Why the folding knife?

A

Angelus1781

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Feb 22, 2003
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something I've been thinking about, and a few questions.

Why was the folding knife invented? Was it because of different need and use for a knife? Was it that laws were changing and carrying a fixed blade was getting frowned upon? Thoughts?
 
Angelus1781 said:
something I've been thinking about, and a few questions.

Why was the folding knife invented? Was it because of different need and use for a knife? Was it that laws were changing and carrying a fixed blade was getting frowned upon? Thoughts?
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My uneducation guess says it had a hell of a lot to do with "size", but I'm probably wrong. :footinmou
 
It's convenient, and we had the technology to do it. Lets you get a knife pretty much anywhere.
 
Folding knives were popular in the Roman Empire, including a large variety of locks, multi-bladed knives like modern SAKs, multi-tools....

Why? Beats me! I think the whole idea of folding a knife is stoopid.
 
i'm with nelsonmc. i'm quite sure it had nothing to do with any laws... people just wanted a knife, but perhaps in a more convenient method of carry, and if the handle effectively sheaths the blade, why not? :D ;)

abe
 
Safer to sleep with, carry in a pocket etc. etc. the sleep with may sound silly but think of armies on the march, all the gear you gotta carry with you.
 
it's harder to stab yourself when you fall off of a horse. I find folders safer for my uses, and more comfortable to carry. I can't imagine that human nature has changed all that much.
 
If you have pockets and you don't wear a belt a folding knife makes a lot of sense. Another way of looking at it is that a folding knife only takes around 60% as much space as a non-folding knife with a similar blade length. There are a lot of ways this makes carry more convenient. The Spanish Navaja illustrates that point. They commonly made these with 9-inch blades and tucked them in their sashes. They had sashes rather than belts. It was comfortable and convenient to tuck a folding Navaja in the sash. A sheath would have clashed with the clothing style.

Until recently most folding knives were a lot thinner and narrower than the common sheath knives of the era. They were expected to be used to prepare food and do light cutting much more than serve as a means of self defense. When laws were passed to restrict open carry of weapons you also started to get folding dirks.
 
If I recall correctly the folder evolved along side the pocket . Cultures where the mode of dress doesn't have pockets dont have folders .
 
cdf said:
If I recall correctly the folder evolved along side the pocket . Cultures where the mode of dress doesn't have pockets dont have folders .
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That's your answer right there.
 
cdf said:
If I recall correctly the folder evolved along side the pocket . Cultures where the mode of dress doesn't have pockets dont have folders .
Click to expand...
Not really. As Cougar noted, the clasp knife was devel;oped at least as early as the Roman Empire as shown by this reproduction of one found in a dig in Augst, Switzerland. I have one of these and it is always a hit a living history events.

Just how can I go about transferring a picture from http://www.hr-replikate.de/englisch/index.html, item # 296 to my post?
 

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You sure the Romans didn't have pockets?

They definately had pouches and bags.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure they had bags.
 
I cannot email or send a PM to Angelus1781.

My guess, from your username, is that you are or were a fan of the Buffy tVK and Angel series. I am still in withdrawal from the ends of both series.
 
It may have been about steel conservation . Steel only became available in large and consistant quantities in the last century . A friction lock clasp knife uses a lot less steel than a fixed blade . A good way to use leftovers ?
 
Angelus , medieval and rennisence knife laws were at least as stupid , unenforcable , and unenforced as todays . The amusing thing was that anyone who could afford good technology of the day , was badassed, or wealthy enuff to be above the law anyway . Usually policing was so bad that law enforcement degenerated into semi random acts of savagery to scare the peasantry . Law enforcement as we know it took a long holiday from Roman times , up until about the era of Sir Robert Peel , and some of his French contempories .
 
Logically, I would guess that as the human race moved towards civilization, fixed blades were not as easily carried as folders, and people wanted to still have their knife, but not the bulk of a fixed blade. I would surmise that this type of thinking would've originated in the early 1800's since most men, from the aristocrat to the guy shoveling manure, carried some type of fixed blade, from the history I've read, as their EDC, I've read about colonists carrying folders, these colonists were high standing men, but the folders they carried were for cutting fruit, and small tasks of the like. I may be wrong, but suffice it to say, the folder as we know it today was created for convenience for the urban gentleman, and gravitated outward.
 
Will P. said:
You sure the Romans didn't have pockets?

They definately had pouches and bags.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure they had bags.
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When I read in a magazine that most native Americans wore their knives around their necks, like a lot of neck knives produced today, I was astounded at my being so gullible to imagine that belts and sheaths were used all over the Americas. It's neat to realize that most of the customs we see today were in use thousands of years ago, so, who knows. :p
 
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