Patch Knife Source?

[Smokey Plainsman]

What is a good source for PERIOD CORRECT high quality patch knives? I'll be in need of one soon. Thanks!

[okieboy]

 This is not an answer to your question, but I think you have the start of several discussions.
1. Does one need to specify a PERIOD?
2. Were patch different patch knives used in different periods?
3. Were specificly purpose designed patch knives used in these different periods or just belt/utility knives used?
4. If a purpose designed patch knife was used in a period, how was it carried?

[L Meadows]

Not sure what you are looking for but Joe Schell would be a great person to contact.

[P.W.Berkuta]

I think there were no specific knife use for cutting patches. The rifleman used what he had either a belt knife or maybe a pocket knife. The patch knife as we see it today was "designed" by the people pushing more stuff to sell the modern muzzleloading shooter.

[Elnathan]

You want this for a late-period flintlock, right? c. 1820-30 or so.

I suspect that the most common "patch knife" for any period was the user's general-purpose pocket knife/folding knife. (Folding knives seem to be pretty common whatever the period, but tend to be overlooked these days. I don't even know a good book on the subject...)

Otherwise, any small "American Primitive" fixed blade will do - see Gordon Minnis' American Primitive Knives or Madison Grant's The Knife in Homespun America for examples of small utility knives that would work as a patch knife. No way to tell in most cases when any given example was actually made or what it was intended for, so pick one that appeals to you.

As for where to get one, you either need to buy one from a custom maker - lots of them shown right here, for example - or just buy a blade from Track of the Wolf and a suitable piece of antler from the local pet store (you may have to look at a couple stores to find a good piece) and make one yourself. Otherwise you can see what Dixie or Track has available.

[Stoner creek]

Go to a Kentucky Rifle show. You can’t sling a dead cat in one of those places without hitting a knife maker!

Is something like this what you’re looking for?

[Cades Cove Fiddler]

  ... Couple cats got slung in Bama last week-end,.... !!!

[WKevinD]

I suggest you spend some time with Madison Grants books and come up with a patch knife style you like then bring that to any one of the great knifemakers here.

Kevin

[sqrldog]

CCF I agree I think mine is the cat's meow.😀

[Jerry V Lape]

The one use most came from LRB and you can find his website in the membership roll. 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Thanks guys!

I'm thinking more along the lines of a small-medium sized belt knife, who's blade has the right properties for patch cutting (I'm guessing thin, flat, and very sharp) made appropriate for the period of 1790-1830.

[smokinbuck]

Smokey,
I have 2 like what you are describing going to market this weekend. one is $45 the other $50, both have belt sheaths. Can send pics.
Mark

[Steve Patterson]

My dad started using a straight razor and now swears by it. They've been around for a few years too

[Robby]

Another source, flea markets and garage sales. Old bone handled butter knives ground to shape make dandy patch knives.
Robby

[Smokey Plainsman]

Thanks, guys!

Does anyone carry their belt knife "crossdraw" on their hip? I carry bag & horn on my right (I'm right handed) so am thinking the left hip would be a natural place for it so I can reach down crossdraw style to retrieve the knife.

[Elnathan]

Thanks, guys!

Does anyone carry their belt knife "crossdraw" on their hip? I carry bag & horn on my right (I'm right handed) so am thinking the left hip would be a natural place for it so I can reach down crossdraw style to retrieve the knife.

Is there another way?

[EC121]

A straight razor works pretty well, but the blade will wear pretty quick from sharpening.  It is so thin that sharpening eats it away.  The good news is they are cheap. 

[smokinbuck]

Smokey,
The best answer to your question regarding where to wear your knife is, put it where it is most comfortable and convenient for you. I don't think there is a common or HC answer.
Mark

[BOB HILL]

Stoner Creek right here on this thread would be a good place to look for a knife. He’s been posting some good looking knives lately.
Bob

[Elnathan]

Stoner Creek right here on this thread would be a good place to look for a knife. He’s been posting some good looking knives lately.
Bob

Not to disparage anyone's work, but most of what I've seen lately here on the board has been either Woodbury school knives, like the ones posted above, or old-timey variants of modern drop-point hunters, neither of which are really all that historically accurate. Depending on what Smokey is looking for, they may or may not satisfy that criteria. That is why I suggest looking at the books I mentioned above.

[Stoner creek]

Anything sharp enough to cut a patch cleanly should do the trick. This shouldn’t be an overly complicated thread huh? I make neat old tymey patch knives for others. If you look in my shooting box you’re going to find a really sharp really cheap Chinese folding hunter that I wouldn’t trade for anything. Roll on boys!!!!!!!!!!

[Smokey Plainsman]

Anything sharp enough to cut a patch cleanly should do the trick. This shouldn’t be an overly complicated thread huh? I make neat old tymey patch knives for others. If you look in my shooting box you’re going to find a really sharp really cheap Chinese folding hunter that I wouldn’t trade for anything. Roll on boys!!!!!!!!!!

That may work well for you and I applaud it, but I’m wanting something PC for the time period. I do not reenact, but that doesn’t keep me from wanting to be historically authentic.

Guys, in the past I’ve worn knives crossdraw and I prefer it. But all I have now is a Mora which clearly is NOT PC and some folding knives. Looking for a fixed blade 3-5” blades knife for the job, fixed blade, to be worn on the left hip for a crossdraw with the right hand, as period as I can get, and with a blade suited to the cutting of the patch.

[James Rogers]

What you want then is a common knife that is correct for your chosen time, location and station. There really were no "patch knives". I would search put a common butcher or altered table knife of the period. 
That said, I can document antler handled knives on the straps of hunting bags to the 1820s 

[LRB]

  Although I have made "patch knives" James Rogers is correct. There really is no hard evidence of single purpose patch knives. I suspect that those who cut patches at the muzzle simply used their EDC knife. Pre-cut patches "seems" to have been the more common type of patching, and stored in the "patch box" of the gun, along with grease, or also pre-greased. In the 18th c. anyway.

[WadePatton]

A straight razor works pretty well, but the blade will wear pretty quick from sharpening.  It is so thin that sharpening eats it away.  The good news is they are cheap.

As much as I hate to see good shaving irons used this way, and well know the frailty of those blades-as I've only shaved with refreshed vintage straight razors for several years now, I'll weigh in here on the use of SR's for patch knives from the modern perspective of practicality and preservation of useful tools made a long time ago. This speaks nothing to their correctness for any period. Also I do suppose after King Gillette took over with his throw-away blades, there were scads of old razors repurposed--this was early 20th century though--so remember that if you're attempting a "period" argument.

First, please don't ruin nice examples of old SR's.  Vintage steel is no longer being produced and these things come in LOTS of degrees of repair.  Second, it's the hollow grinds that will be most common and the MOST susceptible to novice sharpening errors.  BUT if you search high and low, you can find WEDGE shaped blades that will be very much more durable and retain their cloth-cutting edge longer than any hollow ground.  Wedges have little to no hollow grinding, take a bit of effort to sharpen properly, but are quiet shaving and a legitimate shaving razor.

Also of course there are very cheap modern replicas made, and any of them could be "aged" or not and pressing them into patch knife service would probably be a blessing as I hear they're often horribly ground or totally inadequate for whisker service.

The vintage blades that take a really good edge are precious to us shavers with the blade. They don't all (no matter the make/model/origin) take and hold the same edge.  Very tiny differences in heat treatment and metallurgy assure this-and there was a lot of variation in old blades.

Also, perish the notion that any settler back in the day used his shaving razor to cut fabric, ever.  The edges just won't hold up to that, and then go back to a face without a lot of restoning/stropping.  It'd be a waste of time and metal for a shaving person.

There's just nothing like SR shaving, but you can whack patching fabric with about anything sharpened.