All About Pocket Knives

I've got an old scout style knife that I'm having trouble identifying because the only tang stamp says "USA". The only unique feature that I noticed was that it has a spey blade. Can anyone shed some light?

I’d call that a cattle knife, not a scout/utility. They were often made on the same frame, but the cattle knife will often have a Spey blade. The key however is a camper/utility/scout knife typically has a screwdriver and/or can opener.

As for who made it, Colonial made a lot of knives stamped just “USA”.

Ken

Colonial is a good guess for the cattle knife. 1950s shrinky dink covers. A different material than celluloid and maybe worse for shrinkage, but no nitric acid fuming.

The mark side makes want to say Boker but the pile side makes me want to say Colonial

I have the same knife, in worse condition. The clip point on yours looks very much like Colonial, but I also have this Imperial camp knife. Blade configuration is different obviously, but everything else is spot on.

My guess is Imperial

Edit: i have a very similar knife i should say. Upon close inspection, the spey shape and nicks on both blades are different. Imperial used the long pull nicks on their Hammer brand alot. So maybe an imperial hammer brand

The slightly rounded tang and narrow over all width looks a lot like a camillus made punch blade.

Great insight! Thanks

Does USA mean United States of America or United States Army?

Thanks for all the insight. I had never heard of a cattle knife. Thanks for that bit of knowledge mumbleypeg. What companies are most associated with cattle knives?

Gr8wazu wrote: ↑Mon Jun 10, 2024 8:54 pm Thanks for all the insight. I had never heard of a cattle knife. Thanks for that bit of knowledge mumbleypeg. What companies are most associated with cattle knives?

Just about every major cutlery, both USA and European, made at least one or more cattle knife patterns. Remington, Case, Ulster, Schrade, New York Knife, Boker, Robeson, Winchester, Camillus, Utica, and so on, plus most hardware brands whose knives were made by the aforementioned cutleries. I’m sure I left out some. The pattern is an old one, designed for working on livestock but popular with others due to its versatility. It’s a very common pattern that was popular during the 20th century, and still is today. GEC makes some nice ones.

Per Levine’s Guide to Knives (see below)

The master blade of a cattle knife is most often a spear blade, although many……….have clip master blades. A few have sheepfoot master blades. The second blade is usually a spey, while the third can be a sheepfoot, a pen, or a punch.

There are a lot of examples here on AAPK that can be found using Search. search.php?keywords=Cattle&terms=all&au ... mit=Search

Ken

Thank you. That was very enlightening.