Anyone familiar with a "Lineman's Knife"?

Chris Railey

Chris Railey

Well-Known Member
My son's buddy is finishing up Lineman's School and is in need of a Lineman's knife. I want to surpirse him by making one. It looks to me like a hawkbill knife with a notch on the back used to strip wire. Is the notch sharpened at all or just left flat so it can grip wire that has had the insulation cut? My step dad was a Lineman his entire career and his lineman's knife I remember well. He wore it every day. It was a short straight blade with a blunt tip and a rubber handle. This must be the new generation's choice. Does anyone happen to have a pattern they want to share? This seems like a good candidate for stock removal. Thanks
 
Chris, Here's a photo of a typical "lineman's knife" being held in the hand. Note the curve on the back for the forefinger to lay in for better leverage while using the hawkbill to drag the knife down the cable cutting insulation. This is the typical "electrician's knife" I'm familiar with during the years I worked with my tools as an electrician. Some folks preferred the hawkbill,

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while other folks would prefer the blade below.
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KenH said:
Chris, Here's a photo of a typical "lineman's knife" being held in the hand. Note the curve on the back for the forefinger to lay in for better leverage while using the hawkbill to drag the knife down the cable cutting insulation. This is the typical "electrician's knife" I'm familiar with during the years I worked with my tools as an electrician. Some folks preferred the hawkbill,

View attachment 82279

while other folks would prefer the blade below.
View attachment 82280
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Ok, then I guess that is a hard no on sharpening the notch...That makes more sense to me. Thanks Ken.
 
Chris. Lineman’s knives have changed over the years. Due to laceration incidents, knives with sharp points fell out of favor. When I retired the typical lineman’s knife was more like this image. Hope this helps.
I have a friend who works in L&S, I’ll see if he can send me a photo.
EDBBD938-DFB5-43A1-8242-77FECD3BA0E3.png]
 
opaul said:
Things have changed since I retired. Here are the approved styles.
View attachment 82293
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The Klien is the exact shape my Step Dad carried everyday. That is what I thought my son's friend was talking about. I see the approved style has a rounded, non-cutting point. I think he wants the hawkbill type, more than likely because it is what is "in style" right now. Thanks guys.
 
@opaul I wonder if the guys doing the job like to have a sharpened point or if they actually prefer the rounded point. I know sometimes the approved version of a tool is not the preferred version. I am sure that transfers to Linework too. Any idea?
 
Chris Railey said:
@opaul I wonder if the guys doing the job like to have a sharpened point or if they actually prefer the rounded point. I know sometimes the approved version of a tool is not the preferred version. I am sure that transfers to Linework too. Any idea?
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Most likely the sharpened point for cutting through UG jacketed able. But it’s a safety violation.
 
opaul said:
Most likely the sharpened point for cutting through UG jacketed able. But it’s a safety violation.
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That's what I thought. I think I will make it sharp because if he wants me to I can round the tip off easily to comply with safety. It is kind of a surprise so I did not want to ask him. I am thinking full tang with rubber scales since it is a working knife. He is young though and may like a fancy looking handle over function at this point.
 
opaul said:
Chris. Lineman’s knives have changed over the years. Due to laceration incidents, knives with sharp points fell out of favor. When I retired the typical lineman’s knife was more like this image. Hope this helps.
I have a friend who works in L&S, I’ll see if he can send me a photo.
View attachment 82292]
Click to expand...

This is what we always called a Linemans knife when I was in the electronics business...
 
Chris Railey said:
That's what I thought. I think I will make it sharp because if he wants me to I can round the tip off easily to comply with safety. It is kind of a surprise so I did not want to ask him. I am thinking full tang with rubber scales since it is a working knife. He is young though and may like a fancy looking handle over function at this point.
Click to expand...
Might want to consider making it a hidden tang, just so you are not in contact with metal while a person uses it. Electricity potentially going through the tang, and such….
 
opaul said:
Chris. Lineman’s knives have changed over the years. Due to laceration incidents, knives with sharp points fell out of favor. When I retired the typical lineman’s knife was more like this image. Hope this helps.
I have a friend who works in L&S, I’ll see if he can send me a photo.
View attachment 82292]
Click to expand...
Thats the style I prefer for working with wire.

Sent from my Champion Forge using Tapatalk
 
I second the recommendation to make hidden tangs. The commercial models are simple stick-tang knives and that's all they need to be. The Electrician is going to choke up on them like a paring knife and draw-cut with them to separate the jacket of the wire.

Lineman's knives are kind of what got me into making knives. My hobby was sharpening, which led me to reconditioning old knives... which turned into re-handling knives. To be honest, a guy could run a very successful side-gig doing nothing but putting new handles on existing knives, and it wouldn't require a whole lot of expensive tools.

So before I was a knife maker proper, I had electrician friends who had me make these for them. I'd buy Jameson lineman's knives and grind off the rubber handle and replace it with a handmade wood handle. The other sparkies would go ga-ga over them and I had all handle business I wanted. Looking back on them, I can immediately tell that I was inexperienced- but people liked them nonetheless.

Here are the first two I ever made. Don't overthink it. If these two amateur-hour examples made customers happy, just imagine what you could do.

thumbnail_IMG_6015.jpgthumbnail_IMG_6013.jpg
 
Edwardshandmadeknives said:
Might want to consider making it a hidden tang, just so you are not in contact with metal while a person uses it. Electricity potentially going through the tang, and such….
Click to expand...
I actually thought about that until I saw the pictures of the approved versions. They are full tang folders. Good advice is good advice though so I will make it a hidden tang and I am really thinking on making the short straight blade for him because I remember my first real karambit. It had a really sharp (hawkbill claw type) point. I cut myself multiple times with that knife in the first 20 minutes I had it.
 
Edwardshandmadeknives said:
Might want to consider making it a hidden tang, just so you are not in contact with metal while a person uses it. Electricity potentially going through the tang, and such….
Click to expand...
Ok so I am down to designing this thing and I decided to do a hidden tang. Now my question is, should I not pin the handle at all? The brass/copper/nickel/ss pin is going to conduct current if it is introduced via the blade. John did you just epoxy the ones you made?
 
Chris Railey said:
Ok so I am down to designing this thing and I decided to do a hidden tang. Now my question is, should I not pin the handle at all? The brass/copper/nickel/ss pin is going to conduct current if it is introduced via the blade. John did you just epoxy the ones you made?
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Micarta or g10 could make a pretty decent pin if you decide to pin it.
 
KenH said:
With hidden tangs epoxy should hold just fine if you put a few notches in the tang before epoxying. Think about a Wa handle - ever see those pined?
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I have taken off some handles (hidden tang) held on with nothing but epoxy. You cannot remove them without destroying the handles completely. I personally would use one with nothing but epoxy without hesitation although I always use mechanical fasteners now.
 
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