All About Pocket Knives

This tool is about 20" overall length and blade is 11" long. The blade is thin and has a sharpened edge, both sides. There is a point protruding above the spine at the blade end.
Made in England by "Martindale" ? & Co. Ltd. Crocodile logo.
I do not have my knife books with me to check this name for spelling & dates
What is this tool used for ?
Does it have a name ?
thanks for the help.
kj

Sugarcane harvesting knife:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_knife

However, many places that sell gardening tools seem to carry some type of cane knife (and I think I have one here somewhere; a cheapo that's a national farm supply chain's own brand); which mostly see use as general chopping knives for hard use.

This one has a longer handle, but has the same marking as your knife. Apparently, these were made until relatively recently.

http://www.nqas.ashop.com.au/p/8864855/cane-knife.html

Yes that is a cane knife for harvesting sugar cane. When the British colonised a lot of the world, they made huge incomes from cotton, tea, rubber plantations etc., also sugar cane. Companies would have been commissioned to make tools and machinery for such out lying posts, and many would have been made. The brand and history of yours i know nothing about per se, but it is a Sugar Cane knife, we had them made over here under licence, but mechanical harvesters made them redundant for large scale harvesting. They are nearly all made in Asia now.

Thank you cody & cudgee. The Wiki link has some interesting old pictures showing 'workers' with this knife in hand.
Hard to know how old my "Crocodile" cane cutter is but it could be 100 yrs old, i.e. from 1920's.
Mystery solved, thanks.
kj

Sugar cane is good for 2 things.

Years ago i was in Barbados and the locals would walk around sucking on a sugar cane stalk. They all had beautiful shiny white teeth. No cavities, at least in the front teeth.
kj

kootenay joe wrote: ↑Sun Jul 11, 2021 2:29 am Years ago i was in Barbados and the locals would walk around sucking on a sugar cane stalk. They all had beautiful shiny white teeth. No cavities, at least in the front teeth.
kj

Here in these parts, similar knives both store bought and homemade were also called corn knives. They were used for cutting corn stalks to bundle into sheathes.

As to chewing sugar cane, I’ve seen the locals in Honduras do the same. I even cut a piece on the side of the road and tried it. Pretty sweet.

I have a machete made by this company. I bought it when I was just a youngster, about 1950 or so. I bought it at the Army - Navy store in Abilene. That was one of two knives that sorta started my knife collection.

Ray

Paladin wrote: ↑Sun Jul 11, 2021 12:34 pm I have a machete made by this company. I bought it when I was just a youngster, about 1950 or so. I bought it at the Army - Navy store in Abilene. That was one of two knives that sorta started my knife collection.

Ray

The crocodile made me do it, collect knives.
kj

kootenay joe wrote: ↑Mon Jul 12, 2021 1:37 am

Paladin wrote: ↑Sun Jul 11, 2021 12:34 pm I have a machete made by this company. I bought it when I was just a youngster, about 1950 or so. I bought it at the Army - Navy store in Abilene. That was one of two knives that sorta started my knife collection.

Ray

The crocodile made me do it, collect knives.
kj

Apologies for hijacking the thread.
Truth is, I knew nothing about the Crocodile until about 40 years later when I started organizing my collection. The knife had a sort of splatter coat on it and I had to use some thinner to finally be able to see the stamp. It was the first time I knew it was British. The other knife was a USMC corpsman's bolo and I still have it also. It is a magnificent knife.

Ray

Paladin wrote: ↑Mon Jul 12, 2021 3:01 am

kootenay joe wrote: ↑Mon Jul 12, 2021 1:37 am

Paladin wrote: ↑Sun Jul 11, 2021 12:34 pm I have a machete made by this company. I bought it when I was just a youngster, about 1950 or so. I bought it at the Army - Navy store in Abilene. That was one of two knives that sorta started my knife collection.

Ray

The crocodile made me do it, collect knives.
kj

Apologies for hijacking the thread.
Truth is, I knew nothing about the Crocodile until about 40 years later when I started organizing my collection. The knife had a sort of splatter coat on it and I had to use some thinner to finally be able to see the stamp. It was the first time I knew it was British. The other knife was a USMC corpsman's bolo and I still have it also. It is a magnificent knife.

Ray

The splatter coat would have been to protect it from the juice of the sugar cane and stop it from sticking.

Ray, your posts are not "hijacking". You are adding more info about this Crocodile brand and how the knife kindled your interest in knives.
Some of the best threads are those with a variety of information or stories that are only vaguely connected to the opening post.
kj

Ooops, double post.
kj