Purpose of a Muskrat?

A

addylo

Joined
Oct 28, 2009
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I'm curious...

What was the original purpose of the Muskrat pattern? Two identical blade profiles seems redundant.

Or was that redundancy itself the point? Perhaps having a back up blade if one broke or got dull?
 
It is a skinning knife essentially whenever one gets dull you simply open the other and keep going. Animals like muskrat have dirt in their fur and it dulls a blade quick.
 
nccoonhunter said:
It is a skinning knife essentially whenever one gets dull you simply open the other and keep going. Animals like muskrat have dirt in their fur and it dulls a blade quick.
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what he said.
 
What Nccoonhunter said is essentially correct, however it doesn't explain why the two blades are identical, nor why they are on opposite ends. When I was younger I trapped in the winter and worked construction in the summer. I used a Buck trapper to do most of the skinning, using the clip blade to cut off feet and start incisions and the spey blade to do the basic skinning. In the end, perhaps it just came down to personal preference.
 
Not every version of the Muskrat has two identical blades - the Buck 313 Muskrat looks like a medium Moose configuration; it has the blades of a trapper but pinned on opposite ends. OH

Buck_313_Muskrat_2_.jpg
 
Alamosmick said:
What Nccoonhunter said is essentially correct, however it doesn't explain why the two blades are identical, nor why they are on opposite ends. When I was younger I trapped in the winter and worked construction in the summer. I used a Buck trapper to do most of the skinning, using the clip blade to cut off feet and start incisions and the spey blade to do the basic skinning. In the end, perhaps it just came down to personal preference.
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Nonsense. The OP specifically asked about knives with
Two identical blade profiles.
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He did not ask about "knives with a clip at one end and a spey at the other."
nccoonhunter answered the OP's question perfectly, as one would expect a North Carolina Coon Hunter to do.
 
Just to add--though I realize it may not make much difference to some--an equal end, two identical blade pen configuration feels the same in the hand regardless of which blade is being used. Given the historic foundation of the pattern, I assume this is why the pen configuration evolved over a jack configuration. Or so it seems to me...

Michael
 
Schrade 787 Improved Muskrat. Any differences in blade shape are due to wear. However the blades differ in that only the primary blade is marked, and the nail nicks are in different places on the blades to give best access to them. On the pocket blade, the nick begins 1 7/8" from the bolster when opened. On the secondary blade the nick begins 1 1/4" from the bolster when opened. Exact same nick positioning would only work on an equal end knife, not a serpentine.

bdjpc6.jpg


And... correct on the reasoning behind haveing two blades of the same profile. When one begins to dull, swapping ends and blades allows one to continue with skinning without having to stop and sharpen a blade.
 
SAK Guy said:
Is that 787 the open stock version of the 77OT?
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Pretty much so, yes. The 787 pattern goes way back, in the 1960's there were stainless versions, and then after the 77OT came out in circa 1976, both the open stock 787 and the 77OT were produced for a few years. Mine, as you can tell, is carbon steel and was made after 1972.

A cursory examination of old catalogs shows first mention of the 787 in the familiar configuration and name "Muskrat knife" in 1953. Obvious predecessor is 7814 in the 1938 catalog with the name "Improved Muskrat", but with a skinning blade (wharncliff) and a turkish clip blade. Further back the root is the 7803 3/4 in the 1928 catalog with a turkish clip and a smaller sabre clip blade.
 
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Codger_64 said:
Pretty much so, yes. The 787 pattern goes way back, in the 1960's there were stainless versions, and then after the 77OT came out in circa 1976, both the open stock 787 and the 77OT were produced for a few years. Mine, as you can tell, is carbon steel and was made after 1972.
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Cool! Thank you sir! I have a 77OT from the early 90's (I think).
 
Seems to me they ride at separate ends so there is no need for a center scale (divider) and they only require 1 spring, although many are made with two springs now.
 
Kadmos said:
Seems to me they ride at separate ends so there is no need for a center scale (divider) and they only require 1 spring, although many are made with two springs now.
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The Schrade pictured above has two springs and a brass center scale, but it is representative of only the one manufacturer.
 
The only Muskrat I have is a Queen Cutlery Amber Bone D2, this is single-spring. I don't hunt but I use it like a Slimline Trapper for food prep, only it doesn't matter which way I take it out of my pocket, there's always a nail nick waiting.

It's also one of the VERY best made production knives I own: no gaps at all, no play, no blade-rub and fine thick bone handles. Its purpose is to please me, and it does!

Thanks, Will
 
You re-sharpen a lot when you skin bunch of muskrats with typical slip joint steel; hence two identical blades. I used to do them in about a minute each and you have to be quick to do this. I've had to do a hundred in one evening.
 
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