List of traditional folders

Not sure if I could see the whole list, but I only see European knives on this list.
What about those common in North America , south America, and the UK ?
 
There are a lot of errors and omissions. You might want to pick up the book Levine's Guide to Knives and their Values to use as a reference--it has patterns very well organized and includes some history.

I'm sure that it took a long time to compile the list. The sources for the information are very important. There's a lot of inaccurate information on the web that may have led to some of the errors. I'd recommend starting with the book. Old catalogs are one good primary source.

Listing the manufacturers of each pattern is probably not realistic for most. Many patterns were widely used in the industry.

Many of the origins are incorrect. Levine's Guide will have some of this historical information. But some origins may be difficult to trace for some patterns and would require a lot of independent research of primary materials.
 
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Thank you for your interest.
The U.K./U.S. patterns are on the bottom. 422 designs are contained.
I'm sure there are a lot of errors and omissions and that's a reason for posting it here, to get suggestions. I used the Blade's book and other sources, but I don't have the Levine's. I have to order it from Amazon. Is it much different than the Blade's?
Should I get the 4th or the 5th edition?
 
kkokkolis said:
Thank you for your interest.
The U.K./U.S. patterns are on the bottom. 422 designs are contained.
I'm sure there are a lot of errors and omissions and that's a reason for posting it here, to get suggestions. I used the Blade's book and other sources, but I don't have the Levine's. I have to order it from Amazon. Is it much different than the Blade's?
Should I get the 4th or the 5th edition?
Click to expand...
Ok, I use my phone and for some reason I can only scroll down so far and it won't let me scroll back up.
 
kkokkolis said:
Thank you for your interest.
The U.K./U.S. patterns are on the bottom. 422 designs are contained.
I'm sure there are a lot of errors and omissions and that's a reason for posting it here, to get suggestions. I used the Blade's book and other sources, but I don't have the Levine's. I have to order it from Amazon. Is it much different than the Blade's?
Should I get the 4th or the 5th edition?
Click to expand...

LGK IV is considered to be the definitive version.
 
Yes, I red Levine denoting that.

4th Ed goes from 70 to 525$! How much should I pay?

There's also a 750$, but that's reasonable, since "Cover appears used and pages may show heavy wear. May have notes, underlining and or highlighting to text. Dust jacket may be missing."!!!
 
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kkokkolis said:
Thank you for your interest.
The U.K./U.S. patterns are on the bottom. 422 designs are contained.
I'm sure there are a lot of errors and omissions and that's a reason for posting it here, to get suggestions. I used the Blade's book and other sources, but I don't have the Levine's. I have to order it from Amazon. Is it much different than the Blade's?
Should I get the 4th or the 5th edition?
Click to expand...

You used Blade's Guide? The list doesn't agree with the information in Blade's Guide.

What is your goal? If you have books then maybe you don't need the list. A lot of the information in the list is wrong and misleading. The book contains fewer errors and the book is easier to navigate than a spreadsheet. In the electronic version of Blade's Guide, you can even do a text search http://selfdefensefund.com/wp-content/uploads/Knife-Price.pdf The book also has a lot more historical information.
 
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I used the Blade's guide, together with other resources. Most Italian and French designs are offered by several brands and aren't included in the book (wich focuses on Anglosaxon designs, the way I see it). I used info from their sites.

What's the purpose? I asked in a forum what are the traditional/historical/regional designs and I got a dozen designs as a response. I wanted more info, so I started adding and adding. It is for my own use (but free for anyone who might find it useful). I'm not an expert. I'm not a collector. I'm not a pro. I'm just curious.
 
I agree, for the Sardinia (Italy) it's just a list of different names often related to the same knife.
something like:
-Folder
-slipjoint
-slippie
-folding knife
-spring knife......
 
stezann said:
I agree, for the Sardinia (Italy) it's just a list of different names often related to the same knife.
something like:
-Folder
-slipjoint
-slippie
-folding knife
-spring knife......
Click to expand...

That's a nice example. Another example of a mistake is listing brand names as a design and listing dealers as makers.

You're writing before you know the subject so there are lots of mistakes. ...Sort of like writing a legal dictionary before studying law! It may be best to restart from scratch after doing research first so that the mistakes don't lead you astray. As the saying goes, measure twice and cut once. After reading the books and collecting primary sources of information (like old catalogs, old trade journals, advertisements, patent documents, company records, etc), you will have a better understanding the subject. You'll even want to change the type of information you catalog in a list after you learn more about traditional knives. It's great that you have an interest in the history. The key thing for any historian is sources. History is different than story telling since it is supposed to be based on facts. You need good sources and you need to use those sources accurately.
 
That's reasonable. I'll try to find Levine's book shortly. Would you suggest any other sources?

By the way, is there a connection between Levine's and Blade's books? Do they share information or format?
 
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Levine's Guide 4th Edition is the last version edited by by Bernard Levine. The 5th and later editions are edited by others and the title was changed to Blade's Guide. Some of the changes in later editions are frowned upon. I have the 4th and have no interest in the others so I don't keep up with all the changes. I know Bernard Levine's work is researched well.

If you want to write history, you want to gather as many primary sources (old catalogs, trade journals, company records, etc) as possible so that you do original work. The following are secondary sources (someone else's work). If you are just doing research for your own enjoyment, it is easier to just follow someone else's work. If you get serious, you will start checking the information in books against primary sources and doing your own research.

For most folks, Levine's Guide is really all they need. It covers a lot of ground for someone who is just beginning.

Levine's Guide to Knives and their Values 4th Edition by Bernard Levine (ISBN# 0873491890)

But there are lots of good books... here are a few that Bernard Levine recommends: http://www.knife-expert.com/kbib99.txt

As you get more serious, you'll want to read everything!
 
I get it.

I don't intend to write history. Also, I'm not interested to collecting, prices etc. I am mostly interested in morphology of the pocket knife, basic types and regional or historical variations. I learned a few things while searching. Some info is doubtful as you say, at a basic level though I now know what a Douk Douk or an Ankermesser looks like and what's the difference between a Barlow and a Congress, until recently I only knew about Swiss Army Knives. So, making the list payed back already. But I would like to learn more with time. Your advise is precious. Unfortunatelly, most of these books never got the ship to Greece and I have to choose carefully and buy a couple of the most useful books I can reach. I only have two now, a general book about SAKs and Blade's ebook.
 
Here are some of the common patterns made in the USA. Many of these patterns were standards in the industry and widely produced by many companies. These are just a few examples. Remington's catalog contained well over a thousand patterns. Many of the patterns made by American cutlers originated in Europe.

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Man, you're undertaking a huge task I would not take! :)
As the colleagues above I found a few errors, for example in what concerns France :

- a useful tip : many "régional" (or régionaux) patterns are made by a several of makers. A hint for Laguiole : I could name more than 30 and would forget at least as much. Same for the Thiers, Normand, Massu, Tonneau, etc.

- Euskal Herria is the name for both sides of the frontier, the knives come from Pays basque, Laguiole is in Aveyron, the Bugiste come from Ain, not Savoie.

- some typos : Haute-Loire not Hauite-Loir, Aquitaine not Aquitene, Alsacien (or Massu) not Alscasien, Corrèze not Corezze, Garonnais not Garronais, St Amans is in Auvergne

- Coutebox, Berthier are retailers, not cutlers. Everybody make Pradels, the trademark exists no more.

- Allemand does not exist as a pattern, but there is a serpette allemande, Couteau à champignon is a mushroom knife and come from all the world, Cran d'arrêt is a knife with a lock.

- all that come from Baladéo is to be labeled Pakistan, these are not traditionals, just lookalikes.

- Perceval has its own range of knives, none is a real traditional.

A list of most pattern : https://www.lecouteau.info/couteaux-régionaux-traditionnels/

Your list has ommitted Hungarian knives. Look here (the patterns are in BOLD), here again each patterns are made by several makers : http://couteauxdepoche.forumchti.com/t3697-a-l-est-du-nouveau

Hope this helps. Good luck!
 
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Thank you both! I'm really impressed with all the information and your will to help me. I will need time to process and exploit all that.

That French site is dreamlike. My French are very basic, I'll need time with it too.

The few folders I own (I also have some dozens of SAKs and Multitools and a couple of fixed blades), that made me curious about the different designs.

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About those beautiful Hungarian folders, in order to avoid further mistakes:

These are the designs:
Kis Szalonnàzo
Ràc
Arató
Bàcskai (Náder)
Cakli
Farmer
Fejes Görbe
Farvillás
Gráci
Gulyás
Halas
Horgász
Juhász
Maskara (Bácskai görbe)
Matróz
Páros Bicska
Rombusz

These are makers:
Revész
Tibor Szankovits
Zoltan Nagy
István Nagy
Tamàs Vàrga
József Tarjányi
Polyak

And are these variations (of the Ràc)?
Nagyrác
Nőirác
Kis női
Gyerek bicska
 
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Heh, heh, heh, he said "morphology". There is a word you won't find in everybody's idiolect. Way back when I was taking linguistics courses, it ranked right up there with "phonology" and "scatology". Sorry, just kidding.

That is a nice array of knives. The Okapi ratchet looks small, though, compared to the adjoining knives. What model is it?. I like the small Okapi slipjoints, and always thought I might prefer a smaller ratchet.
 
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