All About Pocket Knives

I got this Hawbill Pruner included in a lot of knives I bought off eBay. There is no makers mark anywhere on the knife. However, it appears to be a Klein Tools knife based on some previous ones I have sold. The knife is in great conditon and even had an old style price sticker on the hawkbill blade. If not for the crack in the bolster it would be in near mint condition. It's the secondary blade that is a mystery. It's a short blade with a respectable edge and small bullet nose tab on the end. It does not look like a choke blade or a grafting blade. I scoured the internet but can't find anything that resembles it. There is an R-3 stamp on the tang but the number does not identify the blade. I was hoping someone could identify the blade and advise what it is used for. Also, verify the knife was made by Klein Tools. As usual any assistance is greatly appreciated. I attached the photos

looks like a klein to me.

but it's not actually a pruner per se.

could be used for that but the knife as a whole is for electrical work.

the large blade is a skinning blade. skinning as in for skinning cable.

the smaller blade is for slitting cable insulation.

An electrician will know the name of that second blade.
I believe Glennbad will know the name of the blade. It is designed to remove the installation from a specific type of electrical wire.

The second, smaller blade is called a Romex slitter. Romex is a form of electrical wire that's very common; and the blade is made to strip the jacket off of it, revealing the three wires inside. But I'm not an electrician.

The reason I got into hawkbills is well, they're the most prevalent knife here in Coal Country. Read, cheap around here. Their primary use is the stripping of large high-voltage cable used to run equipment, and the cutting of conveyor belt, as well as opening bags of limestone dust. My first was a banged-up Klein Granddad used in the mines. While most were the big Klein 1550-6, Pittston, did, at one point, give miners Case 62031LHRs (with a screwdriver secondary, not the Romex blade), which are like the Klein, in that they are based on an electrician frame.

Learn something new nearly every day on AAPK. Never saw a knife with the Romex blade before. We always used the point of any blade and pulled it down the middle of the Romex then with the same blade cut off the outer sheath to expose the 3 wires.
Treefarmer

It’s a hand, pointing to whatever you wish it to.

Charlie

I am with Treefarmer - I always thought any knife was designed for the job. I had never heard of the Romex splitter blade. I like it!

Edit: Most of you won't give a flying fig about this but in case there is one interested party out there, here it is.

For the non-electrically initiated in the crowd, Romex® is a brand name that has become a generic name for sheathed wiring (like Kleenex for facial tissues and IBM for computers).

The Romex® brand of Non-Metallic Building Wire (“NM”) originated in 1922 with its development by the former Rome Wire Company, a predecessor to General Cable Corporation. On September 5, 2001, Southwire purchased the electrical building wire assets of General Cable Corporation.

Wow! As always, I'm impressed! I thought I had a gardening knife. I know Klein makes a lot of electrian knives I just thought the hawkbill made it a pruner. Anyway, thanks to all for the information! I'm am slowing getting and education on pocket knives.

Here is a 3 blade version of the Klein knife.

All-righty then, what part of the romex blade is sharpened and how is it supposed to be used? On most romex, as Jerry's picture shows, the ground wire is only covered with a paper wrap where the other 2 or 3 are insulated with some thermoplastic insulation that requires either a knife blade or a wire stripper to make the ends bare. That little romex blade would seem to be an extra step in skinnin' a wire, depending on what sort of edge they have. Electrical salesmen were well known for having "magical" wire strippers for sale that with one clasp of the hand would peel off the outer sheath and expose the copper conductors and probably if you forked out a bit more cash it would wire up the device for you.
Not being a card carryin' electrician, I would love to at least know how this works or is it a specialty tool for certain applications?
Where's gdogg when you need him? Of course he may not work with small stuff like this is designed for.
Treefarmer

As a specialty tool, this is what I'm most familiar with. Cable NM Ripper for $2.67 @ Zorro or $4.44 @ Grainger. More commonly for me was my pocket knife.

Philip, I've never seen that blade before but I'm pretty sure a smart guy like you could figure it out Mo Riki Tik.

treefarmer wrote:All-righty then, what part of the romex blade is sharpened and how is it supposed to be used? On most romex, as Jerry's picture shows, the ground wire is only covered with a paper wrap where the other 2 or 3 are insulated with some thermoplastic insulation that requires either a knife blade or a wire stripper to make the ends bare. That little romex blade would seem to be an extra step in skinnin' a wire, depending on what sort of edge they have. Electrical salesmen were well known for having "magical" wire strippers for sale that with one clasp of the hand would peel off the outer sheath and expose the copper conductors and probably if you forked out a bit more cash it would wire up the device for you.
Not being a card carryin' electrician, I would love to at least know how this works or is it a specialty tool for certain applications?
Where's gdogg when you need him? Of course he may not work with small stuff like this is designed for.
Treefarmer

Farmer if you had one in hand it would be self evident. It just works on the flat wire outside insulation, ain't worth spit on round wire .the blade is sharp on the end below that little tip.get you a start by slicing stick the tit in and slice right down the wire. I'd rather just use another blade but that6the way I see it working maybe a electrician will happen and explain it better.

treefarmer wrote:All-righty then, what part of the romex blade is sharpened and how is it supposed to be used?
Treefarmer

The vertical part of the blade is sharpened.I am not an electrician by any stretch of the imagination but I believe the rounded part is inserted into the end of the Romex cable with the knife in the upside down position and pushed into the opening to split the outside covering.Once that is cut to the proper length the covering is folded over and cut away with the sharp edge of the blade.

This thread is one of the reasons I like AAPK so much. I use to learn all sorts of different things like this just listening to my clients. I’m a knowledge sponge and love learning something new like this. Thank you to all who have contributed.

Thanks, the close up shows the the sharpened vertical edge. If you hand me that blade, I would spear the middle of the flat Romex and pull toward me. I just noticed the 3 bladed knife has 2 locks, makes sense.
Treefarmer

I did commercial refrigeration work for 15 years and pulled miles of wire.
Also used a lot of 3 strand cable (similar to extension cord).
Ran my fair share of romex, too.
My favorite knife to do electrical work was a Victorinox Electrician.
Wore out 2 or 3 in that time.
The sheepsfoot, screwdriver and punch got used a lot. As well as the spear for general cutting