The pocket knife has come a long way as a handy tool for a variety of people, whether it be for hunters, soldiers or well, me. In fact, one of the first items that men carried was the pocket knife, dating back to 600 BC in Austria. Stripped of the various styles and functions it has today, the earliest pocket knives were composed of a single blade with a bone handle. The Romans then used this rudimentary model to implement the knife’s first function: opening and closing. Using friction and pressure from the hand, these “friction folders” grew popular until the next development. In the 17th Century, the penny knife, also known as the “peasant knife” became the first widely used tool in history and the later invented slipjoint knife allowed the knife to remain open. The 18th and 19th Century was a period of rapid growth in this industry, giving rise to most of the famous knives we know of today: the butterfly knife from the Philippines, the switchblade from England, and the Swiss Army knife from Switzerland. Perhaps the most refined knives of the 21th Century, however, are praised for its sly nature – whether hidden in ballpoint pens or disguised as credit cards. This credit card knife is sleek and discreet, tucked in wallets yet capable of so much.
