kutmaster ?

[gordonjohn]

I have this little Kutmaster Utica NY made in USA. I have never seen one like it , knife on one end finger nail file on the other , what would you call this shape?

[cody6268]

I think the technical term is a "lobster". Don't know why.


First Kutmaster/Utica I've seen like that.

[gordonjohn]

I think the technical term is a "lobster". Don't know why.


First Kutmaster/Utica I've seen like that.

Thanks cody6268 I had know idea what it was

[kootenay joe]

Yes, Lobster knife. Spring is in the middle of the frame so there can be blade(s) top and bottom.
kj

[Mumbleypeg]

I think the technical term is a "lobster". Don't know why.

Cody, as Roland said, the internal spring allows blades to be positioned on both side of the frame rather than just on one side. Does this lobster pattern help you understand where the name comes from?

F6FD6F6E-30BB-495F-8ADE-288B73B5D511.jpeg (19.72 KiB) Viewed 830 times

To quote the esteemed Mr. Bernard Levine from his Levine’s Guide to Knives:

“James Crawshaw, a cutler and merchant who worked in Sheffield from about 1817 to 1850 , invented a new style pen knife in the 1820's. An 1831 history described it as "the lobster-knife, by which four blades open upon one spring..[which] instead of forming the back, as in the old method, is placed along the middle of the handle, and between the scales or sides of the handle, so that it works on each side, and hence admits the blades at each end, and even any number of them.-----Because its spring or springs are in the middle , a lobster pen knife always has its pivot pins set off to the sides of the long axis of the knife---hence the resemblance of its pivoting blades to the waving claws of a lobster.”

Ken

[gordonjohn]

Thanks for the info now I learned some more info to keep in the brain, its getting crowded in there I beater start writing this down.
I think the technical term is a "lobster". Don't know why.


First Kutmaster/Utica I've seen like that.

Cody, as Roland said, the internal spring allows blades to be positioned on both side of the frame rather than just on one side. Does this lobster pattern help you understand where the name comes from?

F6FD6F6E-30BB-495F-8ADE-288B73B5D511.jpeg

To quote the esteemed Mr. Bernard Levine from his Levine’s Guide to Knives:

“James Crawshaw, a cutler and merchant who worked in Sheffield from about 1817 to 1850 , invented a new style pen knife in the 1820's. An 1831 history described it as "the lobster-knife, by which four blades open upon one spring..[which] instead of forming the back, as in the old method, is placed along the middle of the handle , and between the scales or sides of the handle, so that it works on each side, and hence admits the blades at each end, and even any number of them.-----Because its spring or springs are in the middle , a lobster pen knife always has its pivot pins set off to the sides of the long axis of the knife---hence the resemblance of its pivoting blades to the waving claws of a lobster.”

Ken