What's with all the blades?

Joben

Joben

Joined
May 22, 2009
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What's with all the blades?

Slightly flippant phrasing...serious question.

A lot a traditional slippies have 2 or more blades. Some like the Congress have 4 or 5, often not even really different from one another.

Some i understand, like having a clip point blade and a sheeps-foot blade. But the reasoning behind others escape me entirely.

How do you all feel about multiblades knives? What are they for? Are they useful? Redundant?
 
Personally, I like to keep one fairly clean. I have one I use for all box and tape opening jobs. It gets all gunked up with tape glue and such.
 
I like it thin, one for food use and one for general use works for me.

Not on a farm now though.
 
Personally I get by fine with just one blade but I can understand the food/utility concept where two blades are the perfect solution.
And then there are those that can whittle a canoe out of a box of matchsticks and might be in need of a 3rd blade because they dulled the other ones...

I still buy stockmans, trappers, canoes and mooses (thx bladeforums:D) and use them because I like them, but usually it's a single blade slipjoint in my pocket.
 
3-blade stockman is my favorite:

Clip blade = perfect steak knife, envelope opener
Sheepsfoot = box/package opener, plastic 'burr' trimmer, occasional pruner
Spey = whenever I need a 'scalpel' :)
 
one good reason is the early ranchers & farmers did'nt want to delay work efforts by sharpening a knife. multiple blades allowed a man to finish his day w/o stopping to sharpen a knife. bear in mind the ole timers usually had a heavy bench stone in the barn for butcher & pocket knives. these guys did'nt have access to crocksticks or diafold sharpeners.
dennis
 
Thats just one of the great things about Slip joints. Variety...

Even if you don't need em, you can get em. I've always gotten by just fine with a clip and spey blade, and like the simplicity of a two bladed knife. That and I'm kinda set in my ways, and resistant to change. There have been a few times where I have actually used a sheepsfoot blade, and the more I use one, the more I like it. I guess its just a matter of giving it a fair shot.

I guess its like having a Swiss Army knife. It may come with a lot of options, but just because they are there, doesn't mean you will use them. Although it is nice to know that there are other options
 
DennisStrickland said:
one good reason is the early ranchers & farmers did'nt want to delay work efforts by sharpening a knife. multiple blades allowed a man to finish his day w/o stopping to sharpen a knife. bear in mind the ole timers usually had a heavy bench stone in the barn for butcher & pocket knives. these guys did'nt have access to crocksticks or diafold sharpeners.
dennis
Click to expand...

Very true, and most of them didn't have 50-100 knives to chose from either :D
 
338375 said:
Very true, and most of them didn't have 50-100 knives to chose from either :D
Click to expand...

That was my thought. A single knife for different needs...they couldn't just go to their cabinet and choose from dozens of knives like some of us fools
 
Different shape blade cut differently

A spey blade was for castrating, clean and sharp.
A Sheepsfoot gives controlled cuts to leather and the like
A clip blade is a general cutter

You then sharpen them at different angles for the work needed.
 
I have a knife with 4 blades which I sometimes use to carve with. But I usually carry a 2 blade slip and use one blade for utility and the other for food as others have said. My one bladed folders I use the blade for utility and food with usually just a wipe on my pants to clean it. So this is a nice feature.
 
Its a cost/ benefit thing for me.

Marginal costs are way lower than marginal benefits. YMMV.

You can have a bunch of different options, at the cost of just a little more thickness.
 
I have a 5 blade Moore Maker Sowbelly that while chunky, is not impossible to EDC. I most likely will never need all five blades, but the cowboy it was modeled for may have, and I think thats cool.
 
I understand the handiness of multiple blades "back in the day," but for my personal use I like just a main blade and a small pen blade on my traditionals.


SAKs are another story, however . . .
 
i agree with the statements said before, but i thought i would add this...

whenever i am looking at a slip joint that i would edc, i look at the blades and come up with uses for them before i carry it. living in the city i go for 2 blades, but i could see the need for 3... clip point for food like apples or meat... pen knife for opening packages, boxes, and envelopes, as well as cutting tags off of things like clothing. maybe a third blade like a warncliff to have a nice razor-ish blade for trimming or slicing whenever you do not have scissors around.
 
I believe Dennis Strictland is still involved with ranching so he may be involved with this too.

During branding season this coming very early Spring (maybe March) I'll be helping a couple of ranchers with branding. Other than actually branding their calves, they will also be castrating them and I do help with that. I'll use a stockman and I'll use the spey blade. The other blades on the stockman are used for everyday chores although the clip blade will get the most use as I like to keep the sheepfoot blade in reserve in case I need something really sharp.

Except for a stockman where multiple blades (over two) are very useful, I'm normally not concerned about how many blades a knife has as I always carry two knives.
 
Modoc ED said:
I believe Dennis Strictland is still involved with ranching so he may be involved with this too.

During branding season this coming very early Spring (maybe March) I'll be helping a couple of ranchers with branding. Other than actually branding their calves, they will also be castrating them and I do help with that. I'll use a stockman and I'll use the spey blade. The other blades on the stockman are used for everyday chores although the clip blade will get the most use as I like to keep the sheepfoot blade in reserve in case I need something really sharp.
Click to expand...

I don't know what Dennis uses, but I carry a trapper for my main cow work knife. Pretty much the same idea, though - the spey blade for castrating and ear-marking, where a really sharp, clean blade is needed, and the clip blade for everything else.

James
 
I can obviously understand why a knife would have a few different blades, but when I see a knife (usually a congress pattern) with duplicate/redundant blades, I have to scratch my head. I can only assume it was done so if one blade went dull, there's still another one that's sharp. An older version of snap-off utility blades, I guess.
 
Not all Congress knives are the same. I've come across ones with Spear,Sheepfoot,Pen and Cope blades. Very nice too! Multiple blades and the housing of them are a challenge for the knifemaker's skill and workmanship. They also look pretty good as well...

Muskrats are originally field skinning knives where keeping a reserve blade sharp might be essential.

Mostly, I use a 2 blade knife but 3 works too and sometimes even 4 :D
 
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