The blog hasn’t had a new article in a bit now, so I wanted to update my horde of loyal readers on the status of things at Knife Thoughts.
Spring is Sprung: Possum Skinner with some Crocus Flowers
Spring has arrived, and with it a myriad of things to take my attention momentarily away from blogging. I am helping plan a wedding and honeymoon, work has picked up as we move into a new facility and start a new schedule, and I had a birthday to enjoy. Still, rest assured that although I haven’t published a Knife Thoughts article recently, I have been thinking knife thoughts… lots of them!
All American Made EDC
I have several articles currently in the works. I’m writing topical articles on gifting knives, knives I wish I’d kept, and user versus collector knives. I’m also planning some knife specific reviews. In the meantime, you can check the recent posts page at this link and make sure you didn’t miss any articles, or check out my YouTube channel at this link.
The Spyderco Endura 4 is a great work knife!
I’ve also been receiving some great feedback and suggestions on Knife Thoughts articles! I want to make sure that Knife Thoughts stays relevant and engaging to its readers, so I’m always open to feedback and suggestions. Don’t forget to subscribe by entering your email, and feel free to reach out to me through the contact page which can be found at this link.
The GEC Tidioute Lumberjack from the 2016 Rendezvous
This article will be less of a review of a particular knife and more of an overall look at a general knife pattern; the Trapper. The Trapper pattern has a long history and has become well known, or at least recognizable, to most Americans who are familiar with pocket knives. Whether you’re a fan of the pattern and want to know some of its history and specific characteristics or if you have no idea what a Trapper is and are picturing a knife with two spring loaded jaws for capturing small critters, this article will tell you all you all you need to know about the Trapper!
The Case Large Trapper in Yellow Synthetic is a great exemplifier of the Pattern
First, the Trapper is a pattern with a somewhat obscure history. The claim is often put forward on knife blogs and forums that it’s a pattern that’s been used since the frontier days of America when rugged mountain men trudged into the unknown mountains to live out their lonesome and hard, but proud, lives trapping for furs and fortune. Obviously, a knife pattern called the Trapper must have originated from its namesake profession. Unfortunately for the romantics out there imagining Jim Bridger and John Colter comparing their personal Trapper knives in the 1800’s, the Trapper pattern as shown above is a 20th century invention. Like many traditional knife patterns, the Trapper evolved from older types of knives into its own unique pattern in the early 1900’s during the so called Golden Age of American cutlery. In the early decades of the 20th century there was a multitude of cutlery manufacturers that were staffed by cutlers transplanted from the old European knifemaking centers of England and Germany. These companies and cutlers took many older patterns that were brought from Europe and modified them into their own unique American patterns. The Trapper is a great example of that process. The predecessor to the Trapper was probably a slim dogleg jack with about a 4″ handle and a clip point main blade and pen secondary blade. This type of knife was made as far back as the 1880’s, and sometime in the ensuing 4 decades some companies changed the pen secondary to a full length spey blade to make a slimmer version of the classic Trapper as shown above. It seems the beefier trapper with two full length blades probably didn’t appear until the 1920’s. It was probably first made by either Case or Kabar. In this period many knife manufacturers made knives to be branded and sold by other companies. Even more confusingly, many companies, including Case and Kabar, were connected through family ties. These circumstances can make it difficult to pinpoint the genesis of a particular pattern. The Trapper remained a relatively minor pattern until after WWII. Since then pretty much any knife company that makes traditional slipjoints has produced one or more variations of the Trapper pattern, and it has become a mainstay of the American pocket knife market. Speaking of variations, what exactly is (or isn’t) a Trapper?
Camillus Remington Master Guide, Case Large Trapper, Queen Utility, Rough Ryder Trapper, GEC Northfield Improved Trapper, Great Eastern Cutlery Mustang
The Trapper pattern covers a huge range of sizes, blade shape combinations, and even handle shapes. The above picture is a great example the ways in which the size and handle shape of the trapper can vary. Although the Trapper pattern developed from a slim dogleg jack (like the Queen Utility third from the left), it can also have a banana shaped frame (like the Camillus made Remington Master Guide on the far left or the GEC Northfield Improved Trapper and Great Eastern Cutlery Mustang both on the far right), and is probably best known as a beefier dogleg jack (like the Rough Ryder Trapper third from the right) sometimes with a swell on the blade well side of the handle (like the Case Large Trapper second from the left). As you can see, the Trapper’s frame can be one of several different handle shapes with variations possible even within those general shapes. Also, although they tend to stay within the 3.5″ to 4.5″ range, Trappers can land anywhere from the Case Tiny Trapper at 2.375″ closed to the Remington Master Guide at about 5.375″ closed.
Spear and Pen, Clip and Spey, Clip and Spey, Clip and Wharncliffe
The Trapper pattern can also have just about any blade shape style and combination you can imagine. However, the classic configuration is two full size blades with one being a clip point and the other being a spey blade. The clip point is a great all around blade because it offers a pointy tip (although Case knives, like the one below, often come with rounded tips), a solid amount of curved edge, and some straight edge also. The spey blade is historically designed for use in castrating animals, as the abruptly curved belly and lack of a significant tip make it a good blade for slicing and push cuts but not good at piercing (wouldn’t want to stab your livestock when they start kicking, which they will do if you’re using the spey blade for its namesake…). It’s possible that the spey blade was added for outdoorsmen (hunters and TRAPPERS, get it) to use as a skinning blade with less chance of piercing the guts, but my guess would be that it was added just as a novelty to have two full length blades and without much more specific reason than that. Still, it does make for a useful blade combination as it can be nice having two full length blades. I tend to use the spey blade for food prep and the clip point for everything else. Like the shape and size of the handle, the blade shapes on knives considered to be Trappers can go far beyond the classic clip and spey. There’s the Slim Trapper with a single turkish (slender) clip point, the Pen Trapper with a main blade that is most often a clip or drop point but can sometimes be a spey or spear point with a small/secondary pen blade, the Improved Trapper with a clip point and wharncliffe blade, and the Single Blade Trapper with one main blade (usually a clip point, but it can also be a drop, spear, or spey).
Clip Point blade
Spey blade
So, what is a Trapper knife? Considering all the variations laid out above, it might seem that there’s no real definition of what is or isn’t a Trapper. Well, a Trapper definitely is a jack knife, meaning the blades fold out of one end (unlike a pen style multiblade knife, in which the blades open from different ends), and the end the blades come out of should definitely be smaller than the butt end of the handle. A Trapper definitely doesn’t have a straight edged blade, like a sheepfoot or wharncliffe, as its only main blade. Within those parameters, a wide array of knives can be considered Trappers. Kind of like some other things, it’s something that’s difficult to define but you know it when you see it. Another great way to know if a knife is a Trapper is if the company that made it calls it a Trapper!
A great knife to use while camping or to cut hot dog sticks for a fire
The Trapper pattern is somewhat nebulous, but even still it holds a significant place in the American cutlery tradition. Every kind of Trapper has been made, even at least one modern flipper opening version! If you like traditional pocket knives you’re sure to be able to find a Trapper that suits your particular aesthetic and practical tastes.
A couple single blade Trappers
If you’d like to get yourself a Trapper I have some suggestions. If you’d like the nicest production Trapper you can get currently, and don’t mind carbon (non-stainless) steel, you should go with the Great Eastern Cutlery #48 Slim Dog Leg. Great Eastern Cutlery made knives tend to sell out relatively quickly, but they’ve been doing larger runs to try to better meet demand and there are a good number of these left on dealers’ sites. You can find some at Blue Creek Cutlery, my most often patronized GEC dealer. Ken is a good guy and has good service, don’t hesitate to ask him any questions you have before purchase. You can also find some, including some other handle materials, at DLT Trading. Those Trappers from GEC are USA made in small batches in Titusville PA and heirloom quality but also great users. If you’d like a more modern stainless steel (although not a super steel, using 8cr13mov) and don’t mind your knife being made overseas, the Sowbelly Improved Trapper from A.G. Russell is also a great option. These have a little less character and might not be quite as well finished but they are still really well made and good looking knives, and they’re less expensive than the GECs. If you’d like a less expensive option than the GECs but want to stick with good ol’ Made In U.S.A. quality, Case knives are made in Bradford Pa and aren’t quite as well fitted or finished as GEC but still make great using knives (and many people also collect them). Case offers a multitude of Trapper options: Full Size Stainless Steel, Mini Stainless Steel, Large Stainless Steel Single Blade with Clip and Thumb Stud, Slimline with option for Stainless or Carbon Steel, Full Size Carbon Steel. Another good option that’s really easy on the wallet is going with a Rough Ryder. These are made overseas and sometimes have some issues, but they’re definitely high enough quality to make good users and often are really nice looking for the price, which is significantly lower than any of the above options. Smoky Mountain Knife Works owns the Rough Ryder brand and carries a wide variety of Trappers in different shapes, sizes, and handle materials. Finally, if the modern style trapper I mentioned piqued your interest you can the Boker Plus Urban Trapper at this link.
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In 1865 John Stith Pemberton suffered a saber wound to the chest in the Battle of Columbus and subsequently became addicted to morphine. Searching for a replacement for the morphine he created a recipe for “Pemberton’s French Wine Coca”, a variation of a beverage combining alcohol and cocaine: cocaethylene. However, with social pressures against alcohol and looming temperance legislation in his resident city of Atlanta, he scrambled to create a new beverage without alcohol. Mostly through trial and error, with a little random luck, Coca-Cola was born. In the proceeding 150 years Coca-Cola has been adopted worldwide as the soft drink of choice, and one of the most recognizable symbols of that cultural empire is the classic Coke Bottle.
The classic Coca-Cola Bottle
The Coke Bottle traditional knife pattern was given its name in reference to the shape that it shares with the classic curves of the typical glass bottle used by and for Coca-Cola. Although there were probably knives made with this handle shape (more technically called an unequal end swell center jack) before such a bottle was used for Coca-Cola, the ubiquity of the brand and associated shape gave the pattern a unique name and lasting place in the wheelhouse of traditional knife manufacturers. So, to make it clear, a Coke Bottle pattern knife has two rounded ends, usually both ends having bolsters, with one end being smaller than the other and the blade or blades opening at the smaller end with a swell in the center of the handle.
The Great Eastern Cutlery Northfield #06 Pemberton in Smooth White Bone
That brings us to Great Eastern Cutlery’s #06 Pemberton pattern. The Pemberton is a SMALL Coke Bottle pattern knife measuring at about 2.75″ closed with a 2.125″ blade and 2″ cutting edge (on this wharncliffe model). It was first produced in 2013 in single blade clip point and two blade clip point and pen models in several handle materials. In the beginning of 2019 Great Eastern Cutlery is manufacturing another run, this time in a single wharncliffe blade model and a two blade spear point and small sheepfoot model (we’ll talk more about those blade shapes later). They’re making Northfield branded Pembertons in Smooth White Bone (like the subject of this article) and stag, and Tidioute branded knives with Muslin Micarta and Dark Blue Jigged Bone.
The Pemberton is dwarfed even by the medium sized #15 frame TC Barlow
This particular Pemberton is extremely well made; a great ambassador of the Northfield brand. The action is nice with a relatively strong pull for the size of the knife at about a 6 out of 10, and great walk and talk and snap both opening and closing. The top bolster is both threaded (the three lines) and pinched, which I both like the looks of and appreciate in a user because I feel it gives a teence of extra grip in a pinch hold (the most often used grip when cutting). The smooth white bone covers are beautiful, with a nice cream color and little flecks of black in the voids left by the bone capillaries, and very finely fitted to the liners and bolsters so that there are no gaps. The shield is also particularly well fitted on this knife, and I much prefer this “small badge” shield over the “Tidioute” shield used on the blue jigged bone models. This knife also doesn’t have any gaps between the backspring and liners. The backspring is flush with the liners in the fully open and fully closed positions, but not the half stop position (I don’t consider this an issue at all, though I mention it because I know some people like the backspring to be flush in all positions). The only slight manufacturing imperfection on this knife is that the blade is about a half a millimeter off center toward the pile side, but it is in no means a practical issue.
Centering slightly off to the left, no gaps
I’m also pleasantly surprised with the design of this knife. Although I have and enjoy some of GECs other under 3″ patterns, I was concerned that this knife might be too small in the hand to really use due to being a single blade (unlike my other sub 3″ GECs). However, I’ve found this knife to be comfortable in hand, affording a solid 3 finger grip, and easy to use for appropriate tasks. The wharncliffe blade, though small, provides enough cutting edge to do quick work of cutting paper, opening boxes, snipping strings, opening letters, and even breaking down cardboard. This isn’t a knife made for carving the Thanksgiving turkey or skinning and butchering a deer, but it offers a nice thinly ground straight edge in a small package for daily small cutting needs. Also, this knife came from the factory significantly sharper than most Great Eastern Cutlery made knives which was another pleasant surprise. Speaking of small, this thing disappears in your pocket. It’s small enough that it actually sits horizontally in the watch pocket of my jeans, so I’m sure this would be a good low profile option if you work in a less than knife positive environment or have to wear more formal work attire than I do. That said, my typical carry of this knife will probably most often include another larger knife in case I run into a bigger cutting need.
The Pemberton with a Zero Tolerance 0561, a much different knife
The main reason I got this knife is because it fits into two mini collections I have built. I typically focus on just buying knives that individually appeal to me, but I do sometimes make little groupings based on some characteristic. I will be writing another article on my collection of Great Eastern Cutlery small and large pattern pairings and their relation to the upcoming #97 Large Coke Bottle, so subscribe for updates on that. Here I just want to point out the common factor between my collection of under 3″ closed GECs.
GEC #22 Magnum, #06 Pemberton, and #18 Beagle Frames
These three knives are the #22 Magnum, #06 Pemberton, and #18 Beagle. The shared characteristic between these three patterns are their blades; not that they have the same blades obviously but that, according to an engineer at GEC named Randy whom I’ve spoken to at several of the Rendezvous gatherings, the blades represented on the three knives shown are designed to be able to be built into any of the three patterns. What that means is that GEC designed Clip Point, Pen, Wharncliffe, Spear Point, and Small Sheepfoot blades which can all fit into any of these three frames (not that they’re interchangeable once built). So far GEC has produced the #06 with all 5 of these blade shapes (having done Clip Point and Pen on the previous run and doing Wharncliffe, Spear Point and Small Sheepfoot on this run), the #18 with 3 (Wharncliffe, Spear Point and Small Sheepfoot), and the #22 in only 2, the two blade Clip Point and Pen (the #22 is one of GEC’s three patterns with the fewest total number manufactured). This type of engineering oddity might not appeal to all Great Eastern Cutlery collectors, let alone all knife enthusiasts, but I think it is pretty cool and a unique strategy that allows GEC to more easily produce a wide range of different knives without creating new tooling.
Clip Point and Pen, Wharncliffe, and Spear Point and Small Sheepfoot blades
Overall, I think Great Eastern Cutlery got the recipe just right on this Northfield #06 Pemberton. It’s a small knife with superb construction and a classic style that’s tough to deny. John Stith Pemberton advertised his French Coca Wine as beneficial for “all those whose sedentary employment causes nervous prostration” which I think probably covers the majority of us reading this, but I also think the #06 Pemberton (especially in this version with the Wharncliffe blade) would make a more than capable and stylish cutting tool for the daily tasks of our modern lives and sedentary works.
Great Eastern Cutlery manufactures knives based on traditional patterns with classic materials and construction, and in that endeavor they’ve reproduced many of the most timeless knife designs. From the ever popular working man’s Barlow to the Congress made famous by its inclusion in President Lincoln’s personal goods, they’ve put their own spin on a myriad of classic American folding knife and fixed blade patterns. Their versions of the classic sod buster pattern show how they can breathe new life into an age old design.
The #71 Bullnose is relatively easy to pocket but stands out once in your hand with the bright orange delrin
Now, first off, neither of these knives are named after the sod buster pattern directly because a certain other cutlery company has trademarked the pattern name. The ethics of trademarking a general industry term aren’t the point of this article, but I just wanted to point out that that situation is why you won’t see or hear anyone at GEC refer to these as “sodbusters”. Instead, they’ve named the #71 and #21 patterns the Bull Nose and Bull Buster, respectively. Still, they are sod buster style knives because they have the simple handle with upswept butt, single skinner blade, and no frills construction that define the pattern.
Size comparison of the #71 Bull Nose and #21 Bull Buster with some familiar knives: Spyderco Native, GEC #15 TC Barlow, Case Trapper, and Benchmade 940
The #71 came first, with the original run being produced in 2012, and is the smaller of the two at around 3.875″ closed. Interestingly, the #71 pattern was first produced in O1 steel under what GEC initially called the Redneck Farm Tool brand. Similarly to the pattern name itself, apparently this was too close to being a trademark issue and they renamed the pattern and launched the Farm & Field brand. The #21 was first produced in 2014 and is a good bit larger at about 4.625″ closed.
Aside from the size, the design and construction of the two patterns are next to identical. Both have 1095 carbon steel, which has become the norm for the vast majority of GEC made knives. Both have steel liners and a lanyard hole. Both have a nail nick for opening, and mine have all been pinchable (able to be opened by pinching the blade with thumb and forefinger, rather than with the nail nick). Both are shadow patterns, meaning they have no bolsters. Being shadow patterns, they feature a bird’s eye pivot which is a metal collar into which the pivot pin is peened (hammered to form a press fit). The pivots on recent models are stamped “F&F USA” with two stars on each side, and the tangs are stamped “Farm & Field Tool USA” on the mark side and “GEC CAR” and the model number designation on the pile side. I have included a link to GEC’s model number / tang stamp chart above. As indicated in it, these knives both have what GEC refers to as a “skinner” blade. It seems they consider the skinner blade shape to be differentiated from their drop point blade shape by the more abrupt belly (upward curve toward the spine and tip), but both shapes hold the “5” blade designation on the tang stamp chart. Both have half stops. They’ve both been made in several handle materials, often including black delrin, orange delrin, and different types of micarta.
An example of a possible every day carry setup with the #71 BullNose
Both patterns also have similar Farm & Field Tool brand fit and finish. Farm & Field is Great Eastern Cutlery’s brand under which they produce knives made to be truly used as tools. Knives under the F&F brand are GEC’s most budget friendly knives. With this in mind, there are some differences in construction and fit and finish compared to GEC’s other brands. First off, the knives under this brand tend to have less expensive handle materials (like delrin and micarta vs bone and wood). The lack of bolsters requires fewer manufacturing processes and therefore also contributes to the lower prices. They also have less handle contouring and polishing. Both the #71 Bull Nose and #21 Bull Buster have thicker handles than most of GEC’s knives. Although this can make them more comfortable in the hand for tough cutting jobs, it’s also due to less finishing time spent on the handles. Certain things like small gaps between the backspring and liners, slight handle imperfections, or imperfect centering are also more likely to be considered acceptable on knives under the Farm & Field Tool brand.
That said, the Farm & Field Tool brand knives are still extremely well made knives. I’ve had several of each of the #71 and #21 patterns along with some other knives under the F&F brand, and they’ve all been generally really well built and ready for a lifetime of use. These two fit that description. The Bull Nose has a slight imperfection in the handle material next to the liner on the backspring, and the Bull Buster had a sliver of liner sticking out that eventually fell off on its own. The one practical issue I’ve had with these is one that, from the sounds of things on the forums etc., others have also encountered. The smaller #71 Bull Nose seems to sometimes suffer from blade rap. Blade rap is when the snap of the blade’s closing makes the edge bounce on the inside of the backspring, thereby damaging the edge (usually a roll in the edge). This edge damage by no means makes the entire blade unusable, but it does cause issues in cutting and can be extremely frustrating. That frustration is often compounded by the fact that the only way for the knife user to fix the issue is to sharpen the blade rap out, meaning they have to sharpen the edge down to the level where it no longer reaches the backspring upon closing. This process can be extremely time consuming and also can shorten the usable life of the knife, due to the removed steel. I had blade rap on a previous #71 that I had to sharpen out, but initially I thought that the two knives featured in this article were both free of blade rap. Unfortunately, actually while filming my linked YouTube video on these knives, I realized that the #71 did have blade rap. However, after two sharpenings with a diamond stone the edge damage and blade rap seems to be gone for good (at least on this knife). I think this issue tends to arise on the smaller #71 and not the larger #21 because the blade well offers less extra room in which the blade can travel as the knife closes.
As for the designs of these knives, I think they hit their mark well as simple but well made work knives. The handle on the Bull Nose is just large enough for me to get a full four finger hold of the knife in a hammer style grip, but is more than large enough for the more practical and more often used pinch style grip. The rounded butt of the handle also helps to secure the knife in this grip. Altogether, this makes for good ergonomics even if my (admittedly rather wide) hands wouldn’t hate another half inch or so of handle. Even with my large hands, the significantly larger Bull Buster offers more than enough grip area and feels spacious in any type of hold. The extra width of the handles, compared to most traditional knives, does make them a little less comfortable to carry in a back pocket (as I do), and this characteristic is especially evident on the larger Bull Buster. However, I think both can be carried easily enough to make them good every day carry options if you’d like something you can throw in your pocket and use and not worry about scuffing up. I appreciate the semi strong pull / backspring strengths on these knives, coming in at about a 6 or 7 out of 10, especially with the design intent of using them in a tougher role than most traditional knives. The skinner style blade shape is pretty good for general use and I doubt anyone will find too much practical fault with it, though I have to say I prefer the look and sharpenability of GEC’s normal drop point shape.
An example of a possible EDC gear setup with the #21 BullBuster
Overall, I would definitely recommend either of these knives if you want a low cost high utility user traditional knife made in America. Which you choose mostly depends on how big a knife you prefer, and whether you are okay with risking blade rap and the resulting necessary work to sharpen out the issue (it’s important to note also that I have only had blade rap on the 2018 Bull Noses, not the ones from previous runs). I think these are a great value at the price they cost, which is about $55 for the #71 Bull Nose and about $65 for the #21 Bull Buster. I also think that it’s great that GEC is able and willing to offer such well made high value knives while not compromising on their quality.
The Bull brothers with another of GEC’s most practical knives, the Tidioute #82 Possum Skinner in Micarta
