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Today we're going to discuss a wildly popular patter, the Sowbelly!
In most recent years, this pattern has been highly associated with legendary knife maker Tony Bose, thus increasing it's appeal to collectors.
However, the pattern actually date back to the early 1900s! Prior to 1964, it was known as a Banana Knife, and measured 4 3/4" long. It did not have bolsters, and featured only one blade; a Hawkbill, and only came in one handle type - Walnut.
The first knives to be called "Sowbelly" were of the same nature as the Banana Knife, but smaller - measuring just 3 3/4" and produced on pattern #39. These were produced until the 1940s.
Case reintroduced the pattern in 2002, though slightly larger, this time on a 3 7/8" frame.
Both the older and new versions typically featured 3 blades: a clip master blade, a sheepfoot blade, and a spey blade.
A five blade version has also been produced, featuring: a clip master blade, a sheepfoot, a spey, a short clip, and a pen blade. Though these are far less common.
Due to the Tony Bose link, and high collectiblity, the Sowbelly is still in production today, and can be found in a fairly wide variety of handle materials.
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