half whittler or a pen knife

[old timer1990]

What is the different between a half whittler and a pen knife I know the blades are bigger but is their any other part different thanks

[knife-nut]

Personally, I don't think a knife can be a half whittler. A whittler has two springs. One blade on one end pivoting on both springs,and two blades on the other end pivoting on each spring independantly. Its either a whittler or it isn't.

[tjmurphy]

From "Articles and Research" - Case

Pattern # 08

08 patterns have been manufactured in at least three different styles. There are two 2-blade versions, and one 3-blade version.

The oldest 08 pattern is a 3 7/8" Jack knife that is known as a coke bottle. They were manufactured by Case sometime prior to 1915.

The most recent two-bladed 08 patterns are pen knives that are usually called half or two bladed whittlers, or swell-center pen knives. The master blade is most always a clip blade, and the other a pen blade. They measures 3 1/4" closed and were introduced sometime prior to 1940.

[Bret888]

I agree with everything Knife-nut says. I think the term "half whittler" is an impossible name, even if knife people know what it describes.

[old timer1990]

That's what I was thinking on about the 2 springs because I always throught a whittler master blade was on two spring. I have one of the case 08 pattern from the xx era I paid a dollar for it in rough shape but I fix it up pretty good for what I paid for it

[danno50]

I also agree with knife-nut and brett888. I have never liked the term half-whittler.

Dan

[robinetn]

Do you not classify this Camillus #72 as a whittler ? (Compliments of ORVETS AAPK Store)

Bob

http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kni ... 3666_2.jpg

[Unk]

I have also seen some 3 backspring whittlers.....are these still considered whittlers?

[msteele6]

I have seen a catalog description of the Case 6208 where the knife was called a "half whittler". I always took the name to describe a two bladed pen knife which had at the secondary blade's end a spacer which made up for the difference in thickness between the master and the secondary blades. On a "normal" pen knife, there is no such spacer because the two blades are the same thickness.

I would not call a Camillus 72 a whittler for the reasons stated above, namely, a whittler has a master that bears on two springs, not one, like the 72. I would also not call a three backspring whittler a whittler even though it superficially resembles one because both of it's secondaries are in the same end like a whittler, I would call it a "three backspring whittler"

[stockman]

I have some one blade knives, lets call then 1/3 whittlers.

[RobesonsRme.com]

I agree there is really no such thing as a "half-whittler. They are penknives, senators or equal-ends or whatever, but they are not "half" of anything.
Is a single clip blade Case 048 a " half-trapper"? No.

That Camillus 72 pattern was, indeed, referred to as a "whittler" when it was being offered in the Scout catalogs.

Three backspring knives that look like whittlers are actually threebackspring cattle knives.

I think us knife dealers collectors have come up with names that help dealers sell knives. Face it. If one can attach "whittler" or "trapper" to a knife, it automatically moves it into a more collectible pattern category.

It's kind of like being 1/8th Native American, which I am. It sounds nice, but I was raised caucasian, so it would be a bit dishonest to make claims based on a few genes or red cells.

Charlie Noyes

[tjmurphy]

I agree there is really no such thing as a "half-whittler. They are penknives, senators or equal-ends or whatever, but they are not "half" of anything.
Is a single clip blade Case 048 a " half-trapper"? No.

That Camillus 72 pattern was, indeed, referred to as a "whittler" when it was being offered in the Scout catalogs.

Three backspring knives that look like whittlers are actually threebackspring cattle knives.

I think us knife dealers collectors have come up with names that help dealers sell knives. Face it. If one can attach "whittler" or "trapper" to a knife, it automatically moves it into a more collectible pattern category.

It's kind of like being 1/8th Native American, which I am. It sounds nice, but I was raised caucasian, so it would be a bit dishonest to make claims based on a few genes or red cells.

Charlie Noyes

Not just dealers/collectors that refer to "half-whittler". Case uses the term and Queen uses the term "half-whittler" on this one

[Just Plain Dave]

I agree there is really no such thing as a "half-whittler. They are penknives, senators or equal-ends or whatever, but they are not "half" of anything.
Is a single clip blade Case 048 a " half-trapper"? No.

That Camillus 72 pattern was, indeed, referred to as a "whittler" when it was being offered in the Scout catalogs.

Three backspring knives that look like whittlers are actually threebackspring cattle knives.

I think us knife dealers collectors have come up with names that help dealers sell knives. Face it. If one can attach "whittler" or "trapper" to a knife, it automatically moves it into a more collectible pattern category.

It's kind of like being 1/8th Native American, which I am. It sounds nice, but I was raised caucasian, so it would be a bit dishonest to make claims based on a few genes or red cells.

Charlie Noyes

Not just dealers/collectors that refer to "half-whittler". Case uses the term and Queen uses the term "half-whittler" on this one

Half Whittler.JPG

Sure as HE double Hockey Sticks that ain't no Senator or Pen Knife!

[Unk]

I guess you could call that a wharncliffe.....but then that begs the question...when does the shape of the frame (wharncliffe) take precedent over the blade / backspring configuration? (i.e. whittler definition)

I have also seen this frame called a wharncliffe - even when it has a clip blade / no wharncliffe blade.....and I have seen a non-wharncliffe frame with a wharncliffe blade in it. Just thought I would furthur confuse things - lol.

And a Schrade 863, similar to the Camillus 72, is generally called a whittler, even though it doesn't really meet any definition of a whittler that I have seen.

[Elvis]

I have seen a catalog description of the Case 6208 where the knife was called a "half whittler". I always took the name to describe a two bladed pen knife which had at the secondary blade's end a spacer which made up for the difference in thickness between the master and the secondary blades. On a "normal" pen knife, there is no such spacer because the two blades are the same thickness.

I would not call a Camillus 72 a whittler for the reasons stated above, namely, a whittler has a master that bears on two springs, not one, like the 72. I would also not call a three backspring whittler a whittler even though it superficially resembles one because both of it's secondaries are in the same end like a whittler, I would call it a "three backspring whittler"

I have to agree with this description because of the construction differences I've noticed are the ones mentioned here. Small differences, but someone must've thought enough of it at one time to give it the name.

[trail]

A whittler is a knife with two backsprings, the main blade rides on both and the secondaries on the other end each ride on one. So maybe you could call a knife with two backsprings and two blades, where the main blade rides on both and the secondary rides on just one a half whittler - though it would be more logical to call it a two-thirds whittler. I don't know about the Case and Queen knives, do they have two backsprings or one? And if they have two, does the main blade ride on both?

[tjmurphy]

Don't know about the Case, but the Queen has one back spring.

[trail]

I'd call the Queen a pen knife, but I'll give credit where due, it's a pretty good marketing idea. Nothing wrong with that, Case and Queen are survivors.

[Just Plain Dave]

The Case Humpback "Whittler" out in my truck is a three spring knife. Good snap but not the bank vault I thought it would be.

[road_warri0r]

I think some of our language comes from a time when things were much simpler and some of that "mind set" stuck. For example, when someone refers to the early spring blooming tree as a "red bud" you dont start an argument saying, "Those arent red, they are purple, or lilac, or lavender or whatever" Or, if you are in construction work and an older man says, "hand me that red extension cord, you dont stop and say, "thats NOT red, its orange". Some things are simply a "accept it and go on" figure of speech. When I hear the term "half whittler", I think of a Case 6208, which looks EXACTLY like a 6308 when looking directly at it from the front, such as the way it might have been originally displayed in a glass front knife case, when some old timer coined the phrase "half whittler" when he pointed to a particular knife, and the store keeper brought out a 6208 for him to admire and when seeing it only had 2 blades said, "thats only HALF a whittler" and the term stuck.

[Unk]

Here's a couple of EC Simmons Keen Kutter 3 backspring cattle knives.....these are in pretty rough shape. They are commonly called whittlers, but I think the correct term would be cattle knife. I think this frame is also called a "Eureka" frame.