All About Pocket Knives

Mercy! .. Mercy!

Do you have Mercy?

Show it here!

Must be King Kong's Toenail!

Ken

Mumbleypeg wrote:

Must be King Kong's Toenail!

Yeah, you might want to give it back to him before he gets fussy Joe. Don't worry, I'll deliver it for you

That looks to be a #46 "Whaler", 4 3/8" closed. Correcto ?
It is a very handsome knife, a bit like a Sumo wrestler in a tuxedo.
kj

Here's my 46 from 2011. If these were dogs we might get some fine offspring.
kj

Thanks for your comments,guys.
Good looking 46 kj.

I don't usually buy newer knives, but this big thing got my attention. And it's Northfieldish.

I feel fortunate to have this big Whaler knife. To a knife lover it is an impressive example for our admiration.
I say "fortunate" because i doubt these very big knives will have another run. There is a lot of steel and big handle slabs are needed so my bet is there is less profit in these. The few i have seen get sold keep going higher in price.
I don't want to sell my ivory Whaler but it is one of my very few knives that might be worth more than what i paid.
kj

I have a couple Whalers. Big ole knives. I also have this Bob Cargill Cripple Creek that is from 1980/81. Lots of similarities to the GEC Whaler. Maybe just a little bigger.

Kootenay Joe I sent you an e-mail.

I have replied to all emails received but i don't know if one was from you. If you have not had a reply, i did not receive your email.
kj

bkazz5, That Bob Cargill knife is quite the piece of hardware.
Very Impressive.

Is there a specific reason or purpose as to why this pattern is so wide?

Paul, my guess is the extra width facilitates chomping through rope and ..... Sale$?

Rope on sailing vessels can be 2" or more in diameter. The deep blade helps keep the spine exposed for hitting with the baton. Plus the blade is rather stout to keep it from deflecting off course; i.e. won't flex.
kj

Great looking knives everyone, I dont think no one cares to baton any of these. I know I wouldn't

Monte

Those are beautiful knives. I really like the Whaler body shape - reminds me of a whale. And those super wide blades just appeal to something in me. Great photos, fellows!

Regarding the need for the broad blade for cutting large diameter line, I am not so sure. I recall from my USN days that when a large diameter line is under strain a Buck 110 would slice it faster than cutting a tomato. I guess if the line were laying on deck then it would be a harder to cut and a wide blade with a baton would work well.

I believe this pattern goes back to the days of sailing vessels which having sails had lots of rope of varying diameters. Plus rope to tie cargo down, fasten on life boats, tie up to dock, etc. I bet a lot more rope on ships then than now. I think the very deep blade was for cutting through all diameters of rope, usually with a baton & 2 guys, one holds knife firmly, other guy wields baton.
kj

Just my 2 cents - I can not disagree that those big old" toenails" may have been used for rope but my understanding was that they were used more often by lumberjacks - even there I am sure heavy rope was used and cut with these but rope knives used by sailors as you all probably know had a different style blade with a squared or flat tip so that the sails were not cut when ropes attached to sails needed to be cut.....

These are great knives guys, when they were first introduced they sat on dealers shelves for awhile, now they go for big money. I sure hope GEC does another run.

I lucked into 2 of the Lumberjack's at last years Rendezvous, made from left over parts, only difference from the Whaler is the blade is on the small end, these monsters just bring a big grin to my face every time I handle them.

Kj, I pretty much heard the same story about using them to baton thru thick rope but on oil rigs and logging.

These things dwarf a large sunfish. I knew the Whaler was big but now I'm seriously intrigued...

For what it is worth - In addition to what I noted above about lumberjacks (or logging as noted by others) which was told to me by a few well versed knife collectors who I respect and trust - I read the following in Levine's book and obviously based on Levine's research - these knives influenced by scandinavian knives were also often used by framer carpenters and those hanging trolley/telegraph lines in the mid to later 19th century... my take and as an aside: knives though "defined " as a style or pattern used for "whatever" and often termed as such by a maker were tools for the jobs in which they would perform well... while we often discuss and second guess what they are called or used for as a tool, I think most of us (and me included) forget knives were tools - I don't think cutlers/jobbers of the old days would have ever thought some day there would be folks interested in collecting these knives or "tools" and trying to determine terminology etc... and based on that knives were used for anything that made it the best tool available for the job... as many of you know any job you are doing is much easier when you have the right tools to do the job... often I think we overthink knives BUT indeed that is part of the fun

Different patterns of folding knives emerged over about 100-150 yr time span. The patterns developed in an effort to make a tool most suitable for a certain task or line of work; i.e. there is reason for every aspect of the design in every pattern.
Once a person owned a knife he could use it for whatever he wanted, but that does not negate the fact that it has an intended use.
kj

KJ (Roland) - I think we are saying the same thing and your reply was more to the point - my note regarding maker names and tools above was probably abit too wordy ...

..wow!!!....way bigger than my old Camillus!!.... ...........

LB, i did mis-understand your post. Thanks for clearing it up.
kj