Sam1911
Moderator Emeritus
Hi!
For some strange reason my mind just flickered for a moment over a long-forgotten memory that maybe you all could help me fill in a bit.
When I was a kid, my Dad had what I thought was the world's coolest folding fishing knife. He didn't ever use it. It sat in a drawer of his dresser and I got to play with it very rarely, but it was obviously a pretty special piece.
The blade was perhaps 6" long, maybe longer, and very narrow (no more than 3/4" wide at any point...probably less). The blade had a very slight recurve to the edge, but was also "clipped" into a very elongated bowie shape. The spine of the blade appeared to be serrated along its whole length.
However, it wasn't really serrated, it was notched. The handle was chromed steel, almost square in profile, and patterned with a recessed diamonds grip surface, IIRC. The most fascinating part was that the butt end swelled out to a large round ball, perhaps 1-1/4" in diameter. (Folded, it kind of resembled a microphone!) Near the hinge was a large, sturdy steel bail. I can't remember a locking mechanism but I think it must have had one.
The reason for all the strangeness was that once you caught a fish, you'd string it through the gills with a little monofilament formed into a loop. Unfold the knife, hang it from a lanyard through the bail, and then hook your mono loop over one of the blade spine notches.
Each notch was marked in ounces, and you moved the loop fore and aft in the notches until the fish balanced opposite of that big steel ball -- and the location of that loop would show you how much your fish weighed!
I thought it was CRAZY cool, and of course it was even cooler as Dad kept it stashed away in a drawer instead of ever using it.
Anyone ever heard of such a thing, or know who made them? I somehow seem to recall it might have been German, but it was a high-quality piece, for sure.
For all I know, he's still got it, but I haven't seen in in decades, probably. I'll have to ask next time I'm down his way, but anyone have any leads?
Thanks!
For some strange reason my mind just flickered for a moment over a long-forgotten memory that maybe you all could help me fill in a bit.
When I was a kid, my Dad had what I thought was the world's coolest folding fishing knife. He didn't ever use it. It sat in a drawer of his dresser and I got to play with it very rarely, but it was obviously a pretty special piece.
The blade was perhaps 6" long, maybe longer, and very narrow (no more than 3/4" wide at any point...probably less). The blade had a very slight recurve to the edge, but was also "clipped" into a very elongated bowie shape. The spine of the blade appeared to be serrated along its whole length.
However, it wasn't really serrated, it was notched. The handle was chromed steel, almost square in profile, and patterned with a recessed diamonds grip surface, IIRC. The most fascinating part was that the butt end swelled out to a large round ball, perhaps 1-1/4" in diameter. (Folded, it kind of resembled a microphone!) Near the hinge was a large, sturdy steel bail. I can't remember a locking mechanism but I think it must have had one.
The reason for all the strangeness was that once you caught a fish, you'd string it through the gills with a little monofilament formed into a loop. Unfold the knife, hang it from a lanyard through the bail, and then hook your mono loop over one of the blade spine notches.
Each notch was marked in ounces, and you moved the loop fore and aft in the notches until the fish balanced opposite of that big steel ball -- and the location of that loop would show you how much your fish weighed!
I thought it was CRAZY cool, and of course it was even cooler as Dad kept it stashed away in a drawer instead of ever using it.
Anyone ever heard of such a thing, or know who made them? I somehow seem to recall it might have been German, but it was a high-quality piece, for sure.
For all I know, he's still got it, but I haven't seen in in decades, probably. I'll have to ask next time I'm down his way, but anyone have any leads?
Thanks!
