When do you reach for a Sheepsfoot?

[Henry Beige]

On my improved muskrats and my Hawbaker, I think of the sheepsfoot as the main blade.

 

[Hyesouljah]

Preferred for most day to day tasks and chores. Does well at pretty much everything besides dressing game. I like California clips on a slip joint for that.

What’s a California clip, sir?

 

[jsdistin]

What’s a California clip, sir?

This basically

 

[Railsplitter]

I work in a warehouse and about 95% of my knife usage is opening boxes. I pretty much insist on having a straight edge blade on me at all times and the sheepsfoot is my number one choice.

That's one thing that I'll miss if and when I retire. My lifestyle doesn't require me to use a pocket knife very often outside of the workplace. I still like to have a blade with some belly also for those tasks that I rarely encounter where a bellied blade is more practical.

 

[Old Hunter]

If your pocketknife has these two blades, then you got what you need. I like that Sears used to market their pocketknife as the Gentlemen's Jack Knife. OH

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Cutting cardboard...
Opening clamshell packaging...
Opening those cut-resistant mailing envelopes...
Cutting tape...
Scribing very, very fine lines on pieces of wood for hobby woodworking projects...
Trimming the visible ends of doublestick tape I use for setting, aligning pieces in woodworking projects...
Lifting the trimmed bits of doublestick tape mentioned above, otherwise very difficult to lift with fingernails...
Shaving rough edges & burrs from plastic items...
Cutting plastic tubing to length...
Cutting zip-ties...

...and there's probably more stuff I use it for, that I'm not remembering at the moment.

The sheepsfoot in my '75 Case stockman gets used > 90% percent of the time, over any other blade I use or have.

 

[315]

I’ll echo what others have already said, it gets used to open boxes, clamshell packages, and other things. If I need to cut something Heavy like a small piece of carpet or rubber I’ll use it. It’s what I consider the most abused blade on a stockman. I’ve used it as a scraper, even as a flathead screw driver if I don’t have to apply a lot of torque. As a kid working on a farm I could pinch open the sheepsfoot with gloves on, so it would cut a lot of twine on hay bales while feeding the cows and spreading straw in the calf pens.

 

[Ironbut]

I think what makes sheepsfoot, lambs foot or wharncliff blades effective cutting tools is that whatever cutting pressure you apply, it's available the whole blade length all the time, while with a drop point, clip, etc, the pressure decreases as you get close to the tip unless you drop your wrist.

 

[Heimdall82]

Sheepsfoot and Wharncliff (and lambsfoot) are my favorite blade shape, i use them for almost everything (like an utility knife) that doesn't need a point. I love these big flat blade, much easier to sharpen and strop too.

 

[Modoc ED]

Gasket scraper !! A sheepsfoot blade makes a great gasket scraper. If you're working on an engine, they make a great valve cover, engine head, water pump gasket scraper. Example - you're juuuuuusssssstttttt getting ready to put your valve cover on and you notice an old piece of gasket material and instead of going back to your tool box for a gasket scraper, you just reach in your pocket, take out your knife with a sheepsfoot blade and scrape off the errant piece of old gasket material.

 

[christusvictor]

95% of the time... ok, maybe 98%.

 

[TheChunk91]

Drywall, cut the paper down the 4’ width, snap with your knee, then put the cut piece at a 90 degree angle and cut the back paper - nice clean cut. Then there is all the other stuff mentioned above. For me the most useful blade on a pocketknife. My Grandad was an electrician much of his adult life, I watched him many a time hold a piece of ROMEX cable and his wire skinning knife (Sheepfoot blade) in his right hand and pull the wire with his left hand, skinning the ROMEX cover off as he pulled it. OH

Something like this? I got this from my carpenter buddy recently. Same size blade as the sheepsfoot on most stockmans but much thicker stock.

 

[hornetguy]

It’s the #1 blade for most things.

This is much the way I am.... it is just so good at nearly every task, unless you need to poke a hole in something. Nearly any cutting task is performed more efficiently with the sheepfoot.

 

[GaiusJulius]

They work well for most of the prosaic opening and cutting tasks one faces in the 21st century on a daily basis.

Not as great for food prep or skinning something. I’ll take a sheepsfoot over a wharncliffe any day for its stout point.

 

[Misplaced Hillbilly]

Ok so it's a lambsfoot, but functionally pretty much the same. Here I'm scoring the paint around the window frame so it doesn't peel from the wall when I remove the frame. The sheepfoot, lambsfoot or wharncliffe all exceed at this kind of task, doing refurbish work on mobile homes I often carry one of the three daily.

 

[cudgee]

I’ll echo what others have already said, it gets used to open boxes, clamshell packages, and other things. If I need to cut something Heavy like a small piece of carpet or rubber I’ll use it. It’s what I consider the most abused blade on a stockman. I’ve used it as a scraper, even as a flathead screw driver if I don’t have to apply a lot of torque. As a kid working on a farm I could pinch open the sheepsfoot with gloves on, so it would cut a lot of twine on hay bales while feeding the cows and spreading straw in the calf pens.

That is why they have been around for so long, they were one of the original work/farmers knives.

 

[cudgee]

You can never have too many sheep.

 

[Elsilrac1]

Any task, my favorite blade shape!

 

[conrad gutierrez]

Its my to go blade in my line of work , I cut a lot of boxes, plastic, straps, wood shims, I also use the flat screwdriver of the caplifter blade a lot, making the beerscout ideal pocket carry for me

 

[Sabercat]

It's not exactly a sheepfoot, but the small coping blades on my Eurekas see far more use than the main blade. For most of the same reasons already listed.

However, several years back, my dad busted his knife, and I asked what he wanted for a new one. He has ALWAYS carried a knife, and uses them for everything - in a way that would void most warranties. However, he doesn't know a whittler from a barlow or a spear from a clip. What he asked for was: "It's got to have a pointy blade for slicing and reaming, a flat blade for cleaning gaskets, and a third blade I never use - so that I have a sharp one when I need it."

So, while I don't clean gaskets with my sheepfoot blades, I'm sure there's some mechanics out there who do!

Edit: I just saw that Modec Ed is one of those mechanics! Thanks for pointing that out cudgee!