PC or HC Pocket Knives

[Big_Rubber_Duck]

Hey guys, I've been having some trouble finding some info on pocket knives in the 18th century. I know they existed, but were they all friction folders, or were there pocket knives that had locking mechanisms too? Im looking at getting a more appropriate pocket knife for the time, but am unsure what i should look for in regards to locking blades specifically.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Scott Summerville has a number of the friction folders. The shape of the scales differs depending on the region and the user.

 

[user 48679]

I may stand to be corrected, but I've never come across an 18th century folder with a locking mechanism.

 

[ZUG]

Here is a pocket French style knife that is said to have been used during the fur trapping era which has a spring back for holding the blade in the open position < Thumb Knife - Samson Historical >. I don't know if it is just a story or if it is based on fact - you decide.

 

[French Colonial]

I may stand to be corrected, but I've never come across an 18th century folder with a locking mechanism.

Navaja knives have been around a long time

 

[Brokennock]

Navaja knives have been around a long time

View attachment 132520

They have been. Not sure how early. I could be wrong but my impression has been that it was originally a Spanish design. Also, very early, 18th century and earlier, would not have the nail nick.

 

[Eutycus]

When did Barlow knives come on the scene?

 

[Colonial Boy]

A quick Google comes up with some information, and it’s odds on that there were locking devices many hundreds of years ago.
The current French ‘Opinel‘ knife dates from the 19th C. and would be a continuation of the idea of locking blades.
Folders in general date from prehistoric times.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

A quick Google comes up with some information, and it’s odds on that there were locking devices many hundreds of years ago.
The current French ‘Opinel‘ knife dates from the 19th C. and would be a continuation of the idea of locking blades.
Folders in general date from prehistoric times.

Opinels didn’t have the locking ring until 1955. It’s a modern design and would not be period correct.

OP, speak with Scott Summerville. He’ll be able to guide you can give recommendations on what knife will be appropriate. Then, he can build you one. Great guy.

 

[Colonial Boy]

I made a boo-boo there
Still as folders do date from pre-history it’s fairly certain that locking ones were around early on..

 

[Coot]

Things that seem simple & obvious today had to be created out of thin air by someone without the millions of TV, movie, internet, and photographic images that we have been exposed to. People rode horses for hundreds of years before someone invented the stirrup. Think how long it took for the nail nick to be created.

 

[Rató:rats]

Here’s a 18th century ring lock folding knife from Neumann’s Collectors Illustrated of The American Revolution. The stud on the blade snaps into a slot in the spring. You pull the spring up by the ring releasing the stud and freeing the blade.

I bought one of these a repros a couple years back

Didn’t care for it. The spring was stiff and the steel was some terrible Indian garbage.

I’ve since upgraded to a Siamois friction folder by Ben Hoffman

 

[waksupi]

Slip joint knives have been around for a long time. These are some I have made. Second one down is copied from a Revolutionary War period knife.

 

[ZUG]

Here is a pocket French style knife that is said to have been used during the fur trapping era which has a spring back for holding the blade in the open position < Thumb Knife - Samson Historical >. I don't know if it is just a story or if it is based on fact - you decide.

Well, I purchased one of these folders and it does NOT have a spring to hold the blade open it is just a friction folder. It is also of poor quality and reflects the $15 asking price. Looks like a quick and thrown together backyard shed made knife.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Well, I purchased one of these folders and it does NOT have a spring to hold the blade open it is just a friction folder. It is also of poor quality and reflects the $15 asking price. Looks like a quick and thrown together backyard shed made knife.

Probably made in Pakistan or China.

 

[Rató:rats]

Well, I purchased one of these folders and it does NOT have a spring to hold the blade open it is just a friction folder. It is also of poor quality and reflects the $15 asking price. Looks like a quick and thrown together backyard shed made knife.

I had one of the four inch models and I agree with your assessment. Also won’t hold an edge worth anything.

 

[Celticstoneman]

Here is a pocket French style knife that is said to have been used during the fur trapping era which has a spring back for holding the blade in the open position < Thumb Knife - Samson Historical >. I don't know if it is just a story or if it is based on fact - you decide.

I read that their description of this knife clearly states no back spring. Friction holds it open. It is an attractive knife too bad its sold out.
Townsends Company. does have a friction folder that is HC. I have both sizes .With a little elbow grease they are fine knives.
John

 

[Big_Rubber_Duck]

There really shouldn't be anything that I'd be doing with a pocket knife that'd cause it to shut on me while using it, but I like the added safety.

 

[doubleset]

Spanish Navaja folding knives -- very widely used in Spanish society and the origin of the Spanish fighting knife culture -- originated in the late 1600s. The varieties with locking backsprings originated in the 1700s.

Here's a Navaja folding knife manufactured some time in the 1800s, now in the National Museum of American History.

 

[doubleset]

Here's an interesting article on folding knives used at the time of the American Revolution. The influence of the Navaja in some examples seems obvious, though the specific knives may have come from France:

Knives of the American Revolution

Then there are these available at Crazy Crow.