What specific tasks do you use your spey blade for?

[Bigfattyt]

I have cut cattle with mine, but it gets a lot of use for just about everything. The shape is great for cutting fruit, food, etc.

 

[neeman]

The long blade on a trapper is the food prep blade
The short blade on a stockman as a dirty blade for anything up to scraping (my sheepsfoot is razor sharp)

 

[Will Power]

Basically, I've found little use for it, which is why I much prefer those Stockman with a Pen, or a Whittler as the three blade knife.

 

[midnight flyer]

I like the spey on my stockman patterns to cut my cigars. With that much cutting edge and no point, a razor sharp spey will cut a dandy "V". I also use it for different slicing tasks in my woodworking as again, I don't penetrate surfaces with points, and I can do some light planing cuts for wood cleanup with a sharp spey.

They work pretty dang well for light butchering of small animals and are dandy for cleanup of large hunks of meat when you can't get to your butcher knives. The spey is an amazingly capable pattern is kept really sharp. I use it every bit as much as the sheepsfoot.

Robert

 

[Dean51]

I prefer a pen blade on stockmans since I've never used the spey for the job it's that it's name implies.
I tend to look for a stockman with pen blades or blades that can be ground to suit my preferences. I will say the spey is an excellent small game blade.
The pen is my go to blade for more delicate cuts with the other two blades getting the heavier cutting chores.

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Queen #9 - Buck 301

 

[jacktrades_nbk]

I used the case medium stockman spey on my pipes, like mentioned before, i also use it for whittling in a similar way, and for rough jobs.
On the other hand, the spey on my buck 303, being narrower and not so round towards the tip, is left very sharp, for "when needed". I also used it in skinning and processing some small rabbits, worked great, offering a lot of control. It was re profiled to a flat grind, so it has a thinner edge.

 

[Ribeyeguy]

I wonder if it works well filleting a fish. I've never seen one used on a fish.

 

[jackknife]

I've never speyed any critter, but sometimes I use one for scooping out a hole or something similar to cleaning out/expanding the bowl on a tobacco pipe.

Yeah, definitely this!^^^

 

[Trapper92]

I wonder if it works well filleting a fish. I've never seen one used on a fish.

It does indeed work well filleting fish, obviously you're not gonna be able to do a big salmon or striper as the blade is not long enough, but it works well on smaller fish

 

[Trapper92]

That's pretty interesting knarfeng. It just goes to show people who judge a knife by whether it'll shave that sometimes a knife THAT sharp isn't always the best thing!

 

[Liberando]

Mostly scraping and other utility-like jobs that don't require precision.

Lately, I've found the spey blade to be a dandy letter opener, too.

 

[Amos Iron Wolf]

I use the clip blade on my trapper or mini-trapper for a general purpose blade. I refine the spey blade a bit more and reserve that for food and for anything requiring a finer cutting edge.

Not long after I got this Case Kentucky Bluegrass scaled trapper with hand engraved bolsters I was carrying it regular.



One day the wife and I went to the Blue Star Art Gallery and Brew Pub to meet some friends for dinner. They were running late and we were starving so we ordered a quesadilla to tide us over. The server brought the 'dilla and bowls of sour cream, salsa, and guacamole, but no flatware. After trying a bit to get her or someone's attention it was either stand up and yell across the room for service or improvise, adapt, and overcome. I pulled out my Case trapper which I felt was appropriate as it was blue scaled and had fancy bolsters. That should fit right in at an artsy fartsy place in San Antonio, Texas.

The spey blade was an excellent scoop and paddle for scooping and spreading the guac and sour cream on the quesadilla. It also happens to be great for time when you want to slice or open something be it a critter or a package with things inside that can be cut or poked with a pointier tipped blade.

Then there is the whole "traditional" thing. You know, you buy a traditional pattern with traditional scales, it just sort of fits to have "traditional" blades for that pattern. Kind of like buying a pickup truck then complaining because it has a cargo bed in the back.

 

[Cory Hess]

The most worthless blade design ever in my opinion. I'm quite sure that it served a purpose at one time but not many of us have a need to "spey" animals anymore, yet this blade shows up on so many knives. I refuse to buy a knife with a spey blade. Just my two cents...

This is my favorite point of view whenever the usefulness of the spey comes up. I don't have any need to trim the hooves of sheep, so I suppose that precludes me from using a sheepsfoot blade? I have never neutered an animal, however speys are my most used blades. I use them for food prep, package opening, scraping, all of the other things mentioned on this thread. On a stockman, I find the small spey very useful in that the size gives me a lot of control while the overall size of the knife gives me the full grip that I like. I can also run my index finger down the length of the blade and wrap it around the clipped portion of the tip, much as you wood with a sheepsfoot, and get even more control with no fear of cutting myself. The spey has a long, flat portion for times when you need a flat blade, a curved belly for when you require that, and it's full width for most of it's length which makes it a very strong blade for hard use. I'm in the small minority in that I find the spey to be the most versatile blade I own. The only thing it doesn't work for is any job that requires a pointy tip. When it's paired with a clip, like on a trapper or stockman, I find that I've got all of my bases covered.

 

[Will Power]

Aha! We learn everyday. I posted that I'm not that struck on Speys, not being a farmer or a pipe-smoker (used to in the last century..) nor a hunter, never found any use for it. Today it snowed hard here and has been freezing for days, took the car off to the garage to get the winter tyres fitted. As they were lining up the winter rims I was able to dig out a lot of stones from the treads using the blunt tipped Spey.

So it has some use for me after all! Still prefer all other blade types to it mind......

 

[mike Berkovitch]

I like using the spey blade, I find it useful at all sort of tasks, like food prep, cardboard and in the garden. In fact I am waiting for a custom single spey blade knife to be finished soon
Here's the one that stated the spey blade appreciation for me

Mike

 

[dave308ek]

Knife blades are designed to cut. I've never had a spey blade fail to accomplish any task I've asked it to do. It even excels at some jobs - like cutting out the tongues of trolls, at the root.

Great to know, my secret weapon next time I go to youtube.

 

[navihawk]

Sometimes I use the curve as a scraper. Most often if I need to make a deep cut in something. I usually keep it screaming sharp.

 

[jone]

When I moved I found mine invaluable opening hundreds of boxes. It was a small but capable blade on a larger stockman knife. Gave me a new fondness for that type of blade shape.

 

[link2derek]

Food prep (in the kitchen and in the woods).

 

[DOM C]

I use the spey blade on my Case Pocket Worn medium Stockman to make/scoop out a divot on the hearthboard for a bow drill. I keep it real sharp for that purpose....

DomC