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History of the Folding Knife

A folding knife has at least one blade that fits inside its handle, allowing the knife to be carried easily and safely in a pocket and giving it the moniker “pocket knife.” The typical blade length of a folding knife is to 2 to 6 inches. Two main varieties of folding knife exist: the slipjoint knife, with which the blade does not lock into place once opened, and the lock knife, which does lock into place when opened.

Oldest Folding Knife
- The oldest known example of a folding knife was found in Hallstatt, Austria, and dates to the early iron age, about 600 to 500 B.C., making folding knives at least 2,600 years old. That knife has a bone handle and a single iron blade. Little is known about its use or popularity, but it proves that folding knives are not a modern innovation.
Multi-Blade Folding Knife
- About 1,800 years before Karl Elsener conceived of a Swiss Army Knife, the Romans used multi-blade folding knives to cook dinner. One such recovered specimen is on display at Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam museum. Made of silver, it includes not only a knife blade but a spoon, fork, spatula, toothpick and spike that some experts think was used to pull meat out of snails or mussels. It seems to have been more of a cooking tool than an arsenal. In addition to the silver knife, several bronze versions have been recovered. They’re not as complex as the silver knife, but the survival and recovery of several examples could mean they were a popular tool.
Locking Folding Knife
- The navaja is a type of folding knife used in Spain today, but it’s been around since at least the 15th century. It had a clasp locking mechanism containing a post-in-groove design to strength the clasp lock. Because it had a series of posts that moved through the clasp, it made a distinct clicking sound as it was opened. This sound became a famous signature of the knife.
Swiss Army Knife
- Probably the most well-known type of folding knife, the Swiss Army Knife was created in 1897 by Victorinox company founder Karl Elsener. He got the idea to make it when he learned that most of the Swiss Army’s knives were made in Germany. For Elsener, the knife was a way to bring jobs and industrial business into Switzerland. It is now available in more than 100 models. The largest model has 33 features.
Buck Knife
- Created in 1902 by Hoyt Buck, buck knives began to achieve their real popularity in World War II. Military personnel liked the knives because they could be used to perform a variety of tasks. In the 1960s, Buck Knives popularized an innovative lock knife that used a lock-back mechanism. This mechanism was easy to release but still locked in place when the blade was fully extended. Buck’s lock-back knife was so popular that “buck knife” became the name for lock-back knives regardless of the manufacturer.

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