Monday, February 21, 2011

Niggling in the back of my mind is the thought that I've seen a pocket knife like this before and know the purpose of the spike, but for the life of me I can't remember. Anybody have a clue? I doubt mayhem is the original purpose.












Update: Leather punch?
Update: Marlin Spike
Posted by kahr40 at 10:07 PM
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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The "spike" is a miniature of the Marlin Spike used by sailors to splice rope and wire cable.

The small spike is useful when splicing for the rigging of small pleasure sailboats.

Hans

February 22, 2011 at 12:14 AM
kahr40 said...

I went looking on the net but you beat me to it.

Camillus Knives, CM-697 U.S. Navy Marlin Spike, Plain Edge

Thanks

February 22, 2011 at 12:35 AM
Sean D Sorrentino said...

yep, Marlinspike.

February 22, 2011 at 6:30 AM
Anonymous said...

A marlin is a fish. Marline is light twine, usually tarred, used for siezings, light lashing and service on older style sailing vessels. It's a marlinespike.

February 26, 2011 at 8:10 AM
Wolf5013 said...

The spike is to splice lines, make an eye for a mooring lines, etc.

February 26, 2011 at 11:46 AM
Unknown said...

Camillus is out of business. Lots of knife + marlinespikes out there but if you are trying to buy one like this, try "Colonial". They too have been bought up in the recent past, but I believe you can still get this model. And for the uninitiated the lanyard attach point is called a "shackle key"

March 1, 2011 at 5:26 PM
Pmfarm said...

Actually, both spellings are correct. Like many words in the English language, they have morphed over time, like dropping or adding letters. In the 1700s, it was spelled “marlinespike”, in the 1900’s it was spelled “marlinspike”. Function is the same, pronunciation is the same, spelling changed.

June 6, 2020 at 9:44 AM

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