The distinctive brass pommel is from an Ames U.S. Model 1840 Field Artillery enlisted man''s sword, not a Model 1860 US cavalry saber. The shape of the ribbed wooden grip is also the 1840 model, and the back of the M1840 blade is flat whereas the M1860 blade back is rounded. I liked your discussion about the skinning knives, Evan.

one thing I learned, during my brief stint as an employee at a summer camp occasionally working in the forge, that "skinner" shape it just the natural shape a blade takes when you hammer a bevel into a piece of barstock. rather convenient in that regard, since it's a very useful shape for the once-prolific-industry of skinning big game

My first "survival" knife was actually a carbon steel chefs knife (bought for $2 at a flea market) that worked very well indeed and I only replaced it because I started to feel silly using it among all my peers who had Buck sheath knives and the like, now I'm in my 50's and it doesn't bother me anymore.

The term "Bowie" knife, did not become popular until after the fight at the Alamo. Men going west wanted a knife like James Bowie had. Which no one really knew what it looked like. But maybe Jim Bowie's brother, kind of made a design to honor his brother? No one will ever know for sure. But the Bowie knife was primarily a "Fighting" knife. So you wanted a long blade for reach. I've been collecting and learning about knives since the mid 80's, and I truly love a good knife. Growing up hunting Deer and Antelope in Wyoming, I learned the value of a good sharp short easy to handle knife. Oh, and I have three Green River Knives I bought way back in the 80's. Still very good and useful knives in the Kitchen.

One of the early sayings was, " I stuck him clear up to the Green River".. The Green River logo was at the Bolster on the blade.

Love it ! I use a “ modern” Green River (they claim the design dates back to 1834 ) 5”it’s my go to for food prep , does a great job ! Carbon steel , takes and holds an edge like a champ . I’d not complain if I could get the same knife in a good 420 stainless , but I use what I’ve got . Thanks for the video !

Very interesting collection of real working knives. Many of those patterns are still in production and heavy use to this day. I use Ontario "Old Hickory" cleaver, skinning and butcher knives because I can keep the edges of the 1095 carbon steel blades sharp with a leather strop while using them and I have a stainless Victorinox 5" flexible boning knife that is my go-to for final processing of cleaned game and livestock. Most of those knives would feel right at home in any 19th century fur camp. As much as I love the look of the Wolstenholm Bowie knife, you can tell it saw very little actual use. I have a 19th century Wolstenholm farrier's blade with a stag handle that has seen it's share of use. I would still use it if I wasn't afraid to damage it, but my "new" stainless and plastic farriers knife does a great job and no one will cry if it get lost or damaged.

Knives have never gone obsolete. They will never go obsolete knives don’t run out of bullets

Very informative. Excellent presentation.

Just found your channel. Really informative. Thank you very much!

Since I was a boy I always liked knives. In my youth all the boys carried pocket knives. Three years ago for my 75 birthday I wanted to buy a British war dagger but didn't like the price so I made my own. Long story shorten I now have made 52 fixed blade knives mostly Bowie style but a couple daggers and short swords. I enjoy your videos very much and look forward to watching all of them. Your videos are always worth a big thumbs up👍

I kind of collect old working knives like this .. my criteria is I have to be able to use them (fine with carbon steel rustibe blades) just dry them before storage!! And I like them cheap .. ssooo many deal at garage sales and 2nd hand store. I have several vaguely similar blades in my "collection" .. many of which I use weekly :)

Really enjoy your presentations. Thank you..

Richest most informing knife history video ever watched. Thank you sir.

Thanks for another great knife video. I really enjoy seeing those old I. WILSON knives. Considering the quantity that were produced and shipped to the states and how rarely I see them, I tend to think they mostly got used up. The others were interesting also. Particularly the cut down Saber. That lever lock folding knife looks very 1920s-30s to me. I've seen tons of antique lever lock folders with the lever on the side of the bolster but very few with the lever on the back. That would be an interesting one to try to track down. That foster bros knife is fairly common. If I remember correctly they were in business from the late 1870s to the 1950s in New York. They made a lot of knives for our military in various styles also. Thanks again P.s. remember, those old knives in grandma's kitchen drawer might just be interesting historical relics.

Sheffield rivaled Solingen for its quality of steel; probably the 2 finest sources of steel in the world. If you have a knife with a Sheffield mark, you have some of the best steel known to man. I was fortunate to get my hands on a J. Nowill & Sons 3rd pattern Fairbairn Sykes for a steal of a price. Probably the finest steel of all the knives I own. Will hold a wicked edge and sings when you flick the blade.

Great content! Thank you!

I recently gave a museum in Smethport, Pa a skinner from Sheffield just like this one along with a Wilson butcher that my family used after they settled in McKean county, Pa. from Germany, hence why I donated to local museum.

How awesome, such a great work 👏👏

3:18 In Republic of Georgia we modify cheap knives like that to hollow out carrot rounds. Carrots with walnuts.

Nice informative video.. as a collector of knives it was very interesting.. thank you

These knives probably have more story than any fighting knife

Great show !

Sheffield hand forged knifes like these were made by " Little Mesters", these Mesters were poorly paid but highly skilled knife craftsmen in small workshops, the knife blades after hardened and sharpened by the Mesters but were polished by "Buffer Girls" , buffing the metal was a very dirty job of polishing the blades to a mirror finish, you didn't mess with the buffer Girls, a kind hearted bunch of women but they did not stand fools gladly. Bless em.

Interesting clip. Great information about working knives being butchery knives on the frontier. I had no idea.

Pretty neat! I like those old skinner profiles.

Thanks. I love the old style trade knives. I have a Russell 4215 Hunter. A great knife today that has been made continuously since 1834. 🔪🎸

George Wostenholm knives are still considered one of the better Sheffield makes, here in the UK. That bowie looks like a quality knife. I have a fine 1950s bread knfe and two or three antique bone handle slipjoint knives by the same company.

ROFL! I have a knife like your third one, sharpened into a wisp of itself ... it's still used for cutting whole chickens into fryer pieces. It was my great-grandfather's and it's seen heavy use. I also have a knife shaped like the one at 4:37, but with a bone or antler handle on it. I'm not sure whose it was, it's just been in the kitchen.

Always interesting videos

Love the channel.

The common French knife in literally everyone's kitchen also was also used heavily on the frontier.

I noticed that you didn’t have any “bowl” knives in the trade knife variations. I have found a decent number on early French trade sites (N. Michigan)

The folding pocket knife could be French as they used this style of knife with the ring pull

Era? Which era? I don't hear any dates being attributed to these blades. Title states 18th & 19th century, but all these look like 19th century going by the way the handles are secured. Am I wrong? I had hoped to learn something here. Keith.

That last knife, the folding one. The latch at least is a Spanish design, dating from the early 1800's. As for the blade, no idea.

I watched this while breaking in a new pocket knife (repeatedly opening and closing to wear in the washers and lock.) and guess I got too engrossed in the video and ended up nicking myself pretty well on my middlefinger. so thanks for making an engaging video

The knives made in Sheffield London UK were the best knives made and are still to this day

Great information. Thank you. I own a Green River Knife.

GREAT VIDEO!

interesting, why do you not have a Hudson Bay pattern knife in your frontier collection.

very interesting

Very interesting! Love the Wostenholm one and the Indian one.😁

Also the story of the Bowie knife origin is pretty interesting too and also you got so many new knife designs because even though they knew it was called the Bowie knife no one really knew what it looked like except for second-hand descriptions or verbal accounts is what I was led to believe but I'm no historian so I could be mistaken but it was still an interesting story.

3:20. So I've seen a custom knife maker make a knife exactly like this. It was well over $200. I thought the man was out of his damn mind.

What were the typical sharpening instruments back then?

Awesome knives. I like to see some of Dave canterburys trade knives and there’s some knife makers that make some great reproductions of French trade knives like Jeff White. Also Foster Bros are fairly well known I think I’ve come across a good bunch of their meat cleavers

I love those old trade knives. I have several that are trade knife patterns (Ontario Knife company) and at least one Green River knife that may very well have come west with my great great (great?) grandparents on the wagon train. It's old, with that old style workmanship that is so difficult to replicate. Even modern hand-made knives usually see a belt grinder at some point, and it leaves a distinctive shape and profile. They are enjoyable to use, and keep a good edge. Thank you for the video.

Evan, weather it's moccasins, swords, book's, firearms or knives you knock it out of the ballpark!

What's the point of keeping them covered in rust which slowly destroys them?

3:24 .. That would be BOSSS for coring apples or tomatoes!! :)

I wonder if there’s any sharpening stones in the museum ?

love the knife vids. Thanks

Bowie knives were not even invented until 1828-1830. And even then not all "Bowie knives" had the concave, double-edged, sharpened point we call a Bowie today. Mountain men bought "Green River" type knives by the dozens. Simple single edged blades 5" or so long.They wore out, or trappers dropped them in the river, or traded them to Indians. Now trappers *might* have carried some kind of longer knife. Long fighting knives were long popular in Mexico. And large utility knives, called "butcher knives", existed long before the Bowie.

The knife you refer to as a Bowie knife looks more like the offspring between A Bowie and a seax to me, with more allegiance to the seax. But, with total disclosure, the knife from the old, old TV Jim Bowie program is what a Bowie knife should look like to me.

It’s nice to see some thinner knives. Most older knives are a lot thinner. What I don’t like about the trend with makers today is the excessive thickness of steel stock used. Knives rarely, if ever, need to be over 3mm - 1/8” as cutting ability is reduced significantly. Geometry cuts, and we can see this with a dead blunt butter knife as it slices through many things with ease. A bayonet, sure, that’s fine but how many of us need bayonets today? 😂 It’s not uncommon to see 5 or 6mm - 3/16” - 1/4” blades today which to me is absolutely ridiculous. Edit: spelling errors.

Arkansas stone

I make knives part-time; I really like these specimens. I think the bowie knives came from the Alamo and Rambo movies. All you really need is 3 inches to kill. That said, I think a frontiersman probably carried multiple knives. For skinning, fighting, fileting fish. Those tasks really use different blades. It can be done, but the task is more difficult.

Crude.

SHAPLEIGH'S HAMMER FORGED 1843 OLD HICKORY

Dayum my main OG playa Evan is back droppin dat kno ledge my ninjas! I wish I had all deez knives tho like boom boom u feel me tho? Like non a my enemies wud mess wit me if I had deez to pop upside da head real talk 🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿💥💥💥☝🏿🐐🐐🐐

Like your saying the Bowie knife is cool , but its not the best when skinning or butchering animals and I've noticed allot of the designs of normal everyday knives from the middle ages have continued through to today. Im a hunter and fisherman and I butcher all my own animals. But all the flash knives in museums are the flashy things that weren't used all the time

Así están los de la cocina de mi casa y no les doy importancia

Kitchen knives won the West