Rigging knives is another one of my passions. Interesting tidbit, in the old days, when a man got on a sailing ship, one of the first actions the captain did (not Chris!) was to have the tip broken off his knife - no need for his men to be stabbing each other. There are other benifits to the sheep foot blade and the most obvious is on a rolling deck you don't want people falling on their knives.
The last important part of this design is the way the knife was used to cut rope. (Except for cutting small stuff), the proper way to cut rope was to set the rope on a block of wood, then place the cutting edge of the knife on the rope. The man then would hit the back of the knife with a block of wood or wooden hammer. For this to work, the cutting edge of the blade must be straight and the back must be thick.
Granted the cattleman was originally made for land, however, I think if Randall had made it with a micarta handle, ss blade and pitched it as a rigging knife, he may have had many takers.
This is one that is missing from my collection but IS on the list.
Best, Bill
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Bill
RKS#5892
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