What Knives did the Mountain Men Carry?

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HoosierQ

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This is partly as a counter-balance to the various "SEALS" threads. It is also because the mountain man has always been my favorite Western character of European descent...when I was a kid, I never wanted to be a cowboy...I wanted to be a mountain man! The quintessential mountain man movie, Jerimiah Johnson has him carrying a Western M49 bowie knife. Maybe...maybe not...the Bowie part I mean.

So what would the real Jerimiah Johnson have carried?
 
I would imagine a belt axe?

My father almost never used a knife, everything was done using a hatchet
 
John Russell's Greenriver Knife Works skinner was called the knife that won the west.
 
I thought mountain men used thier bare hands to tear stuff apart and thier teeth to cut or saw through anything! :D
 
HoosierQ said:
This is partly as a counter-balance to the various "SEALS" threads. It is also because the mountain man has always been my favorite Western character of European descent...when I was a kid, I never wanted to be a cowboy...I wanted to be a mountain man! The quintessential mountain man movie, Jerimiah Johnson has him carrying a Western M49 bowie knife. Maybe...maybe not...the Bowie part I mean.

So what would the real Jerimiah Johnson have carried?
Click to expand...

From what I understand most knives in the 1800's mountain man/fur trappers were made of iron. They carried knives for different purposes but most had a skinning knife, a utility knife and some a bowie style knife. Knives were very personal items in those days, no two were alike really because they were most likely made to customer's spec by the local blacksmith. Many more knives used bone and antler handles because they held up better than most woods.
 
Colog said:
John Russell's Greenriver Knife Works skinner was called the knife that won the west.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Probably that and an axe and pocket knife ala Nessmuk.

Funny how the guys who actually survived outdoors long-term didn't carry what looks like a current survival knife. Guess they didn't know what they were doing! :rolleyes:
 
I had that book "Firearms Traps and Tools of the Mountain Men". Bernard Levine does not think highly of it...I sure thought it was cool. Got it as part of the "Outdoor Life Book Club".
 
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