All About Pocket Knives

Can anyone tell me the difference between a jack knife and a regular pocket knife? Since I was a kid, I've always called anything I could stick in my pocket a jack knife. Is there a difference?

The dictionary says a jack knife is a large clasp knife....It has always been my understanding that a Jack knife was a folding knife that was used by sailors to cut rope and such.Back in the day,sailors were called Jacks, hence the word Jack knife....Hope this helps.

Hmmmm.

Well I can tell you what I have been told. All folding knives are either pen, jack or a combination of the 2. I was told that a pen knife has a blade on each end of the backspring. Jack knives have a blade on only one end of the backspring.

With that definition, if true, I guess an example of a jack knife would be a trapper or peanut.

Hmmm, these are interesting answers. I usually look in the dictionary for most definitions. They don't always have all the details though.

ive allways thought a jack knife had two blades on the same end. swell end,cigar, dogleg, peanut, trappers ect. are all different variations of a jack knife.

rigwelder wrote:ive allways thought a jack knife had two blades on the same end. swell end,cigar, dogleg, peanut, trappers ect. are all different variations of a jack knife.

I have to agree.

But with the way us Americans change the meaning of words it's hard to real tell now days.

I remember when gay was a happy person.
Look and what we did to that word...

If a jack knife has the blades on one end and a pen knife has a blade on each end, then is a congress a jack pen or a pen jack? Now I'm really confusing myself.

celticastronomer wrote:If a jack knife has the blades on one end and a pen knife has a blade on each end, then is a congress a jack pen or a pen jack? Now I'm really confusing myself.

According to the above, a congress must be a pen knife as it has blades at both ends. A congress typically has a bowed handle and equal number of blades at each end.

It is not quite so straight forward though. Some bigger knives with a large blade at each end, e.g., sunfish/toenail and moose, may be considered jack knives.

Herein lies the intrigue. There are a huge number of patterns with an almost unlimited number of variations. That's what make it so interesting IMO.

s-k

Hey I remember when any folding hunter was called a BUCK KNIFE.

celticastronomer wrote:If a jack knife has the blades on one end and a pen knife has a blade on each end, then is a congress a jack pen or a pen jack? Now I'm really confusing myself.

Yes, I think you may be, a congress has a blade configuration like that of a pen in that there are blades on each side. The resemblence for the most part stops there. A congress may have many different blade configurations with sheepsfoot, pen, and coping blades. But the shape of the back of a congress is different from a pen. The congress has a curved back spine, opposite that of a sowbelly, it curves up through the center, an even arc throughout the knife (except a humpback or swell congress). The most typical blade configuration has 2 blades on each side, 4 total. But there are variations of that, 3 blades total can be a whittler congress, 2 blades total are a half congress, (or a senator) but a congress may have 12 or even more blades total with normally an equal number on each side. Any variations usually have a name specific to that configuration. Even a pen knife will have variations such as a sleeveboard, or a quill pen, an older single blade pen knife. It can be a jungle out there.

What may be of help is a a collectors book that has the basic knife shapes and typical blade shapes as well. I mention this only because of when you see them side by side does this all begin to jell and start to make sense. Price guide to collector knives has this by C Houston Price. The standard knife collectors guide by Roy Richie and Ron Stewart has this and I suspect others can give you other reference material. Good Luck!

A good question, but even within my response there can be variations. (will be, count on it). My response may be confusing becuse I threw so many variables in there. That is deliberate only to reinforce my recommendation for reference material.

EDIT: Just saw s-k's response, YES, this keeps it most interesting.

So what determines what a knife is called in not only the configuration of the blades but also the shape of the handle. Am I correct? I think I'll call them all pocket knives and get on to the next stumper.

I looked it up at dictionary.com and their definition is,"a large folding knife". General description I guess. I've always called a folding knife a penknife for my general description.

celticastronomer wrote:So what determines what a knife is called in not only the configuration of the blades but also the shape of the handle. Am I correct? I think I'll call them all pocket knives and get on to the next stumper.

I think that would be an excellent generalization.

redferd wrote:I looked it up at dictionary.com and their definition is,"a large folding knife". General description I guess. I've always called a folding knife a penknife for my general description.

Almost all online dictionaries including Microsoft's Word spell check use dictionaries that are over 100 years old to avoid paying royalty fees to a newer published edition. Copyrights for dictionaries and most books are 100 years under copyright laws. They are 100 years out of date, but they don't advertise that. The only exceptions would be for a hard copy (book) to go online. Wouldn't make much sense to do that, it would interfere with sales unless they put a very old edition online or used a for fee website.

Ok, here's the next stumper. I know there are jack/pocket knives with blades on both ends or only on one end. Are there any made with a blade in the middle and a blade or blades at one or both ends?

I don't think there any knives with blades in the middle. The general principle of springs dictates that blades will be at the ends. If a blade opened from the middle it could only be used perpendicular to the handle. Many attachments (e.g., corkscrews, punches etc) open from the middle. s-k

That's a sweet knife SK..

Ya, that is very nice looking.