Help identify this piece

A. G. Maisey · 24th July 2026, 02:08 PM

I do not have the knowledge to take analysis of this knife any further, so I have turned to a friend for help. My friend is also a collector, a very experienced collector, with something like 60 odd years of experience, but he collects historic tools. I have directed him to this discussion and what follows is from my discussion with him.

The design of this knife with its needle point & dropped hilt indicates that there is a high probability that this knife was used by a leather worker who worked with heavy leather. Such a worker would have made & repaired the heavy leather drive belts in 19th century & early 20th century factories. The dropped or trailing hilt permitted the user to lean his full body weight into a forward cut, it also permitted better control in cutting angles than did a straight hilt.

The needle point would have been used to begin a cut into the body of the belt, & for holes required for stitching. The chisel grind permitted an absolutely straight line when cutting along a steel straightedge.

It is possible that the leather worker was not engaged in factory belt fabrication & repair, saddlers and other old-time leather workers also had the need for knives that were specifically designed for use on heavy leather, especially in splitting leather.

He made two further suggestions, but was more in favour of a leather worker's knife. One suggestion was that this knife had an outside possibility of being a knife used by a worker in trades that used heavy canvas, such as sail making. The other suggestion was that it could have been used in the laying & repair of linoleum or commercial flooring material.

I tried to extract an opinion from him as to the geographic origin of this knife, but he was hesitant to say other than that it was of Western World fabrication, possibly American.

24th July 2026, 02:08 PM	#19
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,255	I do not have the knowledge to take analysis of this knife any further, so I have turned to a friend for help. My friend is also a collector, a very experienced collector, with something like 60 odd years of experience, but he collects historic tools. I have directed him to this discussion and what follows is from my discussion with him. The design of this knife with its needle point & dropped hilt indicates that there is a high probability that this knife was used by a leather worker who worked with heavy leather. Such a worker would have made & repaired the heavy leather drive belts in 19th century & early 20th century factories. The dropped or trailing hilt permitted the user to lean his full body weight into a forward cut, it also permitted better control in cutting angles than did a straight hilt. The needle point would have been used to begin a cut into the body of the belt, & for holes required for stitching. The chisel grind permitted an absolutely straight line when cutting along a steel straightedge. It is possible that the leather worker was not engaged in factory belt fabrication & repair, saddlers and other old-time leather workers also had the need for knives that were specifically designed for use on heavy leather, especially in splitting leather. He made two further suggestions, but was more in favour of a leather worker's knife. One suggestion was that this knife had an outside possibility of being a knife used by a worker in trades that used heavy canvas, such as sail making. The other suggestion was that it could have been used in the laying & repair of linoleum or commercial flooring material. I tried to extract an opinion from him as to the geographic origin of this knife, but he was hesitant to say other than that it was of Western World fabrication, possibly American.