All About Pocket Knives

Saw this at an estate sale today and was like.......wow this is sharp......

Any clue as to what it is?

Very well could be a tobacco knife, Scott. Some of the country boys will confirm or deny but until then, take a peek at this ---► https://www.google.com/search?biw=1280& ... 3270181136

Yes sir Scott... that is what we used to crop tobacco. Although... the ol'timers called them "baccr knives"

Pablo wrote:Yes sir Scott... that is what we used to crop tobacco. Although... the ol'timers called them "baccr knives"

Gotcha! Thanks!

Ditto.Swung one many times in the past.Now all you need is the spear to go with it.

What (if I may ask) made you believe it was a Tobacco knife? That thought would have never entered my tiny little mind.

Maybe a sapling killer... I know you all are right but I never would have thought that.

peanut740 wrote:Ditto.Swung one many times in the past.Now all you need is the spear to go with it.

Did yawl call them spears and the process spearing t'backer? We called spikes and spiking t'backer here in dark fired country. Now that looks like a burley knife although it's shaped a mite funny, but it was probably sharpened to suit the owner. Here's a dark fired t'backer knife that belong to my dad.

americanedgetech wrote:What (if I may ask) made you believe it was a Tobacco knife? That thought would have never entered my tiny little mind.

Maybe a sapling killer... I know you all are right but I never would have thought that.

Good lord knows how things are triggered in my vast empty space in my head but maybe I saw one before, being a cigar smoker
and all.....maybe in a cigar shop somewhere?

bighomer wrote:

peanut740 wrote:Ditto.Swung one many times in the past.Now all you need is the spear to go with it.

Did yawl call them spears and the process spearing t'backer? We called spikes and spiking t'backer here in dark fired country. Now that looks like a burley knife although it's shaped a mite funny, but it was probably sharpened to suit the owner. Here's a dark fired t'backer knife that belong to my dad.

Burley indeed. It is shaped a little unusual. I always sharpened the bottom edge in case I missed hitting the stalk square and could pull it through and not have to swing again.Some folks made their own knives so there really wasn't any set design,although they were made light to swing fast.

chop, spear, chop, spear, chop, spear, chop, spear, chop, spear, chop, spear. stab another tobacco stick in the ground, put the spear on the end, then repeat...........all day long. Welcome to burly harvesting.

philco wrote:chop, spear, chop, spear, chop, spear, chop, spear, chop, spear, chop, spear. stab another tobacco stick in the ground, put the spear on the end, then repeat...........all day long. Welcome to burly harvesting.

Like in this video Phil?
https://youtu.be/YhshbS1xQv8

TripleF wrote:

philco wrote:chop, spear, chop, spear, chop, spear, chop, spear, chop, spear, chop, spear. stab another tobacco stick in the ground, put the spear on the end, then repeat...........all day long. Welcome to burly harvesting.

Like in this video Phil?
https://youtu.be/YhshbS1xQv8

Exactly !

Scott, you started an interesting round by finding that Tobacco knife and that was an interesting video! That really explains Philco's chop, spear, chop, spear response. Never done any of that, but I do have experience hoeing orange trees when I was a young feller.
There were a lot of old Tobacco barns east of us over towards Quincy, In the 44 years we've lived in the Panhandle I can't recall anyone growing it near us, lots of corn, soybeans and peanuts but no tobacco on a big scale.
There was a local TV show up in Dothan that would some times have a very old folksy farmer for a guest. He talked about making a twist of tobacco, soaking it in rum or something and then placing it between two boards and parking the rear tractor tire on it to press it. Not a tobacco user but always remember that particular show.
Treefarmer

Very interesting stuff here. I do not recall seeing a tobacco knife before and I would never have identified its use if I have found one. The video of the harvesting is interesting too. Looks like hard work. But then, in my limited experienced just about every kind of farm work is hard work.

treefarmer wrote: There was a local TV show up in Dothan that would some times have a very old folksy farmer for a guest. He talked about making a twist of tobacco, soaking it in rum or something and then placing it between two boards and parking the rear tractor tire on it to press it. Not a tobacco user but always remember that particular show.
Treefarmer

I believe they call that a "plug". I've actually had them before, not sure if they make them anymore....

TripleF wrote:

treefarmer wrote: There was a local TV show up in Dothan that would some times have a very old folksy farmer for a guest. He talked about making a twist of tobacco, soaking it in rum or something and then placing it between two boards and parking the rear tractor tire on it to press it. Not a tobacco user but always remember that particular show.
Treefarmer

I believe they call that a "plug". I've actually had them before, not sure if they make them anymore....

Sounds like what my dad used back in the 1960s. I remember that it came as a flat rectangle about four inches by three inches and maybe a half inch thick. My dad always used his stockman pocketknife to cut a piece, which he called a plug. I wish I remembered which blade he used ...

In South GA the soil was sandy. Papa had a tobacco sled he hooked his mule to. And he would walk the sled up and down between rows. We didn't cut the whole plant down at first. We cut off leaves and stacked them on the sled and when it got so high he'd haul them to the barn. Dusty-dusty work and those tobacco leaves were sticky and that sticky stuck to your arms and chest and the dust would stick to that... ugh... felt like a walking sugar cookie at the end of the day.

Pablo wasn't that harvesting of the lower leaves called "priming" the tobacco ? Here's a video of them priming the upper leaves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRwnxhsNEyA

This is a different type of tobacco with a different harvesting process than the burley tobacco grown in my area. Below is a link to a video showing the housing process where the sticks of tobacco are hung in the barn railing to cure.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Ha ... &FORM=VIRE

Phil, that looks about right. I don't recall what they called it... but I don't recall wearing any rain coats. Tobacco and cotton farming in my family had been mostly phased out by the time I got old enough to do it. They then switched over to soybeans and/or pine trees. One friend of the family kept doing tobacco and made a lot of money doing it. Then the government came along and paid him more money to plant less tobacco. I never quite understood that one.

Super interesting replies!

I've got that exact tool sitting on the trunk of my Barracuda. I'll get a pic tomorrow. My dad's family had farms before WWII. Tobacco was a big crop in Southern MD up into the 70's, Joe.

Curiosity got the best of me, I had to go see if it was still there, Joe

Always like to look deep in the backgrounds of pictures and yours appears to have some sort of a tree stand down under some of the buckets and goodies.
Treefarmer

If I backed up a little you would see a 68 Cuda convertible, a Disston DA211 two man saw, numerous double bit axes, crosscut saws, multiple 100CC chainsaws and all kinds of cool stuff lost under the car, Joe.

Just left a sale and they had two more tobacco knives just like the one I posted above. There was a beat up Kelly Perfect ax there too, didn't feel like waiting two hours for them to get to that building. They have an auction every Tuesday starting at 2PM. Usually 3-4 buildings of stuff. Sells cheap if you have the patience to wait, Joe.