Name that Knife

[Jim Katen]

I'm trying to find out information about a particular kind of knife that used to belong to my father. He was a garment cutter and used it to make marks in stacks of fabric and pattern templates.

I have attached a crude sketch of it. The infill was made from rosewood and the body from brass. It was hollow and contained two set screws, which held a long carbon steel blade in place. The blade was rounded and blunt on one end and could be ground and sharpened into any shape at the other end. My dad kept it razor sharp.

I'm curious about it because I've never seen another knife that was anything like it. It sort of resembles a woodworker's layout knife but not really. I'm pretty sure that it was not a standard piece of equipment used by other garment cutters.

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[mjr6550]

Look anything like these?

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[Jim Katen]

Look anything like these?

Click to Enlarge

13.57 KB

Click to Enlarge

9.53 KB

It looked very similar to the second one, but the body was symmetrical, with equally sized bolsters and a set screw at each end. What is that second one and where did you get it?

[Bill Kibbel]

It's called a "pattern maker's knife" and used as a marking knife. I've seen some in old woodworking tool collections. I think I've seen one that is still, or was recently, being produced.

It's used as a marking tool. The pattern (template) is laid over the stock and the blade scribes the pattern. The screws in the handle are for raising or lowering the blade to the thickness of the pattern.

Based on the name, my guess is it originated in the apparel industry.

[Jim Katen]

It's called a "pattern maker's knife" and used as a marking knife. I've seen some in old woodworking tool collections. I think I've seen one that is still, or was recently, being produced.

It's used as a marking tool. The pattern (template) is laid over the stock and the blade scribes the pattern. The screws in the handle are for raising or lowering the blade to the thickness of the pattern.

Based on the name, my guess is it originated in the apparel industry.

Thanks. With that information I was able to narrow it down. It seems that both Murphy and Dexter made these knives, but Dexter was the only one that made them with the double bolster and double set screws.