What is the origin

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tongueriver
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What is the origin

Post by tongueriver »

of the term "half-whittler"? I was all set to go on a rant here, but decided to be nice.
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Re: What is the origin

Post by knife7knut »

Good question! I am not really familiar with the term. Even the term whittler is controversial. Many people consider a,"true" whittler as one with a clip master blade and secondary pen and coping blades.Others say that it can have two pen blades as secondaries.Some will say that a manicure secondary blade is acceptable while most say that is not a true whittler.
I'm assuming(a bad thing to do)that a half whittler refers to one with only a single secondary blade.To me that is a pen knife but let's not even think about getting into what defines a,"pen" knife. :mrgreen:
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Mumbleypeg
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Re: What is the origin

Post by Mumbleypeg »

I think it's a term that collectors invented - don't recall seeing it in older catalogs. But you will see it in newer catalogs.

Personally I've never cared for it. But there are a lot of "modern" things I don't care for. :mrgreen: My niece says I'm just a grumpy old man. ::sotb:: (But at least she was laughing when she said it!)

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jerryd6818
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Re: What is the origin

Post by jerryd6818 »

Mumbleypeg wrote: My niece says I'm just a grumpy old man. ::sotb:: (But at least she was laughing when she said it!)

Ken
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richard
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Re: What is the origin

Post by richard »

in my opinion. a true whittler. has a double back spring main blade. a pen blade . and a nail file blade. MOTHER OF PEARL HANDLES.
AND ITS ORIGIN. was to whittle finger nails. not wood . and was first called a gentlemans knife.
please give your opinions on this subject.
as i have started to collect this type of knife. and am interested in its origin.
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richard
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Re: What is the origin

Post by richard »

here are some of my collection. i only have one with wood handles. maybe replaced?
on one the file blade has be ground to a pen blade.
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richard
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Re: What is the origin

Post by richard »

i ground the blades on this old john primble congress. that i use to whittle wood . :)
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tongueriver
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Re: What is the origin

Post by tongueriver »

Mumbleypeg wrote:I think it's a term that collectors invented - don't recall seeing it in older catalogs. But you will see it in newer catalogs.

So far this is the only comment that addresses the question. So, what famed collector started this obscenity? I would like to add him to my Rogue's Gallery in a special folder on my computer. The half whittler, when linked to any of the quasi-acceptable definitions of whittler, is obviously a physical impossibility. They are pen knives; period. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. C'mon, now; what's his name? I won't tell.
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Re: What is the origin

Post by kootenay joe »

Half Whittler is a term invented by the marketing division of Case knives.
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Mumbleypeg
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Re: What is the origin

Post by Mumbleypeg »

kootenay joe wrote:Half Whittler is a term invented by the marketing division of Case knives.
kj
Do you have any evidence of this? I'm curious because I've heard the terms "whittler" and "half whittler" since my early days in knife collecting, but I don't recall ever seeing either term in any cutlery catalogs until the past 20 years or less. ::shrug:: The older Case catalogs referred to the 6208 as a "pen" well beyond the time when the "half-whittler" description was in popular use.

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Re: What is the origin

Post by bighomer »

In Queens historical cataloge, which I can no longer find on line, they were called carpenters knives. No mention of a half carpenter although I've known a few half a$$ carpenters. I really don't care for the term half congress either, although most congressmen and women are in that criteria mention above. ::facepalm:: ::super_happy::
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Mumbleypeg
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Re: What is the origin

Post by Mumbleypeg »

Roland may be right. From Levine's Guide in the section on Swell-Center Serpentine Pen Knives
Like most other pen knife shapes , this one was often used for whittlers. Case's most popular whittler is the 6308 made in this shape, so the firm calls it's ordinary two-bladed, swell-center serpentine with a clip master blade a "half-whittler." Collectors sometimes use the term half-whittler for other pen knives with clip master blades.
No further explanation is given, but the inference is that the half-whittler term originated by Case in reference to the Case 6208.

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Re: What is the origin

Post by kootenay joe »

Ken, also in the BRL forum at BF Bernard would display some frustration with the mis-use of knife terms esp. "half whittler" for which he blamed Case marketing efforts. In one or more posts i read it to say that this term originated with Case but there was no documentation of when this began.
Not everything Bernard states is correct (most of it is though).
It is such a 'catchy' term that i'm sure calling a serpentine pen knife a half whittler has boosted sales of this pattern significantly.
kj
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richard
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Re: What is the origin

Post by richard »

i have this old shapleigh, i call a serpentine pen. but it is a good whittler. :)
so maybe now i will call it a half whittler? :?
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Re: What is the origin

Post by richard »

also this swell centre pen is a good :D whittler
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richard
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Re: What is the origin

Post by richard »

this imperial serpentine pen is not a good whittler. blades are to thin :(
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LongBlade
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Re: What is the origin

Post by LongBlade »

I agree - half whittler is an anomaly and makes no sense - Funny thing is I’m not at all a Case collector - but I did find one on a local hunt long ago that I took home for a combination of reasons - It’s the now famous 6208 half whittler :lol: ..
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I won’t even attempt the whittler definition - that’s been discussed here so many times and almost becomes opinion based on blades etc (though it will have a single blade on one end and two blades on other end) but do think it should have 2 springs with or without a wedge - of course the true split spring whittler is a rarity though there was one posted here on AAPK once... the whittler definition became somewhat clouded by different manufacturers terminology based on their patterns called a whittler - starting to sound like a half whittler ::nod:: :) ..... ::stir:: ::stir:: ::dead_horse::
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Mumbleypeg
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Re: What is the origin

Post by Mumbleypeg »

LongBlade wrote:
I won’t even attempt the whittler definition - that’s been discussed here so many times and almost becomes opinion based on blades etc (though it will have a single blade on one end and two blades on other end) but do think it should have 2 springs with or without a wedge - of course the true split spring whittler is a rarity though there was one posted here on AAPK once... the whittler definition became somewhat clouded by different manufacturers terminology based on their patterns called a whittler - starting to sound like a half whittler ::nod:: :) ..... ::stir:: ::stir:: ::dead_horse::
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richard
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Re: What is the origin

Post by richard »

nice little case lee, if it had both blades and one end would it be a peanut?
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Re: What is the origin

Post by kootenay joe »

"if it had both blades and one end would it be a peanut?"
No.
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richard
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Re: What is the origin

Post by richard »

this whittler just came in the mail :D
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tongueriver
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Re: What is the origin

Post by tongueriver »

For what it's worth, I think that a half pants, a half scissors and a half pliers would be pretty useless.
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richard
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Re: What is the origin

Post by richard »

half pints of beer are useless, hardly wets your lips. :(
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Re: What is the origin

Post by knifeaholic »

Regardless of what BRL and others might say, Case cannot be blamed for the term "half whittler". Case catalogs up until the late 1960's had no names at all for any pocket knife pattern. Just the pattern numbers.

The first use of the term "half whittler" is in the early knife collecting price guides circa 1968-1972. Authors Bob Mayes and Dewey Ferguson used the term.

Case's first catalog to show any pattern names at all was catalog #70, issued in 1969. In this catalog, Case was not trying to assign names to any pattern, they showed names for some patterns that reflected what collectors were already calling the pattern. A subtle but important difference.

HOWEVER, there was no use of the "half whittler" name for the 6208 or for any other Case pattern in this catalog or in subsequent Case catalogs. While the term "half whittler" was in common use by collectors, Case never used the term.

Looking at Case catalogs through the early 80's reveals that the name "half whittler" never appears. The only Case pattern that would be considered a "half whittler in those years was the 6208, which was discontinued in 1985.

Yes, in recent Case catalogs (2000 to present day), Case does assign the name "half whittler" to the (reintroduced) 6208, but Case in no way originated the name.
Steve Pfeiffer, author of Collecting Case Knives: Identification and Price Guide published by Krause Publications.
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LongBlade
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Re: What is the origin

Post by LongBlade »

Thanks for putting the record straight on half whittler Steve ::tu:: ::tu:: ... and noting the 1st use of the term by Mayes and Ferguson... Well now I guess I just have a Case 6208 pen knife - I actually do like it but funny thing is before this thread I never even considered it a half whittler but never use the term anyway :wink: ... Terminology for knives can be rather confusing at times and often it depends upon what one may read or note from catalogs (but more 20th century catalogs - obviously not Case catalogs) - Old catalogs from the 1800-early 1900s rarely had pattern names at least based on the few I have seen - also many had pattern #s - sometimes usually just noting number of blades and I think more of a rarity to note a general pattern category....
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