What is this knife pattern called?

[eveled]

What is this pattern called? What is the handle shape called? I always called them 2 blade folding hunters. It’s a difficult pattern to search for. Is it a variant of a Trapper?

[Railsplitter]

I think Folding Hunter is correct.

[edge213]

I agree. Folding hunter.

[XX Case XX]

Rick and David are correct. As a general rule, that pattern is called a Folding Hunter. When I typed that in the search box on eBay, it got 1,899 hits. That's because of several reasons.

The search engine eBay uses will pick-up anything that has the words "Folding" or "Hunter", and there were many knives that were called one or both of those things that shouldn't have been. A lot of people that sell knives don't know what they have so they call it whatever they want.

One of the knives on that list was a Buck 301 Stockman that had no business there, but it made it simply because the seller called it a "Hunter".

Also, there are several types of "Hunter" knives that look similar to the ones in your photo but might have only one blade, and eBay will show all of them to you, not just the ones you're looking for, simply because of the word "Hunter".

Sometimes, Case knives are difficult to find because many knives are sold with a "case" so search engines show you those as well. Even ones in a display case. That's why I type "Case XX", not just Case.

In order to find exactly what you're looking for, you have to get creative when it comes what you type in the search box.

____________
Mike

[Ridgegrass]

Ever heard them called "Clasp" hunters? J.O'.

[eveled]

Does anyone know who made the pattern first? Or when it first appeared?

[XX Case XX]

Ever heard them called "Clasp" hunters?

I forgot about those. Yes, Clasp Hunters. I guess the word "Hunter" is popular amongst knife names.

____________
Mike

[edge213]

Ever heard them called "Clasp" hunters? J.O'.

I would say clasp knives are a little bigger....like a Case 72 pattern.

[XX Case XX]

Does anyone know who made the pattern first? Or when it first appeared?

Man that's going to be a hard find. There are so many companies that make that style. Someone here may know but it ain't me.

___________
Mike

[eveled]

Does anyone know who made the pattern first? Or when it first appeared?

Man that's going to be a hard find. There are so many companies that make that style. Someone here may know but it ain't me.

___________
Mike

I know it’s a long shot. If our members don’t know then no one does. It’s such a tough pattern to research. As Mike pointed out in his post the words are too generic and the search engines give too many irrelevant results. If you get too specific you miss out on a lot of results.

[hardman]

Probably only because I am most familiar with Case XX knives, I see the Folding Hunter pattern as different from the Clasp pattern. The typical Folding Hunter is a XX65 pattern and the Clasp is X172 pattern.

Case did make a single blade Folding Hunter that had the larger Clasp blade and gave it the pattern number 5165 1/2 and 6165 1/2 depending on if it had Stag or Bone handle covers.

[eveled]

Maybe I should ask a slightly different question. What is your earliest memory of this pattern?

I’ve found 2 references for the KA-BAR version going back to the 20’s! Not sure the source is reliable though.


From what I see the clasp knife doesn’t have the point on the handle dividing the 2 finger grooves.

[kootenay joe]

As stated these are the standard Folding Hunter pattern. I believe this is a USA pattern and goes back to about 1920's or maybe a bit later. The large Swell Center Hunter is usually a single blade knife and is an older pattern going back to the 1800's and might have originated in Britain.
kj

[LDF Knives]

Yes these are Folding Hunters, they are always 5 1/4 inches closed. if smaller or larger, they ain't the original F H

[eveled]

Thanks guys. I’ve been casually interested in these for years. You don’t see them posted about very often, (almost never).

The knives in the pictures are all mine. 2 of them are family heirlooms. Some people think Camillus made them all and everyone else rebranded them. But they are all a little different than each other.

I know Camillus made ones marked Craftsman for Sears, and model 317’s for Buck. Did they make them for anyone else?

I think Schrade Case KA-BAR Western and Imperial made their own. I’m sure there were others.

Thank you all again.

[treefarmer]

Interesting discussion, fellers!
I noticed the measurement mentioned 5 1/4" of the Case pattern 65 knives which is correct, the clasp knife, pattern 72 is listed as being 5 1/2". The wider blade on the 72's would probably be leaning toward a "skinning" blade, just my observation.
My go to deer knife for many years has been an old #39 Queen folding hunter which is also 5 1/4".
One thing about them, a folding hunter is a handful and will get the job done releasing Bambi from his britches!
Treefarmer

[1967redrider]

Case Clasps vs. Folding Hunters.

Yes, I like 'em both.

[Colonel26]

I too call them folding hunters. Like Bro. Phillip, they are my favorite pattern for doing the deed after Bambi is on the ground.

[toomanyknives]

Does anyone know who made the pattern first? Or when it first appeared?

This is according to Bernard Levine, Eveled. I would say if anyone would know, he would...

"Folding Hunter (like the non-locking Camillus Model 26) - clasp-type folding hunters first appeared around 1900. They are American versions of the clasp knives made in France, Spain, Italy, Bohemia, etc. However the swell-center folding hunter (Winchester 1920, etc) is a lot older; I have seen Sheffield examples from before 1850. And the swell-center regular hunting knife (mis-named 1-blade trapper, though it is much older than the trapper) is nearly that old".

Camillus 26.jpg (26.94 KiB) Viewed 1503 times

Here is the referenced Camillus 26..

[eveled]

From what I can see, Camillus made theirs and the 317 for Buck.

Schrade, Ulster, Imperial, Chicago Cutlery, and the Craftsman one are all made with Swindon keys. So is it safe to say they are all Schrade?

Western, KA-BAR, Case, Queen all made their own.

That makes 5 American companies that were making these knives all at the same time. The pattern was very popular until the Buck110 was released.

[toomanyknives]

From what I can see, Camillus made theirs and the 317 for Buck.

Schrade, Ulster, Imperial, Chicago Cutlery, and the Craftsman one are all made with Swindon keys. So is it safe to say they are all Schrade?

Western, KA-BAR, Case, Queen all made their own.

That makes 5 American companies that were making these knives all at the same time. The pattern was very popular until the Buck110 was released.

I'm not sure if any other companies used Swinden Key construction. Schrade is the only one I know of.