Nautical Knives, Art and Collectables

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Comment by Jan Carter on October 26, 2011 at 6:28pm

Tobias,

My best practice on ebay, look up the knife at other sites and see what its going for.

Comment by Tobias Gibson on October 26, 2011 at 5:45pm

Someone is in for a big disappointment.   Someone on eBay has a $26  bid on the S&W rigging knife.   Retail is about $12.  Of the stainless steel riggers, it is one of my least faves.  Feels bad in the hand and the bail is in the way when you use the  spike.  See the bid under this eBay number:  400250486954

 

 

Comment by Terry Waldele on May 22, 2011 at 2:40pm

Thanks, Tobias.  I have a knife with a shackle key and now I know what it's for.

Comment by Tobias Gibson on May 22, 2011 at 8:17am

The odd looking blade is a shackle key

 

The shackle key is unique to the world of sailing knives. It is a flat unsharpened blade with an elongated hole in the center that often narrows at the handle end of the blade. It is used for loosening shackles (butterfly like screw heads) on ships and boats. (To be more precise, the shackle key loosens the screw pin that holds the shackle in place, thus shackle key; it opens a shackle.) On folding knives, the shackle key is often a blade unto itself, a hole cut in the main blade, or is built into the frame of the knife. The shackle key is sometimes formed in the handle end of marlin spikes; giving the spike a resemblance to a large needle.

Comment by Terry Waldele on May 21, 2011 at 11:52pm

This appears to be an Ibberson "Doublesharp Yachtsman's Knife."  Can you tell me the purpose of the odd looking blade with the bottle opener on it?

Comment by Tobias Gibson on May 21, 2011 at 7:21pm

That's one heck of bilge find!

Comment by Rino Smajo on May 21, 2011 at 6:34pm

gift from a friend  (he found it in bilge)

Comment by JAMES IVY on May 5, 2011 at 12:05pm

love these multiple purpose nautical knives!

Comment by Terry Waldele on June 1, 2010 at 2:35am

Hi Jim,
Welcome aboard the good ship "Nautical 'Nives." I can relate to your comment about the impulse to buy rigging knives. When my son was a pre-teen, he told me he really wanted something (I forget now what it was, but whatever it was, it befuddled me as to why he would want one.) So, I asked him "Why do you want THAT?" His response was, "Uh, just to have." It really boils down to just that. You SEE it; you WANT it; so you BUY it - SIWIBI. BTY, I still have a ways to go to reach just the shoebox phase. (My rigging knives still fit in a cigar box.) One of my favorites is what appears to be a very old British rigging knife that I bought in an antique store near Prescott, AZ. It was so rusty you could barely make out what it was deep in the bottom of the "junk box." I de-rusted it, and that's all the clean-up I did on it. This is it:

Comment by Jim Child on May 31, 2010 at 10:19am

Hey All! I figured I'd be polite and warn everyone that I'd come aboard.

Maybe 15 years ago I noticed that I owned three "rigging knives": a Kabar "system" with spike and multi-plier-tool and a Capt. Currey UK folder inherited from my Dad and a cheap SS Davis folder I'd picked up at one of the local "marine supply" stores. I announced to my family that I was "officially collecting rigging knives" and they should feel free to gift me with multiples of same!

For a lot of years I was happy just buying a blade when I happened to notice a new one at checkout while purchasing bottom-paint or some such. And, at different points in time, each of my sons did, in fact, give me a knife for my birthday.

And then, a few months back, I was on eBay for some reason and suddenly thought maybe I'd do a search for "rigging knife" and see what happened. Well, that was a BIG mistake!! The shoebox that had housed my entire collection for years is now being replaced by a 6 drawer wooden chest from Grizzly.

....and while I had been really good about only acquiring knives that incorporated a marlin spike in one way or another, I've discovered that I'm not always able to pass up a real pretty single-blade jack "rope" knife, USCG approved or not.... please pray for me! LOL

Jim

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