Canoe Pocket Knife, Hand Forged with Camel Bone Handle

A straight handle lies across the bottom of a pocket and digs in when you sit down. This one does not, because both ends curve up and the middle is pinched in, so it rolls to the shape of your leg. Closed it is 3.75 inches. The blade is 2.75 inches of 1095 high carbon steel and the scales are camel bone.

Specification

The blade

The steel is 1095 high carbon, finished in hand rubbed satin. That means abrasive worked up and down the flat by hand until every scratch runs the same way, which leaves a soft grey that does not throw light back at you. The shape is a spear point. The edge and the spine curve toward each other and meet at a tip in the middle of the blade, a shape for controlled cuts rather than heavy work. Carbon steel greys as it ages and marks where water sits on it.

The lock and the opening

No lock, like most knives shaped this way. A flat spring runs through the back of the handle and presses on the tang. It keeps the blade out while you are cutting and pulls it home when you close it, and it moves under a firm push either way. Nothing is fixed in place, so keep your fingers out of the path of the edge as it shuts. Opening is a crescent nail nick cut in the flat for a thumbnail.

The handle

Camel bone is pale, close grained and hard enough to take a polish, and it wears smooth instead of chipping. The canoe shape puts a nickel silver bolster on each end rather than only at the pivot, so the frame is capped at both. That is where the outline comes from, two curved ends with the waist narrowed between them. Brass pins pass through the scales. Closed the knife is 3.75 inches, small in the hand and smaller again in a pocket.

The leather pouch

The pouch is vegetable tanned leather with a basket weave stamped into it, stitched by hand. It is a flat sleeve with one end open. The knife goes in shut. It will not hang off a belt, since there is nothing to hang it with, which is why we call it a pouch instead of a sheath. A small knife gets lost in a bag, and this is the answer to that.

Who it suits

For anyone who gave up carrying a knife over how it sat.

• People in trousers rather than work gear
• Anyone who found a straight handle digs in
• Buyers who want small before impressive
• Owners who like bone and bright bolsters

What comes in the box

• The canoe on camel bone
• A stamped basket weave pouch
• A card about care
• Sharpening free, forever

Every piece is different

Bone varies. One pair of scales is nearly white, another mottled brown. The satin on the blade is put there by hand, so the run of the scratches shifts a little between knives. Nickel silver picks up its own dull sheen. Yours will look like the photograph without copying it.

Looking after it

Dry it after use and it behaves. Lint packs into the joint, so rinse it under a tap now and then, dry it, and feed a drop of oil into the pivot. Oil on the blade before it sits in a drawer. Bone asks for nothing but a dry life. When it stops cutting, a stone and strop put it back. There is more on the care and sharpening page.

Put a name on it

Engraving is laser cut at 20 dollars per blade, picked before you pay. Around 30 characters goes on, and shorter reads better on a blade this size. We send a proof image, you approve it, and the order takes 3 to 5 business days longer. Buy 10 or more and it costs you nothing. The engraving page answers the rest.

Questions buyers ask

Why is it shaped like a boat? The curved ends and pinched waist let it lie along a pocket, not across it.

Is 2.75 inches enough? For letters and the odd apple, yes. Heavier work wants a bigger knife.

Does it lock? No. A back spring holds each end of the swing.

Will it rust? It can. Dry the steel and oil the joint, and let the grey come.

Can I carry this one? Laws differ by state, city and country, so check your local rules, and we cannot advise on that.

How long is shipping? Most US orders arrive in 5 to 7 business days.

For the same idea with more blade, the trapper on stag antler is longer. Flatter again is the gentlemans folder in buffalo horn. All sit in folding knives, with pocket knives holding old patterns and everyday carry knives the rest.