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This group is for you sea dogs who enjoy anything nautical. Two connections to iKC are divers' knives and sailors' knives. Other possible related topics are model ship building and collecting, nautical photography, boat building, sailing, etc.

Comment by Tobias Gibson on December 30, 2012 at 19:42

Been a while since anyone has posted.  I recently picked up a 1980 2 Sheffield made 2 piece clasp knife.  It has the little arrow on the handle so I think Genuine issue.

It is shown below along with a Rodgers 1 piece and the Genuine Army (Lewis) 3 piece Clasp Knife.  All Sheffield made.

All three

Two Piece

Three piece

Comment by Tobias Gibson on June 7, 2012 at 12:22

If you're not in the group "Box Full of Knives" and haven't been following the Discussion "Military Knives" you might want to drop by.   They've been showing a bunch of old Military Riggers.

Comment by Tobias Gibson on May 17, 2012 at 14:37

I need to re-cant my comments about the Davis Yachtsman Rigging knife.  I said some pretty harsh things about when I first got it but after using for some time, I have to admit,  it is better than I thought.   I'm sure more than one person has formed a different opinion of a knife (either good or bad) after using it for a while.

I've updated my review at Amazon (if you wish to read it the link is below. Originally I had it 1 star, then it went to 2 stars after a few months of using it.  It probably been close to two years now and it keeps doing what I want it to do.  Hard not to give a knife 4 stars when it performs better than you thought it ever would.

Amazon Review

Comment by Tobias Gibson on March 15, 2012 at 11:40

So I check my email this morning and I find this notice from Amazon regarding my review of the British Army 3 pieces clasp knife offered through Rothco:

Knife sounds great but I question the veracity of the author. The comments read more like an advertisement from the manufacturer. So, either kudos to the earnest reviewer for great writing skill and time on his hands to write such comments. Or, boooo to the advertiser for trying to pull the wool over my eyes. However, like all comments, I tend to disregard the rants and raves. Bottom line.....looks like a good knife and will consider purchasing.

Apparently the  comment was pulled by the author or Amazon or hasn't shown up yet.  Either way, I'm going to take it as a compliment.

This the link to the knife.  It has 2 five star reviews and 1 one star review.

British Army knife by Rothco (It is actually made by Lewis in Sheffield and distributed by Rothco.)

Comment by Jan Carter on October 26, 2011 at 18:28

Tobias,

My best practice on ebay, look up the knife at other sites and see what its going for.

Comment by Tobias Gibson on October 26, 2011 at 17:45

Someone is in for a big disappointment.   Someone on eBay has a $26  bid on the S&W rigging knife.   Retail is about $12.  Of the stainless steel riggers, it is one of my least faves.  Feels bad in the hand and the bail is in the way when you use the  spike.  See the bid under this eBay number:  400250486954

 

Comment by Terry Waldele on May 22, 2011 at 14:40

Thanks, Tobias.  I have a knife with a shackle key and now I know what it's for

Comment by Tobias Gibson on May 22, 2011 at 8:17

The odd looking blade is a shackle key

 

The shackle key is unique to the world of sailing knives. It is a flat unsharpened blade with an elongated hole in the center that often narrows at the handle end of the blade. It is used for loosening shackles (butterfly like screw heads) on ships and boats. (To be more precise, the shackle key loosens the screw pin that holds the shackle in place, thus shackle key; it opens a shackle.) On folding knives, the shackle key is often a blade unto itself, a hole cut in the main blade, or is built into the frame of the knife. The shackle key is sometimes formed in the handle end of marlin spikes; giving the spike a resemblance to a large needle.

Comment by Terry Waldele on May 21, 2011 at 23:52

This appears to be an Ibberson "Doublesharp Yachtsman's Knife."  Can you tell me the purpose of the odd looking blade with the bottle opener on it?

Comment by Tobias Gibson on May 21, 2011 at 19:21

That's one heck of bilge find!

Comment by Rino Smajo on May 21, 2011 at 18:34

gift from a friend  (he found it in bilge)

Comment by Terry Waldele on June 1, 2010 at 2:35

Hi Jim,
Welcome aboard the good ship "Nautical 'Nives." I can relate to your comment about the impulse to buy rigging knives. When my son was a pre-teen, he told me he really wanted something (I forget now what it was, but whatever it was, it befuddled me as to why he would want one.) So, I asked him "Why do you want THAT?" His response was, "Uh, just to have." It really boils down to just that. You SEE it; you WANT it; so you BUY it - SIWIBI. BTY, I still have a ways to go to reach just the shoebox phase. (My rigging knives still fit in a cigar box.) One of my favorites is what appears to be a very old British rigging knife that I bought in an antique store near Prescott, AZ. It was so rusty you could barely make out what it was deep in the bottom of the "junk box." I de-rusted it, and that's all the clean-up I did on it. This is it:

Comment by Jim Child on May 31, 2010 at 10:19

Hey All! I figured I'd be polite and warn everyone that I'd come aboard.

Maybe 15 years ago I noticed that I owned three "rigging knives": a Kabar "system" with spike and multi-plier-tool and a Capt. Currey UK folder inherited from my Dad and a cheap SS Davis folder I'd picked up at one of the local "marine supply" stores. I announced to my family that I was "officially collecting rigging knives" and they should feel free to gift me with multiples of same!

For a lot of years I was happy just buying a blade when I happened to notice a new one at checkout while purchasing bottom-paint or some such. And, at different points in time, each of my sons did, in fact, give me a knife for my birthday.

And then, a few months back, I was on eBay for some reason and suddenly thought maybe I'd do a search for "rigging knife" and see what happened. Well, that was a BIG mistake!! The shoebox that had housed my entire collection for years is now being replaced by a 6 drawer wooden chest from Grizzly.

....and while I had been really good about only acquiring knives that incorporated a marlin spike in one way or another, I've discovered that I'm not always able to pass up a real pretty single-blade jack "rope" knife, USCG approved or not.... please pray for me! LOL

Jim

Comment by Tim the Wolfdog on May 26, 2010 at 19:30

i think bos'n knives are cool.

Comment by Rino Smajo on May 26, 2010 at 2:00

No,it didnt go overboard,i left it on one boat ;-)

Comment by Terry Waldele on May 25, 2010 at 22:32

CaptJeff,
Yeah, in your comment you said the knife was one you used to have. That's why I asked what happened to it. Just curious whether you sold it, lost it, or what? Come clean now; you lost it overboard, didn't you?

Comment by CaptJeff Saylor on May 25, 2010 at 17:51

great looking boat! what happened to the knife??

Comment by Terry Waldele on May 21, 2010 at 23:18

Hi Rimo,
Thanks for sharing you pics! Great shots of your boat and knife. What happened to your knife? Did you sell it?


Comment by Rino Smajo on May 21, 2010 at 16:31

Boat i was skippering,and knife i used to have.

Comment by Terry Waldele on April 21, 2010 at 21:00

Hey, Thomas, we've got plenty of room for you. Welcome aboard!

Comment by Thomas Johnson on April 21, 2010 at 8:40

Ahoy! Room for a blue nosed shellback?

Comment by CaptJeff Saylor on April 16, 2010 at 6:22

haha! good to have you HammerFist!

Comment by Terry Waldele on April 16, 2010 at 1:08

Welcome aboard, Hammerfist Forge! All Golden Shellbacks, Emerald Shellbacks, Royal Diamond Shellbacks and even Pollywogs and landlubbers are allowed to join.

Comment by Tim the Wolfdog on April 15, 2010 at 18:29

I meant Golden Shellbacks. Didn't proof before I hit send.

Comment by Tim the Wolfdog on April 15, 2010 at 18:28

are olden Shellbacks allowed to join? OOPS! Already did. How yaw doin, Guys?

Comment by CaptJeff Saylor on February 17, 2010 at 14:17

how could i NOT join this group!!
Glad to be aboard!

Captain Jeff Saylor

Comment by J.J. Smith III on February 17, 2010 at 10:30

Ahoy Captain, Permission to come aboard.

Tags: Art, Collectables, Knives, Nautical, and

Views: 19526

Replies to This Discussion

Davis instruments rigging knives

Posted by Tobias Gibson on April 23, 2011

I have the davis 1555 "Yachtsman"  (the one with the shackle key in the handle)  It by far is my least favorite sailing knife.    I'm curious if anyone has other Davis knives or has this one and finds it worthwhile.

 

The 1550 is the standard rigger  that looks like the old "Telo" or "Sealine" made in Japan and USA respectively.  Does anyone have that one and if so, how is it.

 

The 1551 is their Deluxe which is based on the British 3 piece and similar to the Maxam 180-219547 Sailor’s Tool.   If you have the Davis, are you satisfied with it?

 

Toby

Reply by Jim Child on April 23, 2011 at 9:58

I have to say up front that these all stainless slab-sided, "the liners are the handles" riggers have held the least interest in my collecting. I've acquired maybe a dozen or so in the last year and have not yet gotten around to formally cataloging them in my database -- there's always been some other task that seemd more interesting.

 

I had not picked up on the fact that these knives were now made in China. I had pretty much thought that Davis and Telo WERE the same "brand" -- and always had been. It's amazing how much I learn by visitingThe Sailing Knife - Makers. I have the little 3.25" (closed) Telo (Japan) edition of the Davis whose photo you've attached. It always surprises me that the cheap, nasty looking bail still includes the ability to lock the spike.

 

Anyone who's visited the farm will tell you that Jim had 12" of colorful braided rope hanging out of this right front pants pocket. Well, there's a 4 1/8" Telo "100% STAINLESS STEEL" 2 piece folding rigger at the pocket end of that lanyard. When I need a knife -- (five to ten times a day on average?) I just reach down against my right thigh, grab and pull. This Japanese Telo is my EDC because I figured it was the least interesting, most expendable and most easily replaceable of the knives in my collection. Thinking about it, it's one of the oldest knives I own. I bought it back when I needed a knife to take sailing and I didn't want to chance losing one of the knives I'd inherited from my Dad. In those days I didn't have a collection -- it was just a cigar box full of knives.

 

I guess now that I know that these are being made in China I'd have to consider retiring the EDC from ED use. I'll be interested what others might have to say about the current Davis knives from China. Maybe I should buy two -- one for the collection and one to EDC.

 

Photo footnote: Toby, rather than attaching photos, you gotta try clicking on the "image insert" icon on the iKC comment box toolbar. Unlike any forum I've ever been involved with you're allowed to upload images right off your hard drive rather than having to already have the jpg online somewhere and entering an URL. So much faster and convenient! Though, I'm not sure how Scott will continue to swing what must be an ever-growing storage burden.

Reply by Jim Child on April 28, 2011 at 6:38

I have both the current Davis 1555 and Telo stamped versions of this little folding rigger. The tang of the Telo is stamped obverse: "STAINLESS STEEL" (on two lines) and reverse: "JAPAN".

 

It's tough for me to measure accurately but the ricasso of the Telo's blade is 3 mm thick while the Davis is more like 2 mm. The liners/handles of the Telo might be a touch thicker than those of the modern 1555, but that is probably an optical delusion caused by the the bevel finish of the edges. The Telo knife is, overall, apprx 1 mm thicker, and that 1 mm is easily accounted for by the thicker blade stock.

Probably the most visible difference is that spike of the Davis has a more pronounced curve than the Telo. The curve is not required by the function of the spike but makes it possible for the spike's point to tuck down between the liners when the knife is closed. Look close and you'll see that the "shackle key" cutouts are not exactly the same.

Russian Sailors' Knives -- in general and specifically

I just recently acquired a Russian rigger on the big online auction. The seller was an Italian (in Italy) and didn't seem to know much of the knife's provenance (you and me would maybe just say "its history" lol).

Anyway, I found a year old thread on Blade Forums about the exact same pattern -- nasty, cheap, monsterously large (5.5" long closed and more than 1" across the handles). The reddy, brown handles feel and sound like Bakelite. There are no (NONE!) markings on the knife other than the small (3/8") embossed logo in the middle of the obverse scale.

The fellas at BF were referring to this as the "funky chicken" -- tho, I'm wondering if it might be a dragon.

An actual Russian from St. Petersburg joined the thread at one point and said the knife was part of the "emergency complete set" and had been sold/issued from the 60's/70's through to 1991 (the "fall" of the USSR).
Unfortunately, his English was even worse than the Italian's. :-( 
Some of you guys have been around. Does anyone know anything about the Russian cutler that produced these?

Reply by Jim Child on February 13, 2011 at 17:27

Update: Mostly through contributions made by actual Russians in the Blade and British Blade Forums I've learned that the "funky chicken" is actually a rooster -- the logo or mark of the October Works which had been located in the city of Vorsma in the province of Nizhny Novgorod located about 370 km east of Moscow and apprx 1,000 km west of the Ural Mtns. The October "company" produced all manner of tools during the years of the Soviet Union.

WWI and WWII British Navy knives.

Those are neat SK! It always amazes me that companies would put stag on a iron framed knife. Always seems like it should be on a higher end knife, but that's the collector talking! LOL! Stag is tough and durable, and once upon a time there weren't any knife collectors and knives were made for using!

Thanks for your comments Craig. Thought I would post this nautical collectible.

That's a pretty neat corkscrew!

That stag is just a thing of beauty SK!!!

The corkscrew is awesome!

An S702 Camillus Rope Knife.  The knife was a commemorative of the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor.  SMKW had these made up in 2001.  The knife has a 4 line tang stamp as would've been on the knives at the time.  I'm not even sure the Q5 was in production at the time as I thought they came out in 1944.  In any case this version with the can opener (S702) came out 1949.

I'm not sure which is more interesting, the fact that it is 2001 knife with a 4 line tang stamp or the blade etch.  I'mnot sure how low the production tun was but I'd bet it was in the tens of thousands. Any way, I got it for $10-20 so I'm happy.

Thanks for your comments Jan and Toby. That's an interesting knife Toby. I haven't seen one with the can opener before. I have this one with jigged wood scales.

That one is normally called a Q5.  The U.S. Government  nomenclature is # 425 Jack knife.  the Backside stamp said USCG approved. which refers to it being approved by the Coast Guard for use with the Merchant Marines.  In any case, it was issued to Mechant Marines, Coast Gurad and Navy Personnel.

It was replaced in 1949 by the one with the can opener. The can opener version was designated S702.  The S stands for Stainless.   The S70s were made will into the 1990s, with the last Camillus government contract for the knife expiring in 1995.

Thanks for the information Toby.

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