Culturally and Nationally sigificant knives?

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Whiterook808 said:
My first thought for the US was the cub scout knife. That was my first knife and most of my friends had something similar.
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Oh yeah! I still carry one daily. Mine was made by Wenger, and it has the Swiss Army cross on it, but it's essentially a Cub or Boy Scout knife. I made a leather belt pouch for it, and there's seldom a day goes by that I don't use it at least once.:)
 
joneb said:
Lapin Puukko
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From my understanding this translates to laplander knife of the Sami or Suomi people in northern Scandinavia, this was told to me by my wife's uncle who was born in Finland.
I will add this, the Lapin Puukko sheath was longer than most other Scandi knife sheaths. I guess maybe the taller sheath makes the knife harder to loose in the snow?
 
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ilbob said:
That's probably about it for what most people would think of.
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Poppycock

Many cultures have knives that are pretty specific to their culture and recognizable to many as being associated with place or people. Navajas and Spain, Bolos or Balisongs and the Phillipines, Scottish dirks, Kukris and Nepal, the Kris and Indonesia, Pukkos and Finland/Scandinavia, Bowies and USA, SAKs and Switzerland... That's not even getting into swords identified with cultures (Claymore/Basket hilted broadsword and Scotland, Jian and China, Rapier and Spain or Italy, Vikings and broadswords, Roman Gladius, Japanese Katana, ...) Toss images of these out at 100 people and many if not most would make an association with the people and places.
 
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Whiterook808 said:
We always called them rigging knives, but I didn't think most would recognize the term. Mine is an Iberson made in Sheffield. I haven't been sailing in years!
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After I learned how to sail dinghies in my early 20s, I was asked to crew on a big boat. I was honored to. Just before I went out the first time, a friend of my Dad's gave me a rigger's knife and 10 minutes of marlin spike seamanship. The captain was sort of in awe as I later pulled out the knife when I had to unloosen a shackle...
 
Obturation said:
An ulu is a knife Inuit folks used.
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That’s the only one that came to mind. Even as a primitive blade it already had its form and function and a 1000 year old blade would be easily recognizable. it’s also the only primitive blade I have ever heard a distinct name for because other knives were just flakes of jade or slate that had been knapped to resemble a very basic shape.

Moving into a more modern and cultural thought process, Viking battle axes and the swords of Western Europe were pretty distinctive designs indicative of where the people were from who carried them, whether they be military or not they were fighting weapons intended for serious use.
 
toivo said:
As you might guess from my username and icon pic, I am of Finnish ancestry. The puukko is something I've been familiar with from a very young age.
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Same here (I believe there are more than a few of us Finnish-Americans onboard hereabouts).

Also -- and I don't credit the company with inventing it, but I do know that Rapala really did a lot to popularize the fish filet knife early on in the 1930s or thereabouts (my Finn granddad believed that a Finn invented that knife) .

HSO nailed it with his post above -- for sure, any casual student of the history of the sword can quickly associate a certain blade with its country/region of origin.
 
WestKentucky said:
On the same thought process, the Sharpfinger just screams of the hunting culture, and a case hatchet of the camping and general outdoorsy type.
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Estwing or Plumb back then in my mind. Right on with the sharpfinger style of blade.
 
Old Dog said:
Same here (I believe there are more than a few of us Finnish-Americans onboard hereabouts).

Also -- and I don't credit the company with inventing it, but I do know that Rapala really did a lot to popularize the fish filet knife early on in the 1930s or thereabouts (my Finn granddad believed that a Finn invented that knife) .

HSO nailed it with his post above -- for sure, any casual student of the history of the sword can quickly associate a certain blade with its country/region of origin.
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See post # 18. They are still a must have in this man's mind.
 
I haven't a drop of Finnish blood, but my stepmom is 100% Finnish, from an all Finnish town in Minnesota. My Dad has a nice little pukko collection. I have a CS Finn Bear, collecting pukkos is a little rich for my wallet.
 
The Rapala fillet knives made by Marttiini with "hand ground stainless" electro penciled on the blade were standard issue in this country. They worked just fine. The Finns around Lake Norden reputedly were fond of using the "cotton hook", another name for netting which was not quite legal for game fish.
 
2 pages in and I've only seen the Scottish Dirk mentioned once! And no mention of the sgian dubh.

This one is still worn, more in an ornamental fashion now, dress occasions but still very culturally significant.

Going further back in history we must mention the seax, so prominent on the British isles the people were called Saxons! Never found without their belt knife. Worn horizontally in front.
 
Well, it's a modernized mock up. Maybe it was a time traveling ice man!

Yeah. Confirmed. I remember him in like 1986 telling maverick he could be his wingman anytime...
 
WestKentucky said:
On the same thought process, the Sharpfinger just screams of the hunting culture, and a case hatchet of the camping and general outdoorsy type.
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I also like to collect things that continually caught my eyes over the years. Like the Buck 120, the shiny Case hatchets with the leather wrapped handles in the case along with their knives, caught my eyes for many years. Probably worth a great deal now.
 
Solomonson said:
I also like to collect things that continually caught my eyes over the years. Like the Buck 120, the shiny Case hatchets with the leather wrapped handles in the case along with their knives, caught my eyes for many years. Probably worth a great deal now.
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upload_2020-12-11_19-21-4.jpeg

I had one like that by Kabar, this is a stock picture, but the same. The hatchet was so thin and light as to be worthless. Down the road it went.
 
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