All About Pocket Knives

It seems to be all carbon. The seller thought perhaps it was home made, but I don’t think so. The handle shape has curves that wouldn’t be necessary and the nail nick looks pro. It’s old, for sure. There are no markings but it’s pretty pitted.
It’s scary sharp and I’m sure pretty useful. It was also five buck, so I got an oddity cheap, if nothing else!

Your knife appears to be a Mercator K55K (minus the black paint).
Photo in included Wikipedia link:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercator_K55K

A really worn smaller model of the Mercator "K55K" knife. The pin may have been replaced. Here's mine with a Kaufmann tang stamp. It's a really great knife for EDC. I love mine, as the length is perfect. I find the regular Mercator too big. This was a photo I took for a carry thread, and I don't remember where I put it last time I carried it. I think mine's about 3 3/4" inches closed.

These things take a really good edge without much effort. I like how the blade is tapered from thick at the spine to thin at the tip. Also, so thin and light, you don't even know you're carrying it!

Thanks, fellas, but...

It has no remnant of paint but more importantly, no sign of any engraving. It’s also a slip, not a lock. That sounds like a douk-douk, but it isn’t really right for that, either.
I’m trying to find pics of a pre 1891 Mercator. If they began doing the back engraving then, perhaps it’s older.

zoogirl wrote:Thanks, fellas, but...

It has no remnant of paint but more importantly, no sign of any engraving. It’s also a slip, not a lock. That sounds like a douk-douk, but it isn’t really right for that, either.
I’m trying to find pics of a pre 1891 Mercator. If they began doing the back engraving then, perhaps it’s older.

Not all Mercators have locking blades or painted handles, and at any rate the painted surface finish can be quite easily removed—either on purpose or with normal wear and tear. The modern Mercators that I have seen are stamped (not engraved) on the mark-side handle, the edge of the handle that covers the backspring, and the blade tang. I don’t know how much these markings may have varied over the course of the knife’s 150 year history. One of the reasons that I thought that your knife was most likely a Mercator was that the bail or shackle on the knife appears to be identical to those found on most Mercators—it’s quite different than that found on a Douk-Douk, for example. All that having been said, the leading edge of your knife’s handle (in front of the pivot pin) seems to be slightly more curvaceous than that of a Mercator. Perhaps it’s a Mercator copy—I’m sure they exist.

In case you’re interested, I’ve included a link to the Otter/Mercator website. I’m rather amazed by the number of variations of the Mercator that Otter is currently producing (three pages worth)!

https://www.otter-messer.de/shop/Mercat ... anguage=en

ZG - I have the same knife made by Waterville which I posted not long ago... I think it was a durable low price knife in its day - nothing fancy for sure but I think something appealing...

LongBlade wrote:ZG - I have the same knife made by Waterville which I posted not long ago... I think it was a durable low price knife in its day - nothing fancy for sure but I think something appealing...

Nice little knife! Here is one I have in the small size made by Richartz of Germany. Not sure what the handle stamp means.

Zoogirl, your knife seems to be over 5 inches long. That's a large knife. Nice one.

Lee, I would have never guessed that from Waterville. Another nice one.

Good links, Josh.

This was an inexpensive pattern to make, so it comes in all shapes and sizes .... and makers.

I like mine. It locks. I even carried this to work for a while years ago. 4 3/8" closed.

Cool - I never saw another one like mine and now we have 3 in this thread other than mine ..