Horace Kephart era Jack Knives
| BladeForums.com
In Camping and Woodcraft, he gives this description:
“The jackknife has one stout blade equal to whittling seasoned hickory, and two small blades, of which one is ground thin for such surgery as you may have to perform (keep it clean). Beware of combination knives; they may be passable corkscrews and can openers, but that is about all.”
Having one stout main and two small blades makes me think of the traditional whittler pattern, second one down in this 1886 HSB catalog:
Also seen in this 1885 Maher & Grosh ad
And this 1902 catalog (the three bladed congress below it could be a candidate, but the specific mention of a stout main blade and two small blades leads me to think that he had the traditional whittler in mind):
The closest you will get to a modern version are the GEC 79 or 57 patterns.
Last edited: Oct 22, 2015
Gold Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2000
Messages
7,837
My GEC 79 comes close, but needs another small blade
Gold Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2005
Messages
47,789
Good reply Lambertiana, very interesting :thumbup:
Ad
Gold Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
27,240
The 79 Work Horse is a tough sturdy knife for sure, seeing your one motivated me to get my own some years back.
The 38 Whittler has credibility too: decent large Clip and 2 secondaries.
Gold Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2012
Messages
11,598
I always thought he meant a stockman, but I’ve only recently distinguished stockmans from whittlers. And it just occurs to me that if he didn’t like the dime-novel design invented by Colonel Bowie, he might have preferred a spear-point folder to a clip. So I second Lambertiana.
Last edited: Oct 23, 2015
Joined
Jan 3, 2013
Messages
5,690
Maybe GEC can make a new run of the 79 with the right combo of blades?
Joined
Feb 2, 2005
Messages
19,988
One of my favorite books. If I can remember to do so, I will take a look in my copy of Camping and Woodcraft.
