Butcher Knives

[Niederlander]

Gentlemen, I know we think of custom made Bowies and such when we think of frontier knives, but would it have been common to carry a regular butcher knife or carving knife as a sheath knife?  I'm thinking I've read somewhere where natives often did this, but how about frontiersmen?

[River City John]

Certainly buffalo hunters carried butcher and skinning knives.

[1961MJS]

Hi Dale
Look up both Jantz Supply and Track of the Wolf for Russel Green River blades that you can glue nice Walnut Scales to.  You cal also buy completed knives at Track of the Wolf.
Later

[Abilene]

There was a large assortment of designs, many fancy.  But from what I've read the type we'd call a butcher knife was the most commonly used.

[1961MJS]

Hi Dale
From what I've read in a book on Mountain Man equipment:

Firearms, Traps, and Tools of the Mountain Men: A Guide to the Equipment of the Trappers and Fur Traders Who Opened the Old West / Russell, Carl P.

and on Bowie knives:

Norm Flayderman's Bowie Knife book.

The Civil War (Revolvers were reliable) changed the usage of a man's knife carried everyday from an important weapon to an important tool concerning food preparation.  The Bowie knife we all know and love was a weapon that could be used to cut your food.  After the Civil War, the knife was a tool to cut your food and maybe people that upset you.

The Native Americans didn't seem to carry the knife for weapons as much (they have tomahawks, arrows, and those big old clubs).  I haven't STUDIED this part as much.
Later


Later

[Ironbadger]

Absolutely.
I've been researching period knives most of my life.

What I have seen in museum collections and the like, is that what we think of as "butcher" knives were one of the most common, if not THE most common knives seen on the old frontier.

They were cheap, readily available from just about any merchant or blacksmith, and got the job done.

Anyone with any experience in the wild cared more about a knifes edge and the ability to resharpen it, rather than what it looked like.
To be sure, Sheffield made bowies were common enough, but knives on the frontier wore out quick, were lost often, and were popular items of trade with indians.
A butcher knife was easily and quickly replaced in an era where you rarely got attached to working tools.

I've been a custom knifemaker since the early 80s, and I've had collectors show me some very rare and authenticated pieces.
The butcher type knife is usually present unless the collector is only interested in bowies, bayonets or other specific items.

[St. George]

Somewhere in the 'Back Pages' of this Forum, I supplied a list of the various makers of period knives - it included the plain blades that the traders supplied during the Fur Trapping Era.

hey bought these in casks and the Indian would handle them and sheath them to his taste.

Needless to say, they were wildly popular - both with the Tribes but to the soldiers as well, because they were ubiquitous.

Beaded sheaths were supplied by the Indian women - and those were 'deep' sheaths to keep the knife secure - they didn't use wrap-around keepers, a simple thond would do.

The handles were installed in a number of ways - and quite often were tack-decorated.

A couple of Remington's paintings of Cavalrymen on campaign shows these.

Everybody in C&WAS loves those big Bowies, but these simple knives did the bulk of the day to day work during the era.

Scouts Out!