With the start of the holiday season, we've decided to revive our "Know Your Patterns" Series of posts!
For this post, we'll be focusing on the Melon Tester!
This is another pattern that has been out of production for a good bit, and with that it's difficult to find a lot of information on it. However, one thing is for certain: This knife was for testing fruits - go figure?
Just as the name would imply, it seems that historically, this knife was used for carving out a small piece from deep inside a fruit or meat product in order to test it's quality inside.
Also sometimes called a "Citrus Testor" or a "Sausage Tester," this knife is made on the Case #00 pattern, and typically measured 5 1/2" long (though other lengths have been seen between 4" and 6").
The knives themselves are a slim, single bolstered Jack knife, commonly featuring 1 long spear blade; however two blades were also produced featuring a serrated master blade, or a shorter spear secondary blade.
Case production of these knives dates back prior to the 40's, and then they measured only 4
5/8". The Melon Tester as we see it in the picture above didn't arrive until the late 50's and was produced up until the mid 70's.
The pattern was also brought back for a short time in the late 2000s. For this production run, it was made it various handle materials, as well as variations including two bolsters, different badges and even a center bolster.
This pattern is currently out of production and has become a rarity on the market.
Do you have a Melon Tester to show us? Share a picture in the comments!
See something not accurate? Let us know! We research each knife as thoroughly as possible, however we can admit when we make a mistake. So, if you see something is incorrect, we'd love to learn about it! It's all about education, right? Just post a comment with the correction and a link to the source!
