Old Knife

[Captjoel]

I picked this knife up at an old barn sale last summer. I found it interesting because of the large brass rivets used on it reminded me of the type that were found on old trade knives. I know the shape of the blade in it's present state make it a boning knife. I do not know if it had been ground down to this style or was made this way when new. Any thoughts on this? There are no markings at all on this one.

 

[Elnathan]

Probably ground down, though it is possible that it was simply sharpened so much most of the blade has disappeared.

My parents have a couple kitchen knives that have been ground down to get a bad nick out of the blade - they are still useful tools.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Common to see that. Mostly those come from old butcher shops. The knife has simply been sharpened so much it is worn down.

 

[LRB]

That knife is not necessarily old. It may only be a few years old. The rivets are a common male female friction type still used today, and had their beginnings around the 1870/80's, give or take a bit. Knives of that sort used in commercial operations do not last long. In constant meat cutting use, as little as a month due to constant sharpening.

 

[Captjoel]

Thank you fella's for your reply's on this. I can remember growing up that my folks had a black handled knife with a very similar narrow blade that was used in the kitchen. My dad called it a boning knife. This old one has another interesting feature that did not show in the first two pictures. The top of the blade has an edge on it as well that stops a short ways moving back towards the handle. The main edge is razor sharp.

 

[user 20224]

Some of my old bench knives from the saddle shop would take on that belly if I did not use a stone to sharpen just an iron. We have some of my Grandfathers knives from when he was a butcher that also have the same shape. I guess what I am saying with many words is that I agree with the much sharpening theory.

 

[BrownBear]

We have some of my Grandfathers knives from when he was a butcher that also have the same shape.

Same here, but they belonged to my late father-in-law, also a butcher. Whole drawer full of knives, and all but the largest are in some stage headed down to narrow ribbons.

One thing to watch out for in those thin blades, drawn from my days in commercial fish cutting plants. At some point they become narrow enough that down pressure (as in filleting a fish or cutting tight on a bone) can cause the tip to snap off.

No big deal, right? Except that loose tip can go flying like a missle. Look in the walls and ceilings of old fish houses, and you'll see them stuck there, and deep. Most companies have listened to the lawyers and started measuring. I can't remember exactly, but when they get narrower than something around 3/8" they're supposed to snap them in half and chuck them. Haven't seen it happen first hand in a butcher shop, but I've heard of it.

 

[necchi]

Somebody just ground it down to make a fillet knife out of it.
Ain't nothing rare or special. You can find a half dozen such blades at any "Cabin" here in the land of 10,000 lakes.
People like to keep the same knife for fish cleaning for decades or a lifetime, they get a "feel" for the blade and you can dance around rib bones on even small sunnies, :wink:

 

[Claude Mathis]

Somebody just ground it down to make a fillet knife out of it.

It does look like it was ground like that on purpose, not the result of sharpening.

 

[davec2]

That is a boning knife as previously mentioned. Used by butchers to cut very close around the bone and remove it in various cuts of meat without loosing too much meat in the process. The knife is made like that from the get go.

Modern version here:
http://www.tichbourneknives.com/Web_page-_fillet__boning_knife_NBL.jpg

 

[LRB]

Here is a Green River Ripper after one hunting season of use by my meat processor. He will go through about three of these per season. These blades start out at 4" or 4 1/2" long and much wider. Note that he likes a finger groove for better control and to lesson the risk of slipping. The constant use of a steel is what wears them so fast, and gives the shape. It was a bit longer, but just as narrow as when I got it. I have been using it just to cut sand paper for a couple of years.

 

[Captjoel]

Again thank you for your expertise Wick and Dave. Yesterday I was at a local antique shop and saw an old knife that was a twin to mine in a display case. The only difference between it and the one I own is that the blade on the cased knife was a full blown thick bladed "butcher type" knife. It had the same handle held with three large brass rivets. It also had a very old well used appearance. Priced at only 5 bucks I should have bought it just to show off here, but was snapped away by the Mrs who was in a hurry.

 

[crockett]

One year old knife eh? Thanks for sharing as many of us see knives in that condition and think they may date back to the 1880's.

 

[LRB]

Well, actually you could say it was a month or two old as far as meat cutting time, then discarded. True time wise, two to three years at most. The original owner buys from Crazy Crow. Sometimes whole, sometimes just the blades and then I grip them for him.

 

[satx78247]

AGREED.

At Oak Island, NC (where our family has a summer house) one of the "bait shops" always has gallon buckets full of similar "well-used" knives, that come from a large meat processing company, for sale for 2.oo each or 3 for 5.oo.
(I buy them by the bucket-full for ten bucks & give them out to friends, instead of Christmas cards.)

I'm told (by "Terry, the bait-shop guy") that the commercial butchers wear-out a commercial-quality boning-knife in a month or less, so I'm in no danger of running out of "stocking-stuffers".

yours, satx

 

[cynthialee]

Back when I was a chef we would wear out knives but never to this extreme! As soon as a knife was starting to loose shape due to over sharpening we would get new knives.

 

[satx78247]

AGREED.

You were a chef, which is a FAR different "game" than being a "slightly above minimum wage" meat-cutter at a "low end" slaughterhouse, fish-plant or meat-packing plant in Wilmington, NC. = BIG DIFFERENCE.

yours, satx

 

[Sean Gadhar]

My brother is an electrician an his belt knife looks much like this old knife, person that he is I am betting it is sharpened biweekly if not daily. I remember it 20 years ago when it had a gut and he didn't :rotf: :rotf: ... :hmm: ...I always had a gut

 

[30coupe]

Looks like a worn down boning knife. I used to be able to get them from a friend who worked at Rath Packing Co. in Waterloo, IA, before they closed down. Once they were worn down to nearly that stage, they sold them to workers for a buck or two. They made great fillet knives back before they became so readily available. Knives like that are no longer used in the meat industry because the wooden handles can't be adequately sterilized (according to the govt.). They now all have synthetic handles of some sort. My cousin has been butchering since about 1970, so I've seen quite a few changes in cutlery over the years. Those old knives like the one pictured were high carbon steel that took and held an edge quite well.

 

[izzyjoe]

That knife was worn down from sharpening, you can tell by the way it tapers from the handle. My wife's granddad was a butcher for over 30 years, when he passed we cleaned out his house,and all his knives look like that. I wish now I would have kept some of them, but they went in the trash. I have a few knives, kitchen and hunting, that are looking a bit worn, but every time I sharpen them i wonder how long it would take to wear one down to that point.