What is the typical german knife?

Without looking at the link I'll hazard:
Knicker
Knickermesser
KnickerKnife
Or am I another tourist?
:D

OK I looked. From what I could figure out...the knicker is one of the traditional German knives. From the Alpine region. Another is the tachenmesser (pix?) not sure what region and Nordic influence knives in the north.
How'd I do?
My parents left Brunsbutttelkoog for NYC in the 1920's. I have often wondered what kind of knife my great grandfather would have carried back then.
 
In my mind the typical German knife is for hunting. Something with riveted stag or wooden scales, a one-sided crossguard (or no crossguard at all), and a blade with a slightly convex belly. I'm thinking of the Puma White Hunter. I have conservative tastes and I think the WH is the most beautiful knife ever made.
 
In fixed blade, Puma white hunter. In folder, Puma general.
 
The Puma White Hunter was the first big knife I really lusted for! :) When I think of German knives, maybe knives unique to Germany, I would say a big Hubertus stag auto.
 
The "Jagdnicker" comes to mind immediately. That however is something that may be more a "southern" thing (in Bavaria & Baden-Wuerttenburg) even though I got mine in Berlin ;). Otherwise the Mercator "Cat" folder may be a good example. Don't even get me started on the "Hitler Youth" knife. :rolleyes:
 
Rugger,

I understand your doubt/objection regarding the „Hitler Youth“ knife, but like the Hohlbein-Dagger for example, the HJ-Fahrtenmesser is not original by the Nazis. This knife type exists before and is based on the „Grabenmesser“ of the WW 1.
 
Gruesse Horus,
Yes, I know the style existed before the whole "Blut & Ehre" thing, it's just that it's gotten so much exposure throught he adverts in the backs of magazines, etc. A bunch of the "Grabenmesser" designs I've seen were often cut-down bayonettes. I think there was a mass-produced model made from 1917 or so to the end of WWI that was supposed to be the Trench Dagger ("Grabendolch"). I think it was produced as well during WWII. I was thinking of something other than a "military" knife for a traditional "German" knife. Given a bit of the prejudice concerning the Germans, that may be hard to do for many.
Mit freundlichen Gruessen,
Michael
('ne etwas eingedeutschter Ami)
 
How about the folding knife known over here as sodbuster?
A simple, strong, reliable farmers knife.
 
Any input on the Nothern (low) German traditional knives?
Pix?
Help?
:D
How'd I do with the link? Considering I don't read or write German. :confused:
 
When i was a kid, i had a bunch of traditional knives from the bavarian knicker to a couple of folders with either stag or wood handels, but those knives where already mentioned before.
About the Sodbuster Knife they still make em either Boeker or Herberz
does. They are marketed for the Argentinian market. Lot´s of germans there .... wonder why .... .
Diefenthal makes what I would consider pretty typical German folders of good quality better then Puma imho.
I´ll be in Solingen soon, we´ll se what i dig up.
In rural Austria they have the Tattenbacher Taschenfeitel( TASCHE= pocket, feitel is austrian for folding knife) they are friction folders of carbon steel, cool blade shape, simple wood handle like the Opinel without the lock.

Matthias
 
I'd say that the Jadgnicker design takes the cake.

Other than that, Hubertus automatic knives (as Ed mentioned above) comes to mind (although switchblades with long blades are not legal over here anymore - if they were legal, I'd probably own one).
 
I've been reading Deutsche Kampfmesser by Eugen von Halász. I would characterize most of the knives in this book to be utility, hunting, or ceremonial patterns rather than true fighting knives.

My favorite knife in the book is not surprisingly one that is basically a Jacaranda-handled White Hunter. I think Atlanta Cutlery sold something similar in the 1980s, way back when their catalog had worthwhile stuff.

There are a few patterns in the book that could arguably be called fighters. However it seems to me that none of them have emerged as a standard or widely-copied design like the Bowie or Sykes-Fairbairn.

This is not to say that I don't like German military knives. I own a Bundeswehr utilty knife and several examples of the WW I nahkampfmesser, although the latter are somewhat like double-edged sandwich knives.
 
I saw this thread on Messerforum the other day. My first thought was the traditional Jagdnicker. Although all the time I spent there was in Koeln and the Ruhrgebiet, far from the home of the Jagdnicker, that is what always comes to mind when someone asks about a traditional deutscher Messer. I don't think many Americans have been exposed to the Pfadfinder design, except where it was used for the Hitlerjugendmesser, so they only associate the design with a certain time period.
 
Yeah, that was pretty much my point re: the HJ Messer- that whole "Blut & Ehre" thing... The pattern (Very Practical btw) existed prior to the knife being co-opted. Not the fault of the knife. Much like a good deal of stuff hijacked by the Nazis. That's another discussion.
 
I saw a lot of CRKT's at the knife shop in the Mannheim train station last month. I thought that was interesting.
 
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