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Pocket Knife Patterns and Blade Shapes
**this is a working document and will change over time, increasing in accuracy and extensiveness
I am by no means an expert on knife patterns, and I saw so many names floating around out there. This is especially true with traditional patterns. I decided to try and compile a reference doc for all of the newbies out there like myself. I like knowing about why things are built and designed they way that they are. I have tried to limit the info to what is relevant to our traditional knives. To plenty of you, this will be nothing you didn't already know, but hopefully you will still find it interesting. Feel free to add if you have input!
Blade Shapes
Traditional Pocket Knife Patterns
Congress
Congress knives generally have a convex or curved front design with a straight or shallow back (sway back) section. The knife model typically features two or more blades, but the most common versions have four blades. A Congress knife will likely feature two main blades, which are usually the sheepfoot and spear blade. The additional blades are typically a coping and pen blade.
Elephant Toenail
A wide and stout knife that typically features bone or ivory handle materials. This is a sleeveboard shaped knife with two blades, typically a spear point and pen knife.
Sunfish
Equal ended flat knife with two blades, one at each end of the knife. The blades on these knives are very thick at the spine. The blades are typically spear point and pen.
Canoe
The first Canoe knife was constructed before 1915. The knife's name comes from the handle since the shape is reminiscent of the shallow canoes that some Native Americans used in the past. Most Canoe knives feature two blades that share the tool's single back spring. The main blade is generally a spear and the other blade is typically a pen.
Barlow
Barlow style pocketknives typically have one or two blades, a large metal bolster and a handle shaped in the form of a teardrop. In constructing the knife, the manufacturer connects the knife's blade or blades to the handle's small end. The Barlow knife first appeared in Sheffield, England, during the 1600s. However, several American knife manufacturers began producing the tool, and as a result, it became popular in the United States.
Jack Knife
The jackknife is reportedly named after Jacque de Liege. He was a French knife maker who is said to have invented the first back-spring assembly. The term is used today to describe many different types of knives. It is most commonly used to describe any knife that has one or two blades that open on the same end. It is also used to describe any knife that has two blades that open in opposite ends and measures more than roughly 3 1/2".
Swell Center
A handle design where the center of the knife handle is larger than either end.
Cigar
A handle design that is highly cylindrical and mimics the shape of a cigar with rounded ends.
Sowbelly
Sowbelly is a handle style that is smaller near the blade end. The handle's design is similar to the serpentine style. Sowbelly Stockman knives may feature a curve in the bolster, and this design feature gives it a natural line when users open the blade.
Physician's Knife
A slender handled knife with a flat bottom that could be used for crushing pills into powder. This knife typically features a long thin spear point blade.
Saddlehorn
A curved or clasp style Jack knife whose handles resembles the shape of a saddlehorn, with a clip and possibly a spey blade.
Lockback
A locking style of pocket knife where the opened blade must be unlocked by releasing a catch on the back of the handle. A lockback knife most often features a single drop point or trailing point blade.
Pruning
A pruning knife features a large hawkbill style blade that is ideal for quickly drawing across stems and branches to ease pruning tasks.
Gunstock
The Gunstock pocketknife is a regular or slender jackknife. The tool's master blade will either be a spear or clip. In addition, the secondary blade is generally a pen. The handle features a prominent arch that comes to a point on the inside of the handle.
Pen Knife
Historians have dated the penknife back to the 1400s when people needed sharpening devices to maintain their writing tools. Pocket pen knives are light-weight, double-ended knife with two or three blades that are hinged at both ends. They usually feature a small single-edge spear point blades or spey blades.
Stockman
Serpentined shaped with double ends. Most models have three blades and two springs. Stockman knives have a clip point master blade while the second cutting edge is generally a spey. The last blade can be a harness punch, sheepfoot or pen. Stockman knives usually feature a square or round end.
Trapper
The Trapper knife received its name because people who trapped for a living frequently used it. In addition, the knife model has been popular with people who like to hunt as they can use the knife to skin and gut animals. The knife model features a sharp clip point blade that curves as well as a spey blade.
Whittler
Whittler knives feature three pen blades. The model is likely to include a large blade on one end of the tool with two small blades set at the back. Whittler knives generally have two springs. The two small blades operate on one spring, and the large blade functions on both springs.
Thats it for now - I will try and add to this with suggestions or with new stuff as I learn about it.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade
http://www.knifecollector.net/PocketKnifePatterns.html
http://knivesshipfree.com/
**this is a working document and will change over time, increasing in accuracy and extensiveness
I am by no means an expert on knife patterns, and I saw so many names floating around out there. This is especially true with traditional patterns. I decided to try and compile a reference doc for all of the newbies out there like myself. I like knowing about why things are built and designed they way that they are. I have tried to limit the info to what is relevant to our traditional knives. To plenty of you, this will be nothing you didn't already know, but hopefully you will still find it interesting. Feel free to add if you have input!
Blade Shapes
- Normal - A normal blade has a curving edge, and straight back. A dull back lets the wielder use fingers to concentrate force; it also makes the knife heavy and strong for its size. The curve concentrates force on a smaller area, making cutting easier. This knife can chop as well as pick and slice. This is also the best single-edged blade shape for thrusting, as the edge cuts a swath that the entire width of the knife can pass through without the spine having to push aside any material on its path, as a sheepsfoot or drop-point knife would.
- Trailing Point - A trailing-point knife has a back edge that curves upward to end above the spine. This lets a lightweight knife have a larger curve on its edge and indeed the whole of the knife may be curved. Such a knife is optimized for slicing or slashing. Trailing point blades provide a larger cutting area, or belly, and are common on skinning knives.
- Drop-point blade - A drop point blade has a convex curve of the back towards the point. It handles much like the clip-point, though with a stronger point typically less suitable for piercing. Swiss army pocket knives often have drop-points on their larger blades.
- Clip-point - A clip-point blade is like a normal blade with the back "clipped". This clip can be either straight or concave. The back edge of the clip may have a false edge that could be sharpened to make a second edge. The sharp tip is useful as a pick, or for cutting in tight places. If the false edge is sharpened it increases the knife's effectiveness in piercing. As well, having the tip closer to the centre of the blade allows greater control in piercing. The Bowie knife has a clip point blade and clip-points are common on pocket knives and other folding knives.
- Sheepsfoot - A sheepsfoot blade has a straight edge and a straight dull back that curves towards the edge at the end. It gives the most control, because the dull back edge is made to be held by fingers. Sheepsfoot blades were originally made to trim the hooves of sheep. Their shape bears no similarity to the foot of a sheep.
- Wharncliffe - A Wharncliffe blade is similar in profile to a sheep's foot but the curve of the back edge starts closer to the handle and is more gradual. Its blade is much thicker than a knife of comparable size. Wharncliffes were used by sailors, as the shape of the tip prevented accidental penetration of the work or the user's hand with the sudden motion of a ship.
- Spey - A spey point blade (once used for neutering livestock) has a single, sharp, straight edge that curves strongly upwards at the end to meet a short, dull, straight point from the dull back. With the curved end of the blade being closer to perpendicular to the blade's axis than other knives and lacking a point, making penetration unlikely, spey blades are common on Trapper style pocketknives for skinning fur-bearing animals.
- Spear-point - A spear point blade is a symmetrically-shaped blade with a point aligned with the centerline of the blade's long axis. True spear-point blades are double-edged with a central spine, like a dagger or spear head. The spear point is one of the stronger blade point designs in terms of penetration stress, and is found on many thrusting knives such as the dagger. The term spear point is occasionally and confusingly used to describe small single-edged blades without a central spine, such as that of the pen knife, a small folding-blade pocket knife formerly used in sharpening quills for writing. Pen-knife may also nowadays refer to the blade pattern of some of larger pocket knife blades that would otherwise be termed drop-point designs.
- Hawkbill - A hawkbill blade is sharpened on the inside edge and is similar to carpet and linoleum knives. The point will tear even if the rest of the knife is comparatively dull.
- Easy Open - A blade that features a dull notch at the tip that can be used on a pocket or other edge as a spot to anchor the blade so it can be opened with one hand.
Traditional Pocket Knife Patterns
Congress
Congress knives generally have a convex or curved front design with a straight or shallow back (sway back) section. The knife model typically features two or more blades, but the most common versions have four blades. A Congress knife will likely feature two main blades, which are usually the sheepfoot and spear blade. The additional blades are typically a coping and pen blade.
Elephant Toenail
A wide and stout knife that typically features bone or ivory handle materials. This is a sleeveboard shaped knife with two blades, typically a spear point and pen knife.
Sunfish
Equal ended flat knife with two blades, one at each end of the knife. The blades on these knives are very thick at the spine. The blades are typically spear point and pen.
Canoe
The first Canoe knife was constructed before 1915. The knife's name comes from the handle since the shape is reminiscent of the shallow canoes that some Native Americans used in the past. Most Canoe knives feature two blades that share the tool's single back spring. The main blade is generally a spear and the other blade is typically a pen.
Barlow
Barlow style pocketknives typically have one or two blades, a large metal bolster and a handle shaped in the form of a teardrop. In constructing the knife, the manufacturer connects the knife's blade or blades to the handle's small end. The Barlow knife first appeared in Sheffield, England, during the 1600s. However, several American knife manufacturers began producing the tool, and as a result, it became popular in the United States.
Jack Knife
The jackknife is reportedly named after Jacque de Liege. He was a French knife maker who is said to have invented the first back-spring assembly. The term is used today to describe many different types of knives. It is most commonly used to describe any knife that has one or two blades that open on the same end. It is also used to describe any knife that has two blades that open in opposite ends and measures more than roughly 3 1/2".
Swell Center
A handle design where the center of the knife handle is larger than either end.
Cigar
A handle design that is highly cylindrical and mimics the shape of a cigar with rounded ends.
Sowbelly
Sowbelly is a handle style that is smaller near the blade end. The handle's design is similar to the serpentine style. Sowbelly Stockman knives may feature a curve in the bolster, and this design feature gives it a natural line when users open the blade.
Physician's Knife
A slender handled knife with a flat bottom that could be used for crushing pills into powder. This knife typically features a long thin spear point blade.
Saddlehorn
A curved or clasp style Jack knife whose handles resembles the shape of a saddlehorn, with a clip and possibly a spey blade.
Lockback
A locking style of pocket knife where the opened blade must be unlocked by releasing a catch on the back of the handle. A lockback knife most often features a single drop point or trailing point blade.
Pruning
A pruning knife features a large hawkbill style blade that is ideal for quickly drawing across stems and branches to ease pruning tasks.
Gunstock
The Gunstock pocketknife is a regular or slender jackknife. The tool's master blade will either be a spear or clip. In addition, the secondary blade is generally a pen. The handle features a prominent arch that comes to a point on the inside of the handle.
Pen Knife
Historians have dated the penknife back to the 1400s when people needed sharpening devices to maintain their writing tools. Pocket pen knives are light-weight, double-ended knife with two or three blades that are hinged at both ends. They usually feature a small single-edge spear point blades or spey blades.
Stockman
Serpentined shaped with double ends. Most models have three blades and two springs. Stockman knives have a clip point master blade while the second cutting edge is generally a spey. The last blade can be a harness punch, sheepfoot or pen. Stockman knives usually feature a square or round end.
Trapper
The Trapper knife received its name because people who trapped for a living frequently used it. In addition, the knife model has been popular with people who like to hunt as they can use the knife to skin and gut animals. The knife model features a sharp clip point blade that curves as well as a spey blade.
Whittler
Whittler knives feature three pen blades. The model is likely to include a large blade on one end of the tool with two small blades set at the back. Whittler knives generally have two springs. The two small blades operate on one spring, and the large blade functions on both springs.
Thats it for now - I will try and add to this with suggestions or with new stuff as I learn about it.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade
http://www.knifecollector.net/PocketKnifePatterns.html
http://knivesshipfree.com/
Last edited:
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