Slip Joint Knife
Most pocket knives for light duty are slip joints. This means that the blade does not lock, but, once opened, is held in place by tension from a flat bar or leaf-type backspring that allows the blade to fold if a certain amount of pressure is applied. The first spring-back knives were developed around 1660 in England, but were not widely available or affordable to most people until the arrival of the Industrial Revolution and the development of machinery capable of mass production. Most locking knives have only one blade that is as large as can be fitted into the handle, because the locking mechanism relies on the spring along the back of the blade to lock it and it is difficult to build in multiple levers, one for each blade. Slipjoints tend to be smaller in size than most typical pocket knives.
Some popular styles of slipjoints are:
| Style | Description | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Barlow | The Barlow knife has a characteristically long bolster, an elongated oval handle, and two blades. It is assumed to be named after its inventor, although there is some dispute as to which Barlow this actually was. | |
| Camper | The traditional camper knife has a large spear and shorter clip blade, along with a can opener, combination cap lifter/screwdriver, and an awl or punch | |
| Canoe | The canoe knife has a handle shaped somewhat like a native American canoe and usually comes with two spear point blades | |
| Congress | The congress knife has a convex front with a straight or shallow concave back. It usually carries four blades. | |
| Elephant's toenail | The elephant's toenail is large design similar to the sunfish but usually tapers on one end giving it the "elephant's toenail" shape. These knives like the sunfish usually have two wide blades | |
| Peanut | The peanut knife is a very small knife with one or two blades. | |
| Penknife | The penknife was originally intended to sharpen quill pens, but continues to be used because of its suitability to fine or delicate work. A pen knife generally has one or two pen blades, and does not interfere with the appearance of dress clothes when carried in the pocket. | |
| Sodbuster | The sodbuster has a simple handle with no bolster and usually only one blade. | |
| Stockman | The stockman has a clip, a sheep's foot and a spey blade. They are usually middle-sized. There are straight handled and sowbelly versions. | |
| Sunfish | The sunfish is a large design with a straight handle with two bolsters. The blades are usually short (less than 3 inches), but both the handle and blades are very wide. Sunfish knives usually have two blades. | |
| Trapper | The trapper is larger knife with a clip and a spey blade. The blades are usually hinged at the same end. | |
| Whittler | The whittler is a pattern of pen knife which has three blades, the master blade bearing on two springs. |
Read more about this topic: Pocket Knife
Famous quotes containing the words slip, joint and/or knife:
“Half of my life is gone, and I have let
The years slip from me and have not fulfilled
The aspiration of my youth, to build
Some tower of song with lofty parapet.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)
“I learned from the git-go in the joint to get in touch with the soft, nurturing side of myself, the feminine side.”
—Wesley Strick, U.S. screenwriter, and Martin Scorsese. Max Cady (Robert DeNiro)
“Most suicides are committed with a knife and fork.”
—Swedish proverb, trans. by Verne Moberg.