All About Pocket Knives

Charlie ,Tony & Q those are prime.

Just before I discovered this thread, I had decided to up my canoe game. Decided to pick up a 10 dot old red bone canoe, pocket-worn the old-fashioned way. Taking it out for a spin tomorrow.

Very nice Tony!!!!

I love the older stuff. They even feel better in the hand.

Here's my 8 dot.

How about some critter lookin' canoes?

Thanks, Squach, that's something coming from the Grand Poobah of Canoes.

The red canoe feels like it was custom molded to fit in the hand, for sure. It's a pleasure to use, even with my big mitts. It's the perfect pairing for my favorite Barlow, too. And to think I used to dislike this pattern...

Grand Poobah??? I like the Flintstones too, Tony!

I belong to the Case Collectors Club and post there as well as here. There are some guys who have canoe collections that dwarf mine. We joke with each other about who gets to be the "harbor master". The way I see it, it's not how many knives you collect, it's how much you enjoy collecting what you have. I've been thinking it might be time to start paying more attention so some of my other favorite patterns but there are still many canoes out there that I don't have yet. The canoe pattern dates back to the late 1800s as far as I've been able to find out and my Grandfather carried one when I was a kid. He also had a scout pattern he was fond of. So those patterns seem the most traditional to me. I just try to add one new knife to the collection about once a month....financial situation allowing. Your collection will grow and if you're like me it will grow whether you plan for it to or not!

Speaking of canoes......here are a couple of arrowhead shields.......

Dwarf your collection, WOW!!! That's a bunch of butterbeans,you've got a great collection

Well Bighomer, some guys have been at it way longer than I have and others are fortunate enough to have more money to throw at their collections than I do. Some of those fellas have displays that look like the Case Showroom in Bradford!!! I try not to think in terms of "catching up" with them but dag-nab it I gonna catch up one o' these days! There are just so many beautiful knives out there that no matter how many you have there are still more that you'd like to have. I collect all kinds of knives but canoes and Case canoes in particular are the heart of my collection. If it has a sharp edge and cuts things.....I probably have one around here somewhere. I even have a few sharp rocks.....like the one below. It's not a canoe but one like it was probably used to make a canoe

Sasquach wrote:There are just so many beautiful knives out there that no matter how many you have there are still more that you'd like to have.

Amen to that. It's sometimes almost a little overwhelming. It took me a while to come to the realization that you can't just "catch 'em all" in terms of your favorite patterns, there are just too many. But that means the fun never ends...

That's the right attitude, Tony! I figure when I depart this world my boys will have something of real value in the form of my collection. They can convert it to cash or continue collecting, their choice. However, until I stop breathin' it's the fun that means the most!

Here are a couple of fancy-schmancy canoes that have never seen the outside of their factory display cases. They ain't fer usin', they're just fer lookin' at!

I see Case has been saving the best stag for those plaque commemoratives. I love that DU canoe.

I don't know.....they put some pretty nice stag on these...

Sorting through my knives to pick out some totes for the upcoming week, I discovered that I had one more canoe that I hadn't shared in the thread...possibly two.
RR double canoe in smooth tobacco bone. Not nearly as unwieldy in the hand as it might look, heavy but not distractingly so. Once I get my hands on a coarser oilstone I'm going to start experimenting with different bevels, since I have essentially four very similar blade profiles to choose from on the same knife.

Two canoes in one! But....but......isn't one is always capsized no matter what ya do?

P'raps, but if you look at it the other way, there's always one that is still afloat!

So there IS an up side to everything!

Tsar: Very nice. Never saw a double canoe before. Stop and think of it, there's lots around here I never saw before.

Here are a couple more European canoes....

I need a clarification, do those three blade knives qualify as canoes ? I've got a few of those in my Canal Street collection but they're called "canitlers" by C.S. Please advise.

Canittlers are a variation on the canoe......a cross between the canoe and the whittler if you will. The knife pattern is that of a canoe but with three blades like a whittler. Case made canoes with 4 blades and called them the "Big Chief" series. It has been my experience the there are basically three sizes of the canoe pattern, the baby butterbean being the smallest at 2 3/4" closed, the canoe in the middle at 3 5/8" closed, and the gunboat is the largest at 4 1/8" closed. The number of blades varies and different cutlers give different names to their variations. I have canoes with three blades, canoes with only one blade, and I have a gun boat with only two blades. The shape of the blades seems to have a baring on how they name the variations too. Buck called the canoe (3 1/2" closed) below a Canoe - Moose. So, is it a "canoose"? or a "moonoe"?

Sasquach wrote:Buck called the canoe (3 1/2" closed) below a Canoe - Moose. So, is it a "canoose"? or a "moonoe"?

That's a good question, I've never seen those variations before. I love the Buck with the Wharnie, since it's a Chuck signature edition I'm making an uneducated guess that it was made stateside?

My big stag one was represented as a "gunboat canoe", I was never certain if that was a size designation or if it included the fact the third blade is a sheepsfoot. I sometimes think of this knife as a "stock-anoe".

Yes Tony, it was made in Post Falls, Idaho, USA. I believe it was a collaboration between Buck and A.G. Russell. The handle is fossil Mastodon ivory.

That's some nice stag on that stock-anoe! Is that a Kissing Crane?

Here are a couple of Tidioute canoes....

I'm tempted to call this one a "GUN' boat......but it's a canoe.

And some more stag before I go watch the game.