Thread: What kind of pocket knife is this?

I bought 3 old, rusted pocket knives at a garage sale.
They were caked with dirt but I saw that they were structurally sound so decided to buy them and restore them in the hope that they would at least make what I bought them for. I fixed up the first one, but have no clue what this knife was used for.

The only thing that comes to mind is for use in an environment where you don't need to stab things, only to cut.
I know seamen used knives comparable to this for mending nets. But that does not seem logical because it is carbon steel. Salt water would eat it within weeks.

I attached a pic to show what it looks like. I blackened the blade with ferric chloride and hydrochloric acid to give it a protective coating. It hones up easily. I just have no idea what I would use it for.

That is a hawksbill blade. It has many uses where a draw-cut is required. An electrician's knife has a hawkbill blade,and also mariner's knives. They are also used by carpet layers.

I believe we used to use that in roofing also.... It was 30 years ago though.... Used it for cutting tar paper and what not.

Easy. That is a typical skinners knife. Very typical shape, used by hunters. It is hard to imagine any other practical use (just my poor imagination). Probably it could be used as an emergency knife in a car. Good shape for cutting seat belts without any risks of making any wounds into skin.

Edit: People who work at sea & coastal enviroments have used tools made of carbon steel for centuries. Still do. With the larger blades (larger than razor), carbon steel is so much easier and faster to keep sharp than stainless. Rust is no problem. If you can not paint it, then just oil it as often as it is necessary. Stainless steel hasn't been around that long. In the times of old tools were very expensive things, not something to throw away with first spots of rust. Usually they were personal property of the person who used them. His/her life and living was depending not only skills but also tools they used.

We used them all over the place on the farm - like Gary said, anywhere a draw cut is needed.

I think they went out of fashion when replaceable blade utility knives became more common.

Yes,
Sharp on the incurve, dull on the outcurve. Slicing the neck from the top of sheep and gutting without splitting the intestines.
my guess.

I've seen knives with this shape used for mushroom picking. I believe that Opinel has a model just like that with a small brush on the handle.
Just my two cents...
Nice looking blade though.

Blade like that would never be used for skinning (JMO) as above, have seen electricions use them for stripping really big wire.

Well, it is not a gut hook or a blade I would recognize for skinning either. I think it might be a pruning blade pruning knife - Google Search .

Bob

I was always told that these were linoleum knives