What is a trade knife?????????

[bushcraft]

I tried wiki with no luck.
What does trade knife mean? where does the term comes from?
Is it a design or style of knives?

 

[Fred A]

I believe it goes back to the early days here in the Americas, knives that were traded to Native Americans like beads and cloth.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Check out Ragweed Forge. He sells decent reproductions of the type of knives brought in by the French and the English. http://www.ragweedforge.com/HistoricalKnifeCatalog.html#trade

 

[Pritch]

Depending on the context it was used in, it might have been a reference to extra knives people might stockpile for barter in a SHTF scenario.

-- FLIX

 

[Mike Carter Custom Knives]

Knives and axes were very popular trade items for the early American settlers to trade to the Indians for food, hides and beads. The Indians did not have iron so until the settlers showed up they were still using flint and stone. All of the trading posts stocked a good supply of relatively cheap knives and axes mostly from England and France.