Traditional Automatic/Switchblade??

[Arian29]

Hello All,
I am curious to know whether switchblade knives/Automatic folders can be considered as traditional knives? What do you think?

Per Wikipedia these are in existence since mid 18th century.Examples of steel automatic folding knives from Sheffield England have crown markings that date to 1840....

Thanks in advance for any info and additional details, write ups and fotos welcome

PS: attaching here a screen shot of the wiki page from my phone.

 

[Jack Black]

While there's a separate forum for them, they certainly ARE traditional, and get shown here from time to time. I'm not sure your thread really needs a poll. If you're interested in them, can I recommend Art of the Switchblade: The World's Concourse Examples by Neal Punchard and Dan Fuller, some superb historic examples in there

For the record, while Wikipedia is a useful resource, which most of us use, anyone can write or edit entries there, and it is unreliable and contains a fair bit of rubbish

 

[Arian29]

While there's a separate forum for them, they certainly ARE traditional, and get shown here from time to time. I'm not sure your thread really needs a poll. If you're interested in them, can I recommend Art of the Switchblade: The World's Concourse Examples by Neal Punchard and Dan Fuller, some superb historic examples in there

For the record, while Wikipedia is a useful resource, which most of us use, anyone can write or edit entries there, and it is unreliable and contains a fair bit of rubbish

Thanks for your reply, I will check out ur recommendation.
I love this traditional forum and if Autos are traditional, want to confirm it thru the poll, coz in many discussions, we’ve seen some agree while many disagree due to ‘one hand opening’ of autos.

This poll might become a fun exercise as it goes, but if 2-3 more members do not want the poll, thn I will withdraw it for sure.
Cheers

 

[Jack Black]

Thanks for your reply, I will check out ur recommendation.
I love this traditional forum and if Autos are traditional, want to confirm it thru the poll, coz in many discussions, we’ve seen some agree while many disagree due to ‘one hand opening’ of autos.

This poll might become a fun exercise as it goes, but if 2-3 more members do not want the poll, thn I will withdraw it for sure.
Cheers

It doesn't follow that ALL autos and switchblades are traditional obviously If I remember correctly, one of our mods has a nice example, which he shows occasionally. I don't have any objection to a poll, nor do I think anyone else will, but I regard it as slightly pointless, since the history of 'fly-open' knives is not a question of opinion, and their suitability for inclusion here is a matter for the mods, not general opinion

 

[Arian29]

It doesn't follow that ALL autos and switchblades are traditional obviously If I remember correctly, one of our mods has a nice example, which he shows occasionally. I don't have any objection to a poll, nor do I think anyone else will, but I regard it as slightly pointless, since the history of 'fly-open' knives is not a question of opinion, and their suitability for inclusion here is a matter for the mods, not general opinion

Agree,
Im a big fan of traditional knives, autos included,
BRAVO

 

[Markesharp]

Case made some beautiful switch blades in the 1920's -1930's if I remember correctly. Would love to see if anyone has any examples of those knives.

 

[Jolipapa]

Hello All,
I am curious to know whether switchblade knives/Automatic folders can be considered as traditional knives? What do you think?

Per Wikipedia these are in existence since mid 18th century.Examples of steel automatic folding knives from Sheffield England have crown markings that date to 1840....

Thanks in advance for any info and additional details.

PS: attaching here a screen shot of the wiki page from my phone.
View attachment 960617

As often, Wikipedia proves to be less than exact...
Chatellerault is an average town, home of the Descartes family and was famous for the high quality cutlers since the 13th century (several hundred before the Revolution, producing expensive folders, switchblades and "prostitute daggers"); the town was an important "Post" station half way on the Paris - Bordeaux road and many cutlers sold their knives to travellers.
To have an idea of the high level of quality achieved :
https://www.lecouteau.info/couteaux...els/les-chatellerault/les-couteaux-poignards/
(the second part, after "Ailleurs aussi . . ." deals with imitations.)
The number of cutlers declined during the 19th century. But the defeat in Waterloo showed that the weapon manufactures situated in the East were too easily endangered and it was decided to create the Manufacture d'Armes de Châtellerault (MAC). Many skilled cutlers came (good and steady wages, many social advantages, a good health service, the Manuchards as they were called could retire at 50 after 30 years of work), this led to the quick demise of smaller shops. Until 1830 the Manufacture was specialized in "armes blanches" (knives, swords, etc.) achieving both high quality and great quantities (8000 workers during WW1, the most important weapon factory in Europe).

(all pictures © https://www.lecouteau.info/)
Today, the only Chatellerault pattern still available is the "sword-knife" (second from the top) and is made mostly in Thiers (only one cutler left in Chatellerault).
The pattern has been used in Thiers by Bargeon and many others for several sizes of automatics (I bought mine in 1970) also in Italy, a mix of Chatellerault and Genoese stylus. Winchester also had a similar pattern with a clip.


The Admiral d'Estaing (no link with a former president, whose family bought a title of nobility, one was near the King of France at Bouvines) was a French noble of a very old family originating from the Aveyronese town of Estaing (# 25km of Laguiole, 10km from Espalion).
The English Navy keeps a painful souvenirs of his campaigns against her ships as a privateer during the war in India... He was less successful during the US Independance War.
He is reputed to have ordered a folding dagger he could use for dinner and hunting as well.

To close this pedantic speech, imho these may well be considered as traditionals, even if I'm not very fond of them.

 

[Jack Black]

As often, Wikipedia proves to be less than exact...
Chatellerault is an average town, home of the Descartes family and was famous for the high quality cutlers since the 13th century (several hundred before the Revolution, producing expensive folders, switchblades and "prostitute daggers"); the town was an important "Post" station half way on the Paris - Bordeaux road and many cutlers sold their knives to travellers.
To have an idea of the high level of quality achieved :
https://www.lecouteau.info/couteaux-régionaux-traditionnels/les-chatellerault/les-couteaux-poignards/
(the second part, after "Ailleurs aussi . . ." deals with imitations.)
The number of cutlers declined during the 19th century. But the defeat in Waterloo showed that the weapon manufactures situated in the East were too easily endangered and it was decided to create the Manufacture d'Armes de Châtellerault (MAC). Many skilled cutlers came (good and steady wages, many social advantages, a good health service, the Manuchards as they were called could retire at 50 after 30 years of work), this led to the quick demise of smaller shops. Until 1830 the Manufacture was specialized in "armes blanches" (knives, swords, etc.) achieving both high quality and great quantities (8000 workers during WW1, the most important weapon factory in Europe).

(all pictures © https://www.lecouteau.info/)
Today, the only Chatellerault pattern still available is the "sword-knife" (second from the top) and is made mostly in Thiers (only one cutler left in Chatellerault).
The pattern has been used in Thiers by Bargeon and many others for several sizes of automatics (I bought mine in 1970) also in Italy, a mix of Chatellerault and Genoese stylus. Winchester also had a similar pattern with a clip.
View attachment 960642

The Admiral d'Estaing (no link with a former president, whose family bought a title of nobility, one was near the King of France at Bouvines) was a French noble of a very old family originating from the Aveyronese town of Estaing (# 25km of Laguiole, 10km from Espalion).
The English Navy keeps a painful souvenirs of his campaigns against her ships as a privateer during the war in India... He was less successful during the US Independance War.
He is reputed to have ordered a folding dagger he could use for dinner and hunting as well.

To close this pedantic speech, imho these may well be considered as traditionals, even if I'm not very fond of them.

Very informative JP

 

[TheChunk91]

Case made some beautiful switch blades in the 1920's -1930's if I remember correctly. Would love to see if anyone has any examples of those knives.

Those were made by schrade, they had patents on their switches and made very good ones. They made them for other companies as well, like remington.

 

[mrknife]

perhaps it is like the old adage, all thumbs are fingers but not all fingers are thumbs

 

[Sam Dean]

Here's a couple oldies I just happen to have in my desk drawer.

 

[Arian29]

Keep ‘em coming.

 

[Arian29]

As often, Wikipedia proves to be less than exact...
Chatellerault is an average town, home of the Descartes family and was famous for the high quality cutlers since the 13th century (several hundred before the Revolution, producing expensive folders, switchblades and "prostitute daggers"); the town was an important "Post" station half way on the Paris - Bordeaux road and many cutlers sold their knives to travellers.
To have an idea of the high level of quality achieved :
https://www.lecouteau.info/couteaux-régionaux-traditionnels/les-chatellerault/les-couteaux-poignards/
(the second part, after "Ailleurs aussi . . ." deals with imitations.)
The number of cutlers declined during the 19th century. But the defeat in Waterloo showed that the weapon manufactures situated in the East were too easily endangered and it was decided to create the Manufacture d'Armes de Châtellerault (MAC). Many skilled cutlers came (good and steady wages, many social advantages, a good health service, the Manuchards as they were called could retire at 50 after 30 years of work), this led to the quick demise of smaller shops. Until 1830 the Manufacture was specialized in "armes blanches" (knives, swords, etc.) achieving both high quality and great quantities (8000 workers during WW1, the most important weapon factory in Europe).

(all pictures © https://www.lecouteau.info/)
Today, the only Chatellerault pattern still available is the "sword-knife" (second from the top) and is made mostly in Thiers (only one cutler left in Chatellerault).
The pattern has been used in Thiers by Bargeon and many others for several sizes of automatics (I bought mine in 1970) also in Italy, a mix of Chatellerault and Genoese stylus. Winchester also had a similar pattern with a clip.
View attachment 960642

The Admiral d'Estaing (no link with a former president, whose family bought a title of nobility, one was near the King of France at Bouvines) was a French noble of a very old family originating from the Aveyronese town of Estaing (# 25km of Laguiole, 10km from Espalion).
The English Navy keeps a painful souvenirs of his campaigns against her ships as a privateer during the war in India... He was less successful during the US Independance War.
He is reputed to have ordered a folding dagger he could use for dinner and hunting as well.

To close this pedantic speech, imho these may well be considered as traditionals, even if I'm not very fond of them.

Very nice write up, excellent knives’ pics and info...

 

[kfalk]

Here's a couple oldies I just happen to have in my desk drawer.

Lol - that bottom one with the painted/coated pearl is like finding hardwood floors underneath your carpeting.

Nice pair!

 

[traumkommode]

I've had a couple of these in my life, one was given to my from my dad when I was a kid. Called a Paratrooper made by Schrade. The hook is actually chisel sharpened, ostensibly to cut the lines of your chute if you're stuck in a tree, although it is not automatically deployed like the main blade.

 

[brownshoe]

Switchblades are very traditional. I think some of them are more traditional than the "modern traditionals" since many still use traditional materials and production methods. However in the past, the moderators have not allowed their discussion on this subforum and told people to take it to the auto forum. Maybe it's time for a change, since the auto forum doesn't really discuss traditional autos very much.

 

[Arian29]

Switchblades are very traditional. I think some of them are more traditional than the "modern traditionals" since many still use traditional materials and production methods. However in the past, the moderators have not allowed their discussion on this subforum and told people to take it to the auto forum. Maybe it's time for a change, since the auto forum doesn't really discuss traditional autos very much.

We appreciate our mods for allowing us this thread/discussion about Switchblades/Autos here, altho theres a seperate sub forum for Autos.
Many thanks.

Its been a while I’ve been curious to know whether knife lovers thought switchblades as traditional, if to go by the info shared here, switchblades are in existence over 100s of years, and still a fav among many a knife people imho.

 

[Hickory n steel]

Those were made by schrade, they had patents on their switches and made very good ones. They made them for other companies as well, like remington.

When I think of traditional and switchblade, the classic pen pattern press button Schrade is exactly what I think of.

 

[Peregrin]

I'll weigh in here to say the following.
1. Switchblades/Automatic Knives are as traditional as any knife we discuss in this forum. If you need to be reminded what is considered, in general, to be traditional, there's a few posts that are stickied at the top of the forum page (this reminder is more for newer members then folks who post here all the time).
2. There's a dedicated sub-forum for automatics, https://www.bladeforums.com/forums/automatic-knife-switchblades.688/.
Since there is a dedicated sub-forum for automatics, threads that are started about automatic knives get moved there. We don't want to detract from an already established sub-forum.
3. If you want to use this thread to discuss traditional automatic knives, then I'm ok with that. If my partner in crime @knarfeng sees it differently, that might change. If we start seeing them pop up in other threads more than they do now, then there's a good chance that all subsequent posts will be moved.
Thanks!

 

[Sam Dean]

GEC also made a run of lever lock auto's, an SFO for someone and Schrade branded. I don't know the history behind them, but from what I understand, this pattern & type of automatic has been around for a long time. Hubertus rings a bell; maybe that's what those were patterned after?

Maybe someone with first hand experience can weigh-in with pics & info?

Peregrin - Thank you for letting this stay here. A traditional thread, dedicated to traditional automatics, is personally a welcome sight. Hopefully it can stay here & grow for a while.