Blade Nail Nicks and Long Pulls – Old and New

[jerryd6818]

Well, I'll be. EVERYTHING about that knife is OUTSTANDING except that goofy groove in the main blade. Can we go back in time and whoop the idiot that thought that was cool?

Well John, looks like you got yourself a very distinctive high dollar winner. Congratulations buddy.

[djknife13]

I.ve had a few of those and have one or two now. They are really nice knives.___Dave

[1967redrider]

Craziest blade I've ever seen, wonder how Remington came up with that one?

[LongBlade]

Some nice long pulls added there Joe

John - A Remington blood groove long pull in a whittler pattern - no doubt unique for sure Wonder why a blood groove in a whittler or was it a blade also used in some other Remington patterns where a blood groove made more sense... Just curious but was that considered an early Remington or hard to tell - I know the Remington stamps changed just slightly in some respect during given time frames... anyway that is one sweet knife John!!

[Dinadan]

That blood groove in a pocket knife is a new one for me. I do not suppose that it has any practical purpose, but it sure makes for a unique knife. Thanks for posting that one!

[FRJ]

Thanks Lee.

[Rookie]

That was cool. First I've seen of that one. Thanks for sharing.

[jerryd6818]

That blood groove in a pocket knife is a new one for me. I do not suppose that it has any practical purpose, but it sure makes for a unique knife. Thanks for posting that one!

In boot camp, the Drill Instructors told us that groove down the side of a Ka-Bar was called a "blood groove". They said it's purpose was to help break the suction when you stuck the blade into the enemy and make it easier to pull the blade out.

Er uh. Found out some 30-40 years later that they were full of beans and taters. While colloquially it's called a "blood groove", the actual name for it is "Fuller" and the actual purpose is to improve the lateral stiffness of the blade for a given weight. It's a bit like, say, an I beam compared to a simple beam.

How that relates to the OP knife I can't say. Maybe it was added to serve as the second purpose of a fuller, decoration.

[QTCut5]

Here's another through-and-through style nail nick.

~Q~

[QTCut5]

Found another one hiding in my pile. Sorry to , but I wonder why more knife manufacturers don't use this thru-n-thru style? I really think it's the best pull ever invented.

~Q~

[FRJ]

Q, I think it definitely has its practical side but, to me it lacks the elegance of the earlier long and nail nick pulls in their various styles.

Nice looking knife by the way.

[QTCut5]

Thanks, Joe. After a bit of reflection, I have to agree with you on the concept of form & function: the thru-n-thru is more functional (IMO), but the long pull is more elegant in form.

Upon further reflection, however, I realized that not only do I clearly I have way too much time on my hands (if this is what I spend most of my time pondering all day long!), but that when it come to form or "elegance," I am most decidedly a minimalist in that I prefer simplicity in the most basic and essential components. Consequently, it occurred to me that, as a minimalist, to me the most elegant blade is one with the least "non-essential" adornments, i.e., etching, stamping, file work, and even nail nicks or pulls. Obviously, due to the design of many, and probably even most, folders, some type of pull is required simply for utilitarian purposes. Nevertheless, there are folding knife designs which have eliminated the need for the otherwise ubiquitous nail nick by incorporating various means of blade deployment other than the somewhat fragile fingernails and often weak fingertips of the average knife user. Thus we have seen the invention of the thumb stud, flipper, axial lock push button and of course the (legally controversial) automatic (switchblade).

At the risk of hijacking this thread (which seems to have run it's course and stalled out anyway), allow me to propose a change of direction in which we display blades that have NO nail nicks and instead portray pure elegance in its simplest and most basic, unadorned form.

In case anyone cares to pursue this concept, I'll start out by sharing these five that I picked at random from my collection, none of which have pulls or nail nicks. Feel free to comment and/or add examples of your own.

Cheers & Aloha,
~Q~

[Rookie]

I like that you added those. No nail pull still counts as a type of nail pull (in my book at least). But my preference is still a nice long pull or striker pull. They provide the most eye-candy to me.

[Berryb]

last night I was looking at, and feeling bad about this Miller Bros.- the other side is toast, when I noticed this nail pull and remembered this thread. The nail pull on this one tapers down from swedge to tang. I looked through the thread and didn't see another like it.
Bruce

[Tsar Bomba]

last night I was looking at, and feeling bad about this Miller Bros.- the other side is toast, when I noticed this nail pull and remembered this thread. The nail pull on this one tapers down from swedge to tang. I looked through the thread and didn't see another like it.

I've got a few of those. It's most obvious on my Case 11031SH and an old Japanese Valor granddaddy Barlow I picked up this year:

Here are a few of my other preferred long pulls:

Romo granddaddy Barlow - longest of the long pulls

And instead of re-hijacking the thread to long pulls and matchstrikes, maybe we can share it. Here's a Remington Barlow with a rather short long pull and a Case Russlock with nothin' at all:

[Rookie]

those are cool. I don't think I own any with a tapered long pull like that, something I'll have to keep my eye out for now.

[FRJ]

Here's a nice old used Southington Cut Co. with some very nice pulls.
Thanks for looking.

[Rookie]

I like that "pull through the tang" style. I wonder why nobody still makes them like that today?

[KnifeSlinger#81]

I'm quite partial to the long pull and swedge combo on cut co and earlier waldens. Notice how the cut co is more pronounced, sheer perfection

I like that "pull through the tang" style. I wonder why nobody still makes them like that today?

I'm curious why they did it at all? Was there a functional reason or just the way they did it?

[Tsar Bomba]

I like that "pull through the tang" style. I wonder why nobody still makes them like that today?

Not sure, but I do know that Southington (who picked the most unfortunate big ol' name to have to stamp across the small tangs of pocketknives) cut their long pulls both ways: Through-tang and not-through-tang.

[FRJ]

Just a theory here. Some look like they were stamped. Some look like they were cut. Concerning the cut pulls I think it was a matter of simple convenience, not seeing the need for a certain length pull.
Concerning the stamped pulls. There was some discussion about tapered pulls. I wonder if the stamping was just a little off square and developed a tapered pull.

[dcgm4]

I like that "pull through the tang" style. I wonder why nobody still makes them like that today?

I've seen some where the pull has chipped at the end of the tang. Maybe the "pull through the tang" style is prone to chipping. Another possibility could be because it's not pocket-friendly. I knew a guy who carried an old Sheffield jack with those kind of pulls. He loved how they looked but complained they got caught on the fabric of his pocket sometimes when he went to fish out his knife.

Here are a couple of interesting ones. This Parker mini bulldog has double match striker pulls. And the Boker has a short pull to give the blade a sweet long swedge.

[FRJ]

Nice pull on that Boker. That's a sweet knife.

[dcgm4]

Thanks, Joe.

[Tsar Bomba]

Some long pulls go through the tang. Some stop at the tang.

Occasionally, however, a long pull can't decide which it wants to be...

This George Lawrence Co. HOK has been in my EDC rotation recently and I noticed today that the pull was cut/stamped just a wee bit into the tang. Probably a mistake or a lack of precision, since the swedging allows for enough room for a pull of that length to fit without intruding into the tang.

Incidentally, it seems this Geo. Lawrence Co. of Portland is the same one that was famous for leatherwork/saddles in the 1800s. I'm not sure if that means this was a contract knife, if Lawrence made pocket knives as well as leather goods and tools, or if somehow this is completely unrelated to the "other" Portland George Lawrence Co.