Clam knife

T

TomW

Joined
Oct 7, 1998
Messages
1,128
Anybody have a custom clam knife?
Coming from Coastal new England I grew up opening clams.
Most of the clam knives used never worked for me. The blades were too thick and broke too many shells. A problem on the small thin shelled clams. The best I found was a very rare and odd little knife called a pin feather knife. Unless you've raised ducks (I've had weird hobbies)you've probably never heard of one. It's a very thin springy blade thinner than a hack saw blade. Goes under a pin feather with the thumb on top to hold a feather for pulling. It's not sharp just ultra thin.
It will also slide right between the shells of a clam effortlessly right around to the back muscle. Total control and quick. You don't even spill the liquid unless you want to.
I'd like to make similar in a custom knife but wonder what kind of steel is right for it.
What kind of clam blades do you prefer? If you've made a custom I'd be interested in comments on the style of the blade you liked.
 
My Grandfather owned a small (30 boats) marina on Cape Cod MA. He and my Dad used to run scallop beds and I can remember as a kid watching many Portugese women shelling Scallops and Oysters in huge quantities and tossing the shells out into a huge pile of shells on the beach. While I remember the Clam knife as one of my first knife memories, I always thought they were ugly and dull. Looking back on the experience and the assortment of shellfish involves, I'm sure that there were some finer knives involved, but as a 4-5 year old lad I was unaware of them and the Clam knife was king.

jmx
 
I ended up grinding down a putty knife for a oyster knife. Maybe one of the thinner putty knives will work for a clam knife?
 
maybe this helps??
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=203624&highlight=oyster

pic:
attachment.php



:cool: :D :eek:
 
Never heard of a "clam" knife but oyster knives yes. I have several relatives with their own oyster beds and of course have clams, crabs, shrimp and geoduck for the taking from the pristeen waters of beautiful Hood Canal in Washington State. I heard a lot of complaining from my Dad, uncles and such, about the oyster knives beacause they couldn't get hard steel ones anymore. Just soft (cheaper) stainless ones that didn't remain thin at the edge. Oyster shells are pretty hard. An oyster knife is one knife that is a sharpened pry bar.
 
Tom:You are talking about little necks?? I would use 440C, 1/8" thick, flat ground and rounded tip. Being from the same area and Portuguese I have open my share. If you want me to draw you something up let me know??
I dug them up when I was in high school for extra spenting money. the only problem I ate half of them before getting them to market.
 
Big bore
That's a pretty knife but not a clam knife.
The thickness is fine for oysters but as George mentioned the little neck or small clams often eaten raw are thin shelled. Gritty pieces of shell aren't good. And grit is very often in clams you get in restaurants when you order clams. Since there is no real clam knife.
That's why the ultra thin blade that slides right in and works best.
 
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