As we know them today, Folding knives have possibly accompany man since time immemorial. Today it seems that a part of society wants to marginalize them, penalizing even the fact of carrying a knife with us.
In not so remote times, the use and carrying of a knife were very widespread, and it was as common to carry a knife as to carry a wallet or a watch. Mainly in certain professional activities such as fishermen (to extract the hooks from the fish they have caught), farmers, carvers, hunters (to cut the hunt pieces), scribes (to sharpen pencils or pens), basket makers ( to be able to cut the wicker and match it), etc.
You may be interest in this article where we explain how to sharpen your knife:
Today there are still multiple reasons to continue using these little tools. In certain areas such as camping, they are essential, but there are certain actions in which the use of a knife can even help save lives. This is the case of rescue knives use by the security forces. These knives are capable of cutting a vehicle seat belt, in the event of an accident.
The use as a cutting tool is more than justify, especially in places where we do not have the possibility of using other tools, such as the field.
Carrying a knife can help us to carry out small repairs, such as unscrewing or screwing, stripping electrical cables, or cutting pieces of polystyrene, cardboard …
As you can see, the reasons for using a pocket knife are many and vary. We are going to list the different types of Damascus folding knives that exist, their characteristics and the functions they perform, and for which they have been design.
Types of knives, uses and characteristics
The types of pocket knives that exist are many. There is almost one type of razor for every activity. The cause is the specialization of the functions that each folding knife model can perform.
So we can mainly find these types of razor depending on their use:
- Hunting knives: they are usually rather large knives, although they also use knives. They are characterize by having a very fine tip and a wide and sharp blade, which allows the meat to be cut into pieces.
- Fishing or marine knives : they are characterize by lacking a point. This is so to avoid accidents in a medium, the ship and the sea, which is always in constant motion. Whether use to extract hooks or to help mend nets, fisher knives incorporate specific tools for these functions.
- Being as we are specialists in mushrooms, the mycological or special razors could not be absent to collect boletus or chanterelles. It is another very specialize type of razor that in recent times and thanks to the boom in mycology has been widely disseminate. Its main characteristics would be the incorporation of a brush for cleaning mushrooms, a curve tranchete-type edge and a 2-type blade, smooth and serrat. Other features could be the inclusion of a tape measure or a hook to carry the knife attach to the basket or backpack.
- Razor blades A very characteristic shape, without a sheath and with a very sharp and rectangular cutting surface
- Rescue knives: they incorporate a seat belt cutter and a special blade to cut these elements without harming the person who is still wearing it. They usually have a curve blade with a slight serrate edge
- Multi tool pocket knives or Swiss army knives . A true toolbox that incorporates many functions, from magnifying glass, ruler or compass, through different screwdrivers, pliers or scissors. They usually incorporate different blades for each function: cutting, sawing, …
- Harvesting or gardening knives . They are characterize by their resistance and their particular curve edge to be able to make cuts on the plants adapting to their curve shape. They are also known as tranchete knives , widely use in the field to collect mushrooms.
- If we talk about military knives or tactical knives , we will verify that there is a great offer of this type of knives and Blue pocket knives. The reason is that they have become widespread due to their enormous versatility. Among its characteristics we find a greater thickness of the blade but maintaining some flexibility to avoid breakage. Also the incorporation of different types of blade, smooth, saw, … which will allow a wide range of use.
- Sports knives (cycling, skating, golf …). Depending on the type of sport, they incorporate tools that will help us to carry out repairs on our equipment.
- Diving knives . They must allow cutting of elements that may have become entangle in the fins or the diving equipment, therefore they incorporate a toothe area to saw, for example, remains of nets. The handle is made of synthetic material and they are knives that can be carry on the leg by means of a special sheath.
- Collectible knives . They are special editions of classic models. Its shape depends on the model to be reproduce.
- Truffle knives or truffle knives. Specials for truffle harvesting and cleaning. The accessories for truffle harvesting are special, since they do not resemble traditional knives or pocket knives, although there are specific models of folding knives. Its characteristic shape, in the shape of a small shovel, will allow us to extract the fungus from the earth, for which a high resistance is require.
- Survival knives. Another large group of types of pocket knives and knives, where one of the main characteristics is the length of the blade. It is common to find blades of up to 15 cm. Its use is usually hunting, thanks to its resistance
- Butterfly type knives. They have a typical handle divide into 2 halves, oscillating and attach to the base. Its opening is carry out by means of a movement with the hand that holds the butterfly knife, fast and in a circular direction. Its blade is smooth, fine and point at the end
- There is a last group where we could include the rest of the types of professional knives. They are knives that incorporate one or more specific tools of a profession. Eg screwdriver or wire strippers in the case of an electrician’s razor. The offer is very wide and there are multiple variations and forms
Surely there are many more varieties, but they could be group into these types. Another song is to group them by the shape of each knife. Here there are also different types.
Types of razors depending on the shape
We have already comment that thanks to the great tradition in the use of knives , there are many different forms of these folding knives. Each of them was born to fulfill a specific function and for this reason they are formally different from the rest. For this reason and because of the skill of the artisan cutler who will choose to give his creations a specific shape.
We can find different shapes of knives, such as:
- Stiletto knives
- Fan knives
- Pocket knives
- Goat pocket knives
- Pruning knives
- Coating knives
Other types of pocket knives according to their origin
As we have comment, there are different types of knives depending on the geographical area where they are manufacture. Thanks to the long tradition of cutlery, there are certain areas where knives and knives with traditional shapes are still being made. Within the traditional knives we can also find some significant types such as these examples:
- Albacete razors
- Taramundi folding knives
- Extremaduran pocket knives
- Damascus pocket knives
- Laguiole pocket knives
- Jerez razor clams
Find your ideal razor in Damascus
If you are thinking of buying a pocket knife, we hope that these instructions can help you and we recommend you visit our section of pocket knives and knives. You will not only find tools for collecting mushrooms and truffles , but a much wider range. More than 200 different types of knives and accessories! Do not forget that the development of mushroom harvesting takes place in the open air, and that is where we are going to get the most out of our pocket knife. So knowing the types and characteristics of each model of knife we can find one that perfectly suits our needs for use and price, which is also important