How'd I do, honey?

[Marshwheeling]

My wife picked up this knife at Goodwill for ten bucks. The blade is about four inches, and the knife is about eight inches overall. The edge has been buggered on a grinder, but it is sharp.

The left side of the blade is stamped with "L. Fortenbach Munchen" (with an umlaut, of course. on the other side, the ricasso is stamped "Solingen".

The sheath holds the blade quite snugly. There is an inner liner of leather, and a thin layer of sheet metal between the layers of leather. The brass snap on the sheath is embossed with the letters "NOE".

My first pass at searching the net does not turn up much, just a similar knife, somewhat smaller, described as a fishing knife.

What has she got here? As always, sorry about the crappy cell phone pics.

 

[Paul Tummers]

What you got there is called a "Nicker" , a small German traditional hunting knife for the roe-deer hunter. It is called a Nicker because one of its purposes is to kill a wounded roe-deer by bending int head into the direction of the chest and then slide the knife from the back between two parts of the backbone just below the scull and cutting the nerve bundle that is in there. Then the knife is used to do the rest of the work; opening the body and clean all the guts etc out of it- sorry for my bad english.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I bought a similar one 10 or 15 years ago at a pawn shop in Ky. foe $35, so I think you did all right. Ivan

 

[model70hunter]

I have a couple of No name solingen steel small hunting knives that were bought for a buck or 2 at yard sales close to Ft. Leonard Wood, MO. Probably GI bring backs from the PX. I do know that they will hold a great edge when sharpened on an oil stone and stropped on a razor strap.

I don't need them but if I ran across one like your wife I would have bought it. If you are going to use the knife take a small file and carefully straighten out the blade and angle. I have done this on many mis-sharpened knives. I then use a medium oil stone until it is very sharp and then use a fine stone.

I keep the file close as possible to a 90 degree angle to the knifes edge, this keeps it smooth and with out file marks.

Congrats, tell her she did extra fine.

 

[Texas Star]

If the grinder didn't destroy the temper, you can restore the edge as was described. The pitting looks awful, but doesn't affect function.

I think the name from Munchen (Munich) was probably the retailer. Manufacture was in Solingen, the famed cutlery city in the Ruhr.

I like this knife's design. Nice pommel and real stag handle. The sheath looks pretty good.

Thanks to Paul in The Netherlands for the description as to how the nicker is used to kill roebuck. (Rhebok) I'd always wondered why this style is called a nicker.

 

[Mule Packer]

My grandfather gave me one very similar when I was around twelve. The spine on the blade was a little more ornate, but the style is almost identical. One of my sons has it now. A classic style of knife. Congrats on your find.

 

[Marshwheeling]

Dank U wel voor de verlichting, Paul, and thanks to the rest of you gentlemen as well. As usual, this forum exceeds expectations, or perhaps better said, lives up to them.

 

[Richard Simmons]

Interesting. My first thought was that someone had taken the knife from a carving set, (knife and fork for Thanksgiving and holiday meals) and shortened the blade and added a sheath.