Working Trapper knives

J

jec88

Joined
Mar 6, 2012
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I've noticed in a a lot of threads when people discuss traditional folders used in ranching and outdoors and cowboy knives, the talk usually turns to the trapper pattern. In another thread, Jacknife mentioned how in Texas, Trappers carried in a sheath seem to be the knife of Texas. I've noticed that too, several guys I've known that work in Texas with the gas and oil industry and come home and they are carrying a Trapper in a sheath. If I know them and am talking to them, I usually ask, "what kind of knife do you have?" Always a Trapper and usually a Case or Moore Maker. Its about to the point where you see more trappers in a sheath than pocket clips which is kind of nice since most of the men are under 30.
Anyway, how about a thread showing working Trappers and sheaths and stories and all those good pics that usually follow from out West or on ranches?
 
Been living in Texas most of my life. If you keep your eye out, you do see many Trappers in belt sheaths. Mostly in smaller downs where cowboy boots are more common. In my current location, ranches are common and so are the Case Trappers.

Also see quite a few pocket clips of your average Chinese Modern Folder, S&W folders, Mtech, and other such knives.
 
Well my son is a working cowboy and he carries a Case trapper in one of my buckaroo pouches. He has several of my fixed blades but he carries the trapper as things on his belt bother him he says.

Playing pool with him in a little cowboy bar in the middle of nowhere AZ:

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Here's a buckaroo pouch:

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Ya can see how it works here in this shot of him unsaddling.

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Some live action trapper shots:

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Fixed blades too though:

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One in a belt sheath.

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Daughter in law carries one that way too:

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No picture, just thought I'd mention I saw a finely dressed Mexican man at Lowes yesterday. Nice natural palm straw cowboy hat, nice boots, checked short sleve button shirt, very nicely tooled leather belt, with an equally nice tooled holster with about an inch of a trapper showing. We get quite a few Mexicans up from Texas bout this time of year, mostly pickers but this fellow didn't look to be a picker. If I hadn't been in a rush, I really wish I would have had time to ask about the belt and holster, looked like top notch leather work.
 
jec88 said:
outdoors . . . the trapper pattern . . . Trappers carried in a sheath . . . usually a Case or Moore Maker.

Anyway, how about a thread showing working Trappers and sheaths and stories and all those good pics that usually follow from out West or on ranches?
Click to expand...

I do live in the Wild, Wild West but I'm sorry to disappoint.
Well being a city slicker you won't see any outdoor work with mine. I mean as good as it gets is working outside near the dumpster; who wants to see that. Lots of indoor work though.

The full size Trapper (Case or Boker) are some of my very favorite knives period as far as handle size / shape and blade shape. The only thing that kicks them out of my pocket (sheath) for long is something with some more durable steel (CASE ARE YOU LISTENING TO THIS ? !)
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Yup . . . got to have the belt sheath.
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The Trapper is a favorite for me to mod. I either remove the spay blade or shorten it into a wharncliffe.
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These are all knives I use at work except the polished scale black Slimline Case Trapper (top knife in photo below) which is a dress knife.
I have several more full size Trappers.

I just got these two Case Slimline trappers a week apart. The laminated canvas is going to be a dedicated work knife and I will keep the polished handled one for very light careful use. Translation; I don't want to scratch up the polished handle.
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I don't know what working trapper means exactly, but this GEC (single blade version of the Remington R1173) is my primary carry.

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No fancy leatherwork for me, I'm a suburban guy through and through, a belt sheath just wouldn't look right.
 
I like both trappers and clips but I'll confess that I like the moose/muskrat patterns a little more. Clip slip from collector knives. I had a belt sheath for a while, and really like it, but sold it with a different trapper once my new place of work made it a point to let everyone know that weapons aren't allowed on the premises and knives were include. I keep them in my pocket now instead just so they're not broadcasted as valiantly.

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First post, and after lurking here for a year or so, this thread is what finally made me add a membership to my account and add a few pics. Mostly because yesterday my son and I were at a hardware store and happened upon a nice case trapper in delrin and CV along with a nice pancake sheath. Pure coincidence I come across this thread last night.

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Of course, being a Case, I had to check out 4 of them before I found one with decent fit and finish, no blade wobble, and good blade centering. But, it's a nice one and a keeper that'll be put to work.
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I grew up in a farming family and still help out around the family farms every so often when we head back east. My wife grew up on a farm and her family still farms and keeps livestock. A few months back I was helping my in-laws work about a hundred steer calves. Didn't need to use a knife the way we were working them, but I still had a GEC slip joint on me. I think this trapper will do nicely next time we head back and I'm put to work.
 
Well Lurking DDavis...

Great pictures and post...I think that leather sheath would put a little extra pep in my step, very nice looking
 
I thought the trapper and sheath was a Texas thing too, but a few months ago when I was coming back from Mexico into California, I stopped at a hardware store near the border. They had a bunch of Case trappers (interestingly the boxes were labeled "working knife" or something similar, not "trapper"), and the store employee said the trapper pattern was really popular with the agricultural workers that come through there.
There's at least one hardware store in the Northern California that's carrying a decent selection of trappers in different handle configurations along with various fancy tooled and stamped sheaths. Maybe the trend is spreading? Maybe there's just something about a trapper and sheath that works really well no matter where you are.
 
Now a days, it's a mixed bag as to what's used on various ranches and farms. In my area, the Stockman is a popular knife; however some use a trapper or fixed blade too. Across the Mountain just eighteen miles away in Ceaderville, Eagleville, and further north in Ft. Bidwell, the fixed blade is more prominent.

Curiously, I have very few Trappers. A Case large trapper, a Case mini-trapper, and five Schrade Fire&Ice trappers, one of which is on GEC's 23 frame.

Case large trapper
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Case mini-trapper
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Schrade Fire&Ice trappers
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