¿Frontier / Mountain Man Knives?

R

Ryunosuke

Joined
Jun 9, 2008
Messages
14
Hi friends,

Could you tell me about this kind of knives?. Origin, history, characteristics must meet in order to be so called well, etc ...

I would like to gather information to write a short article.

Sorry for my poor english and thank you in advance.

Regards,

Jon.
 
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It's my understanding that most of the hunting/scalping/skinning knives were just kitchen knives, much like our modern carving knives. Look at an Old Hickory carver and you've fair picture of what was in the belt of many mountain men. There's a guy who forges knives based off historical examples that look like beautiful carving knives. I found 'em when I was getting into Reenactments/ Faires. Never had the cash to pick one up so I can't give any first hand impressions or reviews.

Frank
 
This is a subject that has a fair bit of controversy in it...

There are the knives that we have, that are in the record as historical artifacts and documented as such. Mostly these are trade knives from England and France, dispersed by the Hudson Bay Company and it's rival the North West Company...

Depending on how far reaching your paper will be, and what regions you want to look at, you might also consider the Russian component, up in what we now call Alaska.

I don't know of any good books about this subject, but you might contact Wick Ellerbe, he is well versed in these things... http://www.wickellerbe.com/

Beware, there exist some knives, that the owner or maker of reproductions believe to have been made during this period, but for which there exists no historical data. This sort of thing is true in other realms, but it is more common in knives, since there are fewer experts involved in the market, and the dollars represented are far less.

Marion
 
I can understand that most of the knives would have been "old hickory-ish" trade knives, but surely there were some purpose built customs, no? I am not sure that information would be easily available, but it would add to an interesting read.
 
The Government said:
I can understand that most of the knives would have been "old hickory-ish" trade knives, but surely there were some purpose built customs, no?
Click to expand...

Well, there is some debate about this...

But, the empiricists point to the fact that there are no custom knives with acceptable provenance, from the Mountain Man slash Fur Trade Period.

Marion
 
this is a period of time that has always fascinated me... that was when folks lived by their knives and what they carried on them..

check out www.mlknives.com Matt makes som amazing period/frontier-esque knives...
 
Most common carried knife during the fur trade period was a butcher knife or "trade" knife from Hudson Bay or The North West Company.
The knives were probably made in the cutlery centers in England or Germany.

The USA didn't have a cutlery industry at the time to speak of.
Blacksmiths might have made an occasional blade, but that was about it.

The "Old Hickory-ish" and the similar Dexter Russell Green River knives are the closest to what the "average" "mountain man" would have carried and used. (same for the settlers moving west in their wagon trains years later.)

A knife was just another tool to them, just as their axe/hatchet/tomahawk was.

Note they didn't baton their knife, clear brush with it, use it to fell trees, or to build their winter cabins.

SORRY!!!! I didn't see this is a near 10 year old thread.

No idea how it showed up on the first page.
 
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Yeah, I read half a dozen entries before I picked up on the date. I was all over the subject because I have been immersed in Green River knives lately, which has taken me to a number of places offering replica trade knives.
 
Straight backed French and English trade knives (mostly for the Indians) butcher knives pretty much like modern ones, roach belly knives and cartouche knives (close to modern carving knives). There were also a wide variety of folding knives stocked for the fur trade. My reference is the Museum of the Fur Trades Volume 3 The
Encyclopedia of Trade Goods, Tools and Utensils of the Fur Trade.
 
Russell "Green River" knives and "Dadley" knives were popuklasr, and are often seen in musuems out here in the Rockies.
 
Watched “The Aeronauts” last night on Prime. A trade knife in a sheath shows up prominently in a shot where Felicity Jones is hanging from the outside of her balloon basket or something (not a spoiler; the movie is full of such scenes).
“Aha. A trade knife” I say to my companion. “I bet we see that knife again later on”. Sure enough...well, I won’t say, because that would be a spoiler. Let’s just say that it takes a lot of ropes to rig an 1856-vintage balloon for flight.
 
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