teacher (principal, county school superintendent) from around 1925 until the mid 60's, he carried a nice red bone 1940's era Peanut. My father in law had it, but I'm afraid he lost it in the last year. It was a real beauty, you could tell it was a cherished possession of her "Pop".
 
@ Jerry, very interesting career you had, I enjoyed reading what you posted:thumbup: Enjoyed hearing about your dad and wife's Grandddad also.
 
My grandfather was raised a farmer, but decided to sell the farm and work for the railroad. He worked his way up to engineer on the Milwaukee Road in steam locomotives, and then transitioned to diesel.

Though he died young, all our of kin describe him as a knife nut, with a particular knife that he sharpened and oiled at the kitchen table every night (when he wasn't on the road). Though I've quizzed endlessly, no one can remember what brand or style of knife it was. He was buried with it, so it will remain a mystery for now. I've got his old grip sack with his engineer's hats, sun glasses, meal tickets, etc., and his railroad watch. But not the knife.

His son (my father) was a career helicopter mechanic in the US Air Force. He was (and still is) true to the medium Old Timer stockman. In his footlockers from his service in Viet Nam (flying crew chief on rescue choppers), he has three Case sheath knives that are razor sharp.

As a scout, my first knife was a TL-29 electrician's model. Then a beater Imperial stockman, then add a Kamp King. My first decent knife was a Buck 112, followed by a Buck 102 I bought with my paper route money. Still have that 102, the stories it could tell!

I joined the AF myself and served 30 years. Carried a variety of knives. In blues, I'd carry a Buck 309 or a small stockman. In the field or deployed, perhaps a Bucklite, or a big old stockman, like a Buck 307 or an Old Timer 8OT.
 
My paternal grandfather, born in 1876, was a professional hunter and trapper, among other related avocations. The last knife he carried was a well-worn German Boker medium stockman. He had his hands on at least hundreds if not thousands of knives in his 94 year life. My maternal grandfather was a butcher and a stockman. The last knife he carried was a well-worn CASE yellow celluloid stockman. I think it may have been a birdseye knife; it is gone. My father was a farmer and stockman. The last knife he carried was a well-worn WESTERN medium stockman. I carried a BOKER USA large congress for 20 years in the construction and warehouse business and completely wore it out. Nowadays I carry fancy schmancy stuff that I don't really need, but thoroughly enjoy.
 
Back home most of the rural folk and farmer's carried Schrade's and the Imperial Frontier/Double Eagle models.I guess that's why I could never break from the original 8OT by Old Timer.
 
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