False edge on knife

[Pete G.]

When did the false edge on the back of a blade come into existence ?
I had just finished grinding a false edge on my antler handled long hunter knife when I realized that I could be wrong with this detail.
How come we never have these kind of thoughts until afterwards 

[Randy Hedden]

I believe the false edge on knives didn't come about until the 19th century.  Whenever the bowie type knives became popular.  A longhunter knife most likely wouldn't have a false edge.

Randy Hedden

[Chuck Burrows]

False edges are older than the 19th Centruy - they are a pretty standard feature on Spanish Belduques at least as early as the late 16th Century.

It may not "wrong" to do add one on a longhunter knife (have to do the research to make a more definitive statement), but I'm of the inclination it would not have been "common" though in that time and place.

[Dphariss]

There is little new in blades. They were making them for a very long time.
A little digging will show knives with clip points that look much like the 1840-1860 "Bowies" that are much older. Perhaps back to the middle ages in Europe.
 But then again we need look to what was typical for the place and time.

Dan