What's a spey blade for?

F

Foilist

Joined
Dec 20, 2004
Messages
3,863
Lately I've been thinking of getting a two-blade trapper. I have no use for one, I just like the look. I'm curious about the purpose of the spey blade.
 
Once upon a time I was in my local hardware store. The clerk was showing an elderly couple the knives in the display case. They asked her "What is this blade for?"

She asked me, "Do you know what this blade is for?"

I said, "It's called a spey blade. It's for castrating animals. It turns bulls into steers and stallions into geldings."

She said, "Neat. I want one."

I said, "Remind me to never go on a date with you."
 
Priceless Raymond.....
-Vince
 
Raymond is correct - a spey blade was originally designed for castrating stock while avoiding puncturing anything!

It also works well for skinning small animals without puncturing the pelt.

These days, I mostly use my Trappers for food prep - the thin pointy blade cuts cheese, meat, onions, pickles and apples beautifully, and the spey blade is great for spreading butter, jam, mustard, mayonnaise, peanut butter, etc.

Note that I don't put all of those on a samdwich at the same time! :D
 
Of course! As in speying and neutering.

Now, which would you recommend for a $40 dollar user? I've seen ones that I like from Boker, Schrade and Smith & Wesson.
 
Skip the Smith & Wesson. Soft steel. I have one that won't hold an edge for anything. Any new Schrades will be Chinese made for Taylor Brands.

Boker is fine. You should be able to find a good Case Trapper for around that. Either from some of the decent internet stores or on eBay. If looking at eBay, check the seller's ratings and feedbacks. Pay attention to their shipping costs as some rip you on it. If you are willing to pass on knives until you get the one you want at the price you want you can do pretty good. I've even gotten Queen trappers in D2 steel with bone scales for $40 or just a tad more, but under $50.

Just remember to show us a pic of what you get!
 
The spey on a trapper is for cutting around delicate parts of a furbearer, like the eyes and ears or the vent on a skunk, mink or musk glands on other critters. My dad cleans his pipe bowl with a spey blade.
 
Well, now I know the answer to your question. I'd been wondering the same thing. Regardless of what it was designed for, I use it for the same thing as Grampa - spreading stuff on bread.
 
Here is the definition for a Trapper knife: A true trapper is a jack knife that has two blades of the same size; usually consisting of a clip master blade and a long spey blade. The style was developed around 1920 and was quickly embraced by fur trappers. The blade configuration made them very useful for skinning.

It's funny, I have used a knife since I've been a kid and use one everday as a farmer. I have never associated a particular blade to be used for a particular job. My only concern has been if the blade was sharp or not. I have castrated hundreds of wildhogs we trap on our property but usually use the clip blade because I keep it razor sharp...

Besides I have to keep the spey blade clean in case I have to butter my bread down the road..:rolleyes:

Sunburst
 
Well, I wouldn't want to use the spey blade on a trapper for castrating. Little long/unwieldy for that delicate task! I'd stick with a stockman (spey blades are much shorter on them) if I were doing that kind of work. Some of the old ones are labled "Flesh Only".

But for skinning, it works great. Gives a little more reach, and you're not really so concerned with the end results to the critter, since it's already dead.
 
Grampa said:
These days, I mostly use my Trappers for food prep - the thin pointy blade cuts cheese, meat, onions, pickles and apples beautifully, and the spey blade is great for spreading butter, jam, mustard, mayonnaise, peanut butter, etc.
Click to expand...

Same here. I have a fairly new Boker carbon steel trapper that my wife calls "our picnic knife." It does everything you need on a picnic. Ok, well, everything my wife and kids need ....... to open my bottle of beer, I better also have a SAK or my Leatherman Micra with me. :)

As to which trapper to get, if I could do it over again, I'd probably go Case. The Boker's not bad, but I've just been very very impressed with the Case knives I've seen of late. And the blade on my cv Sodbuster Junior takes a diabolical edge.
 
Following some suggestions here, I've been looking at Case as well as Boker. Can anyone tell me about their chromium vanadium blades? I'd like not to have stainless, which is why I was mostly looking at carbon Bokers.
 
Case CV steel is a wonderful type of carbon steel. Like any good carbon steel, it'll stain and turn all kinds of colors with use until a permanent, dullish gray patina settles in. Take a great edge and keeps is tolerably well. When it does go dull, rather easy to re-sharpen.
 
Eye Brand makes a pretty nice mini-trapper in carbon steel in your price range...my patina is coming along quite nicely!

EyeBrandMiniTrapper.jpg
 
Here is my recommendation. A Schrade TRT-96 Tennessee River Trapper, a "late in the game" SFO made exclusively for Wal-Mart.



QUOTE = Me By 2003, Imperial Schrade Cutlery had developed a deep vendor relationship with Wal-Mart resulting in several SFO knives not available except through Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores. One such special order knife was an upscale version of the 296 pattern, the TRT96 Tennessee River Trapper.Production specs included : 4 1/8" OA length, 2 Stainless Steel Blades (3 3/8" full turkish sabre style clip, 3 5/16 spey), Scotch brite double header finish, Acid Etched “Schrade Super Sharp” logo, Genuine jigged amber bone handle, “Cat-tailed / threaded and polished bolster and cap, special design gift box. Tangstamp was “SCHRADE+” over “U.S.A. LTD.”
The production schedule sent out in January of 2003 called for product rollout by April of 2003 with 5-7,000 pcs., and an additional 2,000 pcs due by the end of that month, for a total initial order of 7-9,000 knives, and a projected total order of 25,000 pieces. Actual production records have not surfaced (and perhaps never will), so the final number produced is not known.


These can still be found for MSRP or less. Quite often far less. And the quality is tops.

Codger
 
Codger_64 said:
Here is my recommendation. A Schrade TRT-96 Tennessee River Trapper, a "late in the game" SFO made exclusively for Wal-Mart.
Click to expand...

If you have an aversion to knives made in China, be very careful when purchasing any Schrade product or any knife at Wal Mart. Sure, there are NOS (new, old-stock) Schrades out there that were made right here in America before the real Schrade went belly up. And sure, Wal Mart DOES sell some American-made knives (for instance the Buck 110). But it just pays to be extra vigilant.
 
For the most part, the Walmart inventory of genuine U.S. made Schrade knives was depleted not long after the ISC bankruptcy in 2004. You will have to find these on the secondary market. Still worth the hunt. I got mine new for less than fifty. I was not aware that Walmart still sold any American made knives. Aren't some of Buck's 110's offshore sourced now?
 
I ended up ordering a Boker copperhead smooth red bone in carbon, which is trapper-ish although not a true trapper.
 
If you look at some of the small hardware stores, you can still find the Old Timer knives that were made in the USA. I was in one about 6 months ago and they were closing out all the Schrade products and I didn't see any that were not made here. I did buy a couple, in retrospect, I should have bought everything.
 
Dude,
Check out Schatt & Morgan (Queen Cutlery) for top quality American made Trapper.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top