All About Pocket Knives

Post photos of your new or old sowbelly knives here!

According to Levine's Guide, a sowbelly is a stock knife with a large curve. You won't find the name "sowbelly" in any old catalogs. It's a collector term, not a term of art like "premium stock knife". Although it is a serpentine pattern, some old catalogs called it "cattle knife" or "stock pattern" or "serpentine".

1910 IXL 1910 Bridge Cutlery 1921 Hammer Brand 1922 Hammer Brand Here's an example from Ebay (unfortunately, not my knife) that still has the "Cattle Knife" etch on the blade.

Remington 3-blade pear covers

Catalog cuts excluding the examples previously shown above...

1910 Hammer Brand 1913 HSB 1918 Hammer Brand 1920 Remington 1924 Hammer Brand 1926 John Pritzlaff Hardware Co

1918 Hammer Brand 1942 Shapleigh

There were also knives made with 2-blade using the same parts. According to Levine's Guide, a stockman has 3 or more blades so these knives are categorized as premium jacks or premium double-end jacks.

Here's an example from Remington... It uses a catch bit so the main blade is full length. A few more examples of premium double-end jacks that use sowbelly parts... And here are some relevant catalog cuts.

1924 Remington 1924 Hammer Brand 1929 Shapleigh 1942 Shapleigh

If the 2 blades are full length, Levine's Guide categorizes the knife as a "moose" or "Texas jack". "Moose" seems to be more common. And some manufacturers use "Texas jack" to describe a completely different pattern.

These two are modern knives made by Queen. The Primble is etched "Perfect Texas Jack Knife"

A few modern sowbellies from Case A few from Queen This photo shows some of the clip blade variations used by Queen A custom sowbelly whittler from Ryuichi Kawamura

Never realized there were so many variations on this pattern;always thought they were all 5 blades.Here is my only one:American Blade Co. "Life Knife";a promotional piece given to people who took out a lifetime membership to the NKCA

That's great! Thank you for sharing it.

A few more catalog cuts that I forgot to put in my prior posts...

1910 Hart Razor Steel 1917 IXL 1922 HSB 1924 Remington 1924 T Eaton Co 1928 Blish Mize

Nice write-up on a less than common pattern. Bill

supratentorial and others, thank you for taking the time to document these Sowbelly variations and show your knife pictures! This will be an excellent reference for anyone seeking to validate a knife.

It's a comfortable pattern

Nice Rancher! Thank you, guys. A post in the "counterfeit watch" area of the forum did prompt me to start this topic. I hope it is helpful. ...plus I like looking at photos of these knives!

Supratentorial. Very cool thread you started. I especially like the Remington Sowbelly you posted. Thanks

The only sowbelly I own is this Parker Eagle single clip blade lock back. It's a groovy pattern...I would like to add more to my collection.
~Q~

Neat 5-blade! A very rare knife.

The lock back is also uncommon. I wonder who made the first lockback sowbelly. It seems to be a modern variation. The oldest that I've seen is probably the knife from Parker but I don't know if he was first. Jerry Halfrich makes a wonderful custom lockback.. http://www.halfrichknives.com/SowbellyLockback.htm

My other two sowbellies....a Colt and a Tabby

My one and only what i won a BULLDOG FROM 1993

I ain't got but one and it a cheapie. It fits the hand good and will make a little stick out of a big one

supratentorial wrote:Jerry Halfrich makes a wonderful custom lockback.

Indeed he does, thanks for the link.

So does Terry Knipschield:

http://gallery.knipknives.com/landing.p ... age=86.jpg

~Q~

And, for all you bargain hunters or if you've just got some spare change lying around, you may want to grab this Bill Ruple sowbelly...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-BILL-RUPLE ... 2297970908

At this price who knows how long it will remain available?

~Q~

thanks for all this fantastic info!! I too am a fan of the Pig...

5 Cattaraugus sowbelly 32019 C, 329019G,
22029, 22039,and 22039. One of my favorite patterns.

5 Cattaraugus sowbelly 32019 C, 329019G,
22029, 22039,and 22039. One of my favorite patterns.