empty_pockets
Sr. Member
- Apr 7, 2012
- 267
- 176
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
I've read that cowboys had both stockmen/cattle knives, and a fixed blade, but kept the fixed blade in their bed roll. The big stock knives were their go to knife. However, didn't those "hit the shelves" towards the latter part of the 19th century? So what did the vaqueros and cow punchers use until then? Did they wait and sit on their hands until a proper knife came along? Well, the gauchos used their gaucho knives, even when eating. I'm guessing the Vaqueros had their proper knife. I'm guessing the cowboys carried whatever cheap jack knife they could get ahold of. Did the trail boss, or ranch boss, keep some extras around? What happened if your blade broke, while you were out in the middle of nowhere on the south forty? I think these guys were more worried about saving their coins for the cathouse in town, than saving their money and keeping an extra knife in their stores back at the bunkhouse.
Most of these guys needed something that would hold up to abuse from sunup to sundown. Bowie knives were too cumbersome and would probably have been the assault rifles of their day. They wanted a simple tool. Nothing fancy, nothing a dude would take out on the pampas.
These guys were a rough and tumble crowd, and there are reasons that they raised hell in town after they got paid, I guess that a straight couple months on the prairie will do that to you.
I think they carried jack knives that were easy to open with thick gloves on, and carried a fixed blade butcher knife in their bed roll. Probably not too different from the mountain men that preceded them in the annals of the American west.
How many of them could afford a Henry lever action repeater, a Colt SAA, and a fancy stock knife? I'm betting they carried whatever Sharps rifle they used in the Civil War or their father used in the Civil War, a dime store jack knife and maybe an old Colt Navy Walker if they could afford it. From what I've read of history, these cowboys were the Deadliest Catch guys of their day. They made good money fast, but spent it all on whiskey and brothels. The steamship Arabia was headed WEST when it sunk in 1856 in the Missouri river.
These knives were among the knives that were headed to general stores. I think like today, there was a large variation of knives carried and used.
Just as most folks assume that the cowboy carried a SAA Colt revolver due to countless TV shows, western novels and movies. Far from being accurate!
Most of these guys needed something that would hold up to abuse from sunup to sundown. Bowie knives were too cumbersome and would probably have been the assault rifles of their day. They wanted a simple tool. Nothing fancy, nothing a dude would take out on the pampas.
These guys were a rough and tumble crowd, and there are reasons that they raised hell in town after they got paid, I guess that a straight couple months on the prairie will do that to you.
I think they carried jack knives that were easy to open with thick gloves on, and carried a fixed blade butcher knife in their bed roll. Probably not too different from the mountain men that preceded them in the annals of the American west.
How many of them could afford a Henry lever action repeater, a Colt SAA, and a fancy stock knife? I'm betting they carried whatever Sharps rifle they used in the Civil War or their father used in the Civil War, a dime store jack knife and maybe an old Colt Navy Walker if they could afford it. From what I've read of history, these cowboys were the Deadliest Catch guys of their day. They made good money fast, but spent it all on whiskey and brothels. The steamship Arabia was headed WEST when it sunk in 1856 in the Missouri river.
These knives were among the knives that were headed to general stores. I think like today, there was a large variation of knives carried and used.
Just as most folks assume that the cowboy carried a SAA Colt revolver due to countless TV shows, western novels and movies. Far from being accurate!
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