The Kifer Cutlery Classics GEC #97 Allegheny Proves Traditional Slipjoints are up to ANY cutting task!

This article will provide a short overview of the Great Eastern Cutlery #97 Kifer Cutlery Classics Special Factory Order Northfield Allegheny. I received this knife from Gary Kifer of CutleryClassics.com at the 2019 Rendezvous to have, test, and review. I was happy to get a user #97, as I thought it would make a great larger slipjoint carry.

I had some experience with the #97 Allegheny pattern through the Allegheny Mountain Knife Collectors Association 2019 club knife (you can find my article about that knife at this link). I really liked the knife from an aesthetic perspective, but because it is a club knife I reserved it as a collection piece. So I was excited, and looking forward to putting it through its paces, when Gary gave me this one.

The 2019 Allegheny Mountain Collectors Association club knife

To give you the run down on what the knife is; it’s a 4.75″ closed slipjoint with a saber ground clip point blade and coke bottle frame. You can learn more about the coke bottle pattern in my article on the #06 Pemberton at this link. The blade has a double pull, meaning it has both a long pull and a nail nick. The handles are Amber Jigged Bone. It has Cutlery Classics’ trademark shield. The bolster is engraved “23” out of a run of 99. All of these characteristics brought together make it a great reproduction of a vintage large coke bottle hunter.

GEC #29 Stockyard Whittler, LionSteel CollectorKnives WarHorse, GEC #97 Allegheny

GEC made several versions of the Allegheny pattern in this first run, with a bunch of handle materials and two different blade grinds, and I think this is one of the best of them.

Not everyone likes a saber grind or the double pull, but I really like its look and the fact that it hearkens back to vintage coke bottle hunters. Although the saber grind can sometimes slice less smoothly through dense materials than a full flat grind or high hollow grind, it has performed well on all kinds of tasks (from breaking down cardboard to gutting fish). I also like the practicality of having both the nail nick and long pull. The nail nick being at the end of the blade provides more leverage, while the long pull will remain above the frame (allowing the blade to be opened) long after the nail nick drops below the frame from sharpening and filing the kick. Of course, most people won’t sharpen the knife enough times for this to be relevant, but as these are heirloom quality knives it’s good to know it could be passed on and continued to be used for years to come.

I was also pleasantly surprised by how much I like the bone color and jigging pattern. The color is a nice malty wheat color, and I think it will continue to mellow and improve with age. I also really like the jigging, as it’s not as uniform as some of GEC’s jigging patterns and it actually provides some grippiness in the hand. Some people found the pull on these #97s to be lighter than they expected on such a big knife, and mine is light for a GEC at about a 4, but the action is very smooth and snappy with great walk and talk. On a user, I think there’s a balance between a pull being too strong to be convenient to open and too weak to keep the blade fully open in use. This knife falls nicely between.

Basically, it’s another well built and classic looking Great Eastern Cutlery that’s equally suited as a user or a collection piece.

I have used this knife a lot since getting it, and I’m enjoying it more and more. It’s certainly a big knife for a slipjoint, but I’ve found it easy to carry and it’s always nice to have that extra blade length. The #97 Northfield Kifer Cutlery Classics Special Factory Order is another top notch knife from Great Eastern Cutlery. If you’d like to get one for yourself, there are still some available on the Cutlery Classics site at this link. Thanks again to Gary for providing this one!

Here’s a video of the knives I got at the 2019 Rendezvous, starting where I talk about the #97

Knife Thoughts at the 2019 Great Eastern Cutlery Rendezvous

This past weekend Great Eastern Cutlery held their yearly Rendezvous. It’s a combination of several things: a gathering of GEC enthusiasts, an open house, and (since 2018) a small knife show. I’ve gone the last 6 years, and always look forward to the trip. If you want to know more about the Rendezvous in general, checkout my article here:

2019 is the second year GEC has offered tents and tables for collectors and vendors to set up displays, and this year I decided to set up as Knife Thoughts. I wasn’t sure that it was a good idea to set up a display, being that my collection and knowledge pale in comparison to that of many of the collectors who attend the Rendezvous, but I decided to go for it. I thought I could offer something worthwhile mainly by displaying the last 6 years (2019 inclusive) of Rendezvous Specials. In all the years I’d gone, I never saw any of the Rendezvous Specials displayed and I felt people would enjoy seeing them. I also wanted to display my Allegheny Mountain Knife Collectors Association club knives.

If you want to know more about the parts knives, subscribe for updates via email, as I plan to write a short article explaining them.

After waiting in line all night and getting my 2019 Rendezvous Special and a Special Factory Assembly, I set up my first public knife display! I used a very nice stepped display given to me by my wife to display the Rendezvous Specials, a magnetic kitchen knife holder to display some fixed blades, and laid out many of my traditional pocket knives in a semblance of order.

Knife Thoughts display the 2019 GEC Rendezvous (and a little shirt flair)

It turned out to be a great experience! I had many people stop at my table to discuss the knives and GEC in general. I also got to see some old friends from previous Rendezvous, and meet many new friends. I got to meet and talk with Mike of Collector Knives, Austin of C. Risner / Traditional Pocket Knives, and Jamie of JSR Sports & More. I also got to see and talk with Ken of Blue Creek Cutlery / Maher & Grosh, as well as Gary of Kifer Cutlery Classics, whom I’ve seen at previous Rendezvous. It’s always a treat to get to discuss knives with others who share your enthusiasm for all things cutlery!

I also learned a few things in the process. First, I should bring knives I plan to sell and have their prices pre-determined. Pretty much everyone who came to my table asked if I was selling. Even the knives I was willing to sell, I didn’t pre-plan pricing which made it awkward trying to give an asking price. Second, it would be easier to have a table and still be able to look around at the other displays with a partner to help watch. Thirdly, I should have a Knife Thoughts shirt and/or banner to help distinguish and identify my display (rather than just stickers). So not only was this Rendezvous a fun time, it was a learning experience to help improve Knife Thoughts displays at future shows.

A Special Factory Assembly #93 Lambfoot for Charlie Campagna

Alert; HUGE Knife Law News!

May 30 2019 is a day to celebrate for the whole knife community! A landmark battle has been won in New York. Today Governor Andrew Cuomo repealed the gravity knife ban.

Even small and totally innocuous knives like these could bring charges of “Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Fourth Degree” under the Gravity Knife Ban

The gravity knife ban, in effect since the 1950s, made it illegal to posses any knife that could be opened by “gravity or centrifugal force” and locked into place. The intentional vagueness allowed this definition to be applied to nearly ANY folding knife. Thousands of people were arrested per year without having committed any act of violence or destruction, but rather only for owning/carrying/using humanity’s most basic and universal tool. Beyond that, statistics indicate that the law was applied unequally with bias against minorites. This sad fact makes the law not only unjust, but also immoral.

Under the Gravity Knife Ban this fixed blade could technically be legal to carry…

Whereas this miniscule knife could land you in jail with hefty fines… (I’m not at all suggesting either should be restricted)

For a full news piece on this development you can visit this article reposted by Knife Rights from the Queens Daily Eagle on the subject. Knife Rights is an organization founded by Doug Ritter to advocate for knife legislation, along with several other functions. Knife Rights has been working toward overturning the New York Gravity Knife ban for almost a decade, and their success in this specific case is only one of many positive changes they have influenced in knife legislation. Still, this is an important victory! Let’s keep our fingers crossed that it will usher in more positive changes in the legal landscape surrounding knives.

The (almost) Universal Guide to Blade Shapes

It would be difficult to argue that any aspect of a knife is more important than the blade. The blade is the soul of the knife; it influences how the knife is best used, the cutting style and effectiveness of the knife, the overall aesthetic of the knife, and it can even determine the handle shape and lock style on a folding knife. Knives and knife like tools have been made for well over a million years, but the first tools most people would recognize as knives were probably made around 2,000 bce. Both stone age and early metal knife blades were usually in a dagger or leaf shape, but in the 4,000 years since man began forging metal into blades a myriad of other styles have risen to meet the innumerable cutting needs of humanity. In this article I’ll define and discuss some of the most recognizable blade shapes.

TL;DR? Check out this corresponding video from my YouTube channel!

Curved Edges

Spear Point

An extremely classic and widespread blade shape is the spear point. Spear point blade shapes can differ greatly in overall aesthetics, but they do have some specific hallmarks. The edge and spine should both curve toward the point nearer to the tip than the handle, and not continuously (like on a barong or leaf shaped blade). The curvatures of the edge and spine should be very similar, although either can be slightly more pronounced. The point should sit at or near the center line of the blade. Spear point blades can range from extremely tall or “fat” with an exaggerated curvature of the edge and spine, all the way to being extremely slender with a parallel edge and spine up until an abrupt curve to the point. I personally really enjoy the spear point for its general utility; it usually is ground to slice well but can still pierce effectively, and it offers both straight and curved edge portions. I also appreciate the relative symmetry of spear points and resulting aesthetic.

Lots of slipjoint spear points, from thin and straight to tall and bulbous

The spear point name comes from the shape of a traditional western style spear with a point protruding in line with the handle and an equal curvature of both the edge and spine (or to both edges) to the point, but that specific blade shape has become more commonly known as the dagger blade shape / grind. The dagger blade shape is more of a sub-category of spear points in which the blade is ground toward both the edge and spine (or both edges) from the centerline. Although double edged knives were ubiquitous for most of the history of humanity, they have become less common with restrictive knife laws and therefore the dagger grind has also lessened in popularity. A dagger shaped blade is more often a single edged knife with the spine side only partially ground to a false edge. Another reason for this blade shape’s falling popularity is that its grind is less well suited to the daily needs of the modern knife user, which consists more of slicing cardboard and less of fighting off attackers or wild animals. Still, the dagger blade shape is a timeless design and I find it calls back to the romanticized trappings of knights and the middle ages.

Frank B Stiletto, Cold Steel FGX Balisong, Kershaw Hinderer Decimus

Another sub-category of blade shapes that has regained popularity with the rise of Spyderco is the leaf shaped blade. I say regained because what Spyderco, and now most of the industry, calls a leaf shaped blade is very similar to the traditional barong knife and many of the lithic knives used by humans for tens of thousands of years. The leaf shaped blade differs from the spear point in that it has a continuous curve of the edge and spine, rather than a more abrupt curve toward the tip end of the blade. The leaf blade shape lends itself to many uses and is one that I have used and enjoyed quite a bit, but I don’t currently have any great examples to show.

A final sub-category of spear points is the pen blade shape. The pen blade is basically a spear point as a small secondary blade. A pen blade is always a secondary blade, and can be found on many different kinds of traditional patterns. As a secondary blade the pen blade is always smaller in size than the main blade, but they can vary in size and shape across patterns.

A group of pen blades showing a wide range of variation

Drop Point

The drop point is a blade shape with an edge that curves upward to the point at a much more pronounced angle than that at which the spine curves downward to the point. If you’ve ever heard the term “belly” used in reference to a knife edge, this pronounced curve is that characteristic. The drop point is well suited for hunting and other outdoor tasks, so many traditional American fixed blades have this blade shape. Many modern one hand opening and locking knives are drop points, although in the last few years other blade shapes including those with straight edges have gained popularity, probably because modern one hand opening and locking knives developed in large part as a more convenient replacement for carrying fixed blades. On traditional knives the drop point blade shape is most often a main blade, as on the A.G. Russell Rancher shown in the picture below, or on many of GEC’s larger trapper patterns like the #73 and #23 but it can also be a secondary blade, as on the GEC Northfield #82 stockman shown in the picture below, as well as some other traditional patterns like small jacks and whittlers.

A few drop point blades on slipjoints
A few drop points on modern folding knives (the Kershaw Thistle is a modified drop point / sheepfoot)
A couple drop point fixed blades. A modern, Steel Will Roamer R300, and a traditional, Blind Horse Knives Woodsman Pro.

Clip Point

The clip point is a widely recognized blade shape because it has become the symbol of iconic characters such as Jim Bowie, Crocodile Dundee, and Rambo. It has a curve of the edge toward the tip end of the blade, but it is characterized by a “clipped” section of the blade on the spine side from the tip toward the handle side. The curvature and length of the clipped area of the spine can vary and, along with the degree of curvature of the edge, can make for a wide range of clip point blade shapes. There are classic clip points, slender clip points, and several other variations including saber ground clip points. I like the look of clip points and have several of them. They just look plain classic to me; it’s tough to explain but they just hit me the right way. I also find them to be quite utilitarian. They offer a solid amount of belly, but still have a very useful point due to the clipped portion. However, they’re not for everyone; my fiancee HATES the look of clip points!

A variety of clip point style blades

Hawkbill / Talon / Pruner

Another very traditional blade shape that has several different names and variations is the hawkbill. The hawkbill blade shape is characterized by a concave edge with a downward pointing tip. There are many traditional knife patterns with similar blade shapes such as the pruner, karambit, and talon knives. An interesting aspect of these knives is that they often originated as agricultural tools, with the concave or downward curved edge being suited for pulling cuts commonly used in farming, gardening, etc.. However, they have come to be associated more with self defense due to their use as improvised weapons by those who didn’t have access to implements purposefully designed as weapons, such as farmers who couldn’t afford swords using sickles as weapons.

My only hawkbill blade, the Spyderco Reverse, with its superb DarkStar Gear sheath

Straight Edges

Wharncliffe

A wharncliffe has a straight edge and a spine that curves gradually down to meet the tip. Due to the more gradual curve of the spine to the edge, a wharncliffe tends to have a finer point than the proceeding two straight edged blade shapes. A wharncliffe is often a secondary blade on multi blade knives, but can also be a main blade especially on its own as a single blade. The wharncliffe is a great blade for fine work and pull cuts, and I usually prefer it as a small secondary. I like pen style two blade knives with a straight edged secondary, and a wharncliffe is probably my favorite in that role of the three listed here.

GEC Wharncliffes: #82 Possum Skinner, #82 Dixie Stock Knife, #06 Pemberton, #13 Office Knife

Sheepfoot

A sheepfoot has a straight edge, but the spine has a straight portion that angles downward to the tip with a rounded area connecting the two spine portions. I’m not sure I have done a great job describing that well enough that you could picture it accurately based on the description alone, but thankfully I have lots of examples to show! The sheepfoot is a well liked blade shape. It is often a secondary blade, especially on stockman patterns, but can be a main blade even on multi bladed knives. My first GEC, the knife that got me back into traditionals, was a #15 TC barlow with a single sheepfoot blade. I’ve found it to be extremely practical, despite its lack of a fine point and lack of a curved edge. I also think it looks great when manufactured with the right proportions. The sheepfoot can also another great option of a straight edged secondary blade, like on the GEC #35 Churchill or the GEC #98 Texas Camp Knife.

GEC Sheepfeet: #18 Beagle, #35 Churchill, #53 Cuban Stockman, #98 Texas Camp Knife, #15 TC Barlow

Coping

A coping blade is very similar to a sheepfoot, but with the connection of the two spine areas that come together having a sharp angle rather than being rounded. Coping blades are almost always secondary blades. Coping blades are often found on whittler and congress patterns. Although they can work well for small fine cuts in whittling and other similar tasks, I have often found that the angled spine of a coping blade can decrease the ergonomic comfortability of a knife, especially on a heavy user. Unfortunately, I don’t currently have a coping blade to take a close up picture but the Queen Railsplitter below has a secondary blade that is on the coping side of a sheepfoot.

Queen Railsplitter with Coping secondary blade

Tanto

The tanto blade shape is essentially the same shape as a coping blade, but with the spine and edge sides switched. A tanto has a long straight edge, sometimes with a slight continuous curve, starting from the handle that meets at an angle with another shorter edge that is angled upward and connects with the spine to form the tip. The tanto blade shape originated in Japan and was slightly different than it is commonly made now, with a less hard angle at the intersection of the two edges and an upward curved spine. The now more well known “Americanized tanto” usually has a straight or downward curved spine and a very hard angle at the intersection of the two edges. A tanto often has a hollow grind on the long edge and a flat grind on the shorter edge, for increased strength at the tip, but this is not universal. I like the tanto blade as a utility knife. It excels at opening boxes, using the angled intersection of the edges, and push cuts like those done while breaking down cardboard.

Cold Steel Micro Recon 1, Kershaw Cathode, Outdoor Edge Chasm 2.5, with varying degrees of “Americanized” tanto blade shapes

Outliers

There are many traditional blade shapes not discussed in full above, and an endless continuum of variations between and upon the traditional blade shapes. Modern knife makers have also designed many modified versions of traditional blade shapes. A. G. Russell has contributed a great deal to the knife community over the years, and they offer an incredible resource in their Blade Shapes Encyclopedia. Although I don’t use the exact same terminology or definitions as them across the board, their site has a huge amount of helpful information.

Several blade shapes that span more than one traditional pattern or are modified from a traditional pattern

Blade shapes are designated by specific traits and how they relate to each other: edge shape, spine shape, tip height, and sometimes spine and edge angles. However, many of these traits and their relations to discrete blade shapes work more subjectively and on sliding scales, rather than as clear cut absolutes. Some of the most common curved edge blade shapes are the spear point, drop point, and clip point. Some of the most common straight edged blade shapes are the wharncliffe, sheepfoot, and coping blades. Still, sometimes a blade won’t fit these general categories and you’ll have to just look at the knife and categorize it based on its overall design and aesthetic. Yet again, another aspect of the knife hobby comes down to “you know it when you see it”!

More Knife Thoughts Coming Soon!

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

The Trapper Pattern; You Know It When You See It

TL;DR? Check out the companion Knife Thoughts video on my YouTube channel at this link!

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).

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.

The links to Amazon in this article are Amazon Affiliate links. That means that if you click them and purchase the product you won’t pay any more than you normally would on Amazon, but I get a commission from the sale. This is just a way for you to support Knife Thoughts and allow me to procure more funding for the project and its knives.

I sincerely thank you for your time, support, and interest! Don’t forget to tell your friends about KnifeThoughts.com, subscribe via email, and share this article on social media. You can find Knife Thoughts on YouTube where I have hundreds of knife videos, as well as on Instagram and Facebook! You can find all my latest links at LinkTr.ee/KnifeThoughts