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The Mushroom Knife,

Mushroom Knives

At the risk of being the only one posting in this thread, I'm going to live up to the description of the knife pattern group and introduce a most interesting knife pattern. I'm pretty sure the Mushroom or Mycology knife is one of the lesser known patterns around. One reason for this is because that knife is designed for a specific purpose -- harvesting wild mushrooms!

As it seems most of the companies that make them are located in Europe, I assume Mushroom Knives are more popular there than in other places in the world. What makes a knife a mushroom knife are several interesting features

We'll start with the heart of any knife - the Blade.

The blades are often made of 420 or 440 Stainless Steel. Many have a radically styled scythe like blade others have a more traditional hawkbill. In almost every case, the spine of the blade will have jimping (a series of notches) running the length of the spine. This is not to provide better grip but to aid in removing loose dirt from the mushroom.

Jimping along the spine of the blade

The knives will normally have a brush at the pommel. The better knives will have a boar's hair brush (lesser quality will have synthetic nylon brushes). In most case the brush is fixed in place but some will have swiveling brushes that tuck into the handle. In some cases the brush will be absent and will be replaced with a pointed pommel. This style of pommel is used to dig up truffles and these knifes are sometimes called truffle knives.

A Typical Boar's Hair Brush

Many mushroom knives also have a lanyard hole or small snap hook located near the top of the knife for easy attachment to belt or neck lanyard.

Snap Hook used to clip knife to lanyard or bag

Another common feature is ruler either engraved or screen printed on the handle. The ruler is normally four or five centimeters long. Different countries have laws dictating the size and types of mushrooms that are allowed to be harvested based on regions and times of year. Thus a ruler comes in handy for the mushroom hunter.

Typical 4 cm ruler.

Several companies make high quality mushroom knives using wood handles fitted with brass or steel pins, However, as the popularity of the knives grow more and more of them are being turned out with colorful plastic handles. While some of the knives are being made in China, most productions remains in Europe.

Two Mushroom Knives. Top by Mercury of Italy and the bottom by Joker of Spain. More on these knives later!

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Replies to This Discussion

FeaturedPermalink Reply by Charles Sample on March 31, 2015 at 21:44

Tobias, I have only one mushroom knife but I will post it here. It is a Rough Rider RR1400. The handle is wood with a 4 cm scale. The hawkbill blade is 440A stainless steel.

Permalink Reply by Michael Squier on April 1, 2015 at 9:02

Hey guys, I notice both of your knives have a ring on the back of the main spring, does that need to be pulled up to close the blade? The rough rider seems to only have the hole for a ring so mayne it does not lock? Cool and functional knives.

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on April 1, 2015 at 10:57

Hi Michael,

The hole on the Rough Rider is so you can attach a ring or snap hook. Mushroom knives are typically simple slip joints (however some are friction folders, lock-backs, and fixed blades) I've yet to come across one that uses a locking mechanism similar to those found on the Opaki ring-lock knives but you're giving me ideas!

for those not sure of what Micael and I are talking about it is a knife like this:

The blade will open easy enough but once open the out side lever spring will lock the blade in place. You need to tug on the ring to release the tension and close the blade.

Permalink Reply by Michael Squier on April 1, 2015 at 11:11

so the ring on your hawkbilled wood handle is also just a ring and not a lock? I ask because I have a knife with a simular set up, not a mushroom knife though.

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on April 1, 2015 at 11:18

Yep. Both of the knives in the first picture came with an attached chain and swiveling clasp hook. The Mercury (in Olive wood has what is called a trigger clasp, the Joker (the black wood one) has a lobster clasp. They are used so you can snap the knife to outside piece of clothing, your mushroom bag or a neck lanyard.

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on April 1, 2015 at 18:36

As for the RR 1400 Le Porc Heureux (The Happy Pig):

I had never even heard of a Mushroom knife until I saw this show up in the SMKW Catalog. It was such a strange pattern I knew I had to have it, especially at the ridiculously low price of $9. I've reveiwed th eknife before in iKC. I reviewed the knife on my Rough Rider Review Page (Boy do i need to load some new reviews there!) You can see theRR1400 review here: a href="http://blindkat.hegewisch.net/RRR/rr1400.html" target="_blank">http://blindkat.hegewisch.net/RRR/rr1400.html > or all of the reviews at: a href="http://blindkat.hegewisch.net/RRR/" target="_blank">http://blindkat.hegewisch.net/RRR/ >

Since writing the review I have slowly started collecting other Mushroom knives but this one started my fascination with the pattern. As you can see from Charles's photo, Le Porc Heureux doesnot have the customary chain mounted swivel lobster clasp so I went ahead and added one. This was easy enough to do using a simple key ring..

What Charles's photo didn't show you was the really cool box that knife comes in.

The knife features one of the sharpest blades you will find on a mushroom knife. I've bought some that cost two or three times as much and the blades are nowhere hear as sharp as this one. Mine was truly razor sharp!

The knife features a 440 blade, staineless bolsters, liners, and back spring. The pins are brass. The wood handles might be beach wood but Rough Rider just calls it hard wood.

The brush is genuine boar's hair. It is well attached, and doesn't shed. The bristle are stiff but not so stiff they would bruise the mushroom. The 4 cm ruler is screen printed. However a lacquer coat on the handle protects from easily wearing off. The only really negative from the perspective of a mushroom hunter would be the lack of jimping along the spine of the blade! The knife is well worth the $9 especially when compared to some of the more expensive ones on the market!