Identifying knives and folding knives

Whittle tangs, scale tangs, and pocket clasp knives.

Fixed-blade knives divide by tang: a whittle tang is a spike driven into a handle (common early); a scale tang is a flat plate with riveted handle scales (widespread from the later medieval period). Blade backs, shoulder shapes, and cutlers' marks refine the date.

Folding knives are older than most expect — Roman examples exist with bone or bronze handles. Post-medieval clasp knives grow spring backs and, by the 18th–19th centuries, marked steel blades from cutlery centres like Sheffield; a stamped maker's name is a direct research lead.

Iron blades corrode, so the handle furniture (bolsters, scales, end caps) often outlives them. Photograph any cutler's mark near the blade shoulder, note tang type and surviving handle material, and describe blade shape without over-restoring in your head — 'blade tip lost' is part of the record.

From the guide library inside Collectors Catalogues, a free app for cataloguing antiques and finds with honest, museum-grade records.

More on metalwork

Identifying harness and horse fittings — Pendants, mounts, and buckles.

Identifying weights — Standardised mass, marked.

Identifying keys and locks — Bit, bow, and stem.

Identifying pins and needles — Head form and point.

Identifying mounts and fittings — Rivets, solder, and back.

Identifying buckles — The commonest metal-detecting find after coins — and surprisingly datable.

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