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44-henry

45 Cal.
Joined
Jan 15, 2005
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Here is a new penny knife I am working on at the moment, almost finished except for drilling the blade, heat treatment, and than riveting.

This is a bit planer than I normally make, but I was styling it after an antique knife I found online. I have seen several of this style so I would imagine they were produced in fairly large numbers, though I am not exactly sure what time period they would have been produced, though I feel it has characteristics that would place it comfortably in the mid to late 18th century.

One departure I made from the other knives I have made was to use a split ferrule rather than one that wraps completely around the handle and tucks into the blade groove. In the dozens of photographs and other knifes of this style that I have examined I have yet to see one that actually is formed like Gene Chapman did in his book on Penny Knives. Mechanically I see disadvantages to this approach, but it is quicker to do and conserves on material, both things that I am sure an 18th century cutler would have considered, particularly on a cheap knife like these were.

The second departure that I did was to use a piece of blister steel that I made several years ago. I typically use 1075 or 95 steels, which are far better than the blister steel that I used on this knife. My thoughts are that since blister steel was was the cheapest form of tool steel available in the 18th century it might have been used on an inexpensive knife such as this. Blister steel was often further refined into better grades of shear steel, but I suspect that it probably would not have been used here, any thoughts on the subject?

Anyway, here she is at this point. Handle is 4 1/4" long and turned from maple salvaged from a 19th century workbench. Finish is shellac and wax applied in the lathe. Ferrule is .032" mild steel plate, and the 3 1/4" blade is about .059 thick. Thanks for looking. Sorry for the poor photographs, they were taken with my cell phone, I'll get some better ones when it is finished.

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Notice the split ferrule, for some reason the antiques that I have examined usually have a tapered opening like I have done.

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Very nice! Your work has inspired me to make a few of these. I have been carrying one I made for nearly 8 months now. :thumbsup:
 
Nice job. I don't have any idea on the steel but I'd guess blister over shear.
BTW- these type knives continued in Southern Europe and I think they were used in vineyards to prune branches. When the blade has a hawksbill type shape the fact it is a pruning knife is obvious but some times a regular blade shows up and something from the 1920's gets classified as "Colonial" American. I've tried to research the matter and getting a knife with a known history is very hard. There is the Lexington knife taken from a wounded British soldier at the battle of Bunker Hill and the William Clark knife.
And...several years ago there was a manufacturer in Germany still making the "William Clark" style but I've lost the website. Friction folders are still made in Spain but some have plastic handles.
 
Very good lookin' knife! :wink:

I have learned that this type of knife is a "Trattenbacher Taschenfeitel". A plain friction folder from the Trattenbach region in the Austrian Alps. SUPPOSEDLY, the basic knife design goes back to the 16th century (I've seen nothing to back that claim up). I have yet to find any evidence of such knives being used anywhere else in the 18th century, much less colonial America. It appears to be a very regional thing. There are still a couple of Austrian manufacturers. One has a flintlock rifle as the maker's stamp on the blade! (I want one! :grin: )
 
Thank you for the comments. It is indeed a style that has been produced in Trattenbach Austria for at least a few hundred years. Some time back I found an interesting thread on a Polish forum discussing these knives and even though Google translate leaves much to be desired it provided some interesting info that seems to indicate that this style of knife has been around well before the American Revolution. There were some paintings on the forum that showed similar knifes and some documented examples in a couple of books that were scanned and provided. I believe if these knives were being produced anywhere during the 18th century than they almost certainly ended up here.Anyway, here are a couple photos of the finished knife.

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Stophel: I have some detailed photos of the William Clark knife sent to me from Ft. Clatsop but they are photos and not on line- don't know how to post. There is a drawing of the knife in Carl Russell's book- it is basically the same knife as you have made and it was found in Clark's Home after he died and therefore "assumed" to be his knife. It is stamped MT. The ferrule is similar to your ferrule- that "crimped in" ferrule was on the two knives at the Valley Forge museum (Neumann Collection). You can tell on the Clark knife the handle was turned on a lathe as the cut off in back is obvious. I haven't been able to find what MT means unless Missouri Territory. As I said, I stumbled across very similar knives a few years back from Germany- still being made but lost the website. I have made a couple of copies. I peen hammered the blade rivet tight enough so the blade doesn't flop around and I made a felt pouch the knife is put into and then that into my hunting pouch. These are good, workhorse blades in my opinion and the only issue is to make sure you always cut away from you. I've never had any issues with the blade accidentally closing on my fingers. No different than a spring back-slip joint.
And, once again- good job on your knife.
 
I have seen photos of several of these with various letters and emblems over a large "T" stamped on the blade. "K T", "F T", and one with a heart over a "T" and another with a fork shape over a "T". ("T" for Trattenbach and the other letter or emblem for an individual maker? I have no idea :idunno: ). I'm kinda stymied by these, as reliable information (or any information at all, actually) is hard to come by.
 
I personally believe that these knives were produced by many shops around the world. Trattenbach claimed at one time there were 16 different shops producing these knives. I have also found evidence of them being built in Spain, Italy, France, Poland, and perhaps Sheffield, but the English claim is the weakest. Looking at antique examples shows considerable differences in handle shapes, blade profiles, and makers marks. Given that these have never gone out of production it is difficult to date them. Still, lack of nail nicks seems to me to be one indicator of an early knife and also getting a close look at the blade edges can reveal whether the blades were stamped which is an indication of a later produced knife. I also feel examples that are earlier tend to be better finished.

Like I said earlier I have found some interesting material in foreign forums that indicate there might be more info and we might just be dealing with a language barrier that prevents the spread of more info on the history of these knives. In my opinion these probably were available in the colonies. It is such a simple knife and friction style folders have been around since Roman times that the odds are quite good that they were around. Their inexpensive construction encompassing wood handles and very thin blades would practically ensure low survivability rates and a continuous production with only minor changes make dating the few examples difficult at best. So to sum it up, I have no problem believing it was a style that existed, but I have to use logic to defend that stance rather than historical proof that has not been found at this time.
 
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