This Gorgeous Vintage Fishing Knife Does Things I Know Not Of

This Gorgeous Vintage Fishing Knife Does Things I Know Not Of


We stumbled upon this German, vintage, Puma, folding fisherman’s knife on eBay and we can’t take our eyes off it. But, er, we’re not even entirely sure what all of the little design elements do. We’re not fishermen, but lets take a closer look.

Here’s a look at the stainless steel knife unfolded. The blade iss curved for gutting. We’re assuming that big circular lump is to smack the fish you just caught over the head until it’s dead. This knife is not for the catch-and-release fisherman.


In this close-up of the knife’s blade you can see that the top side of the knife is lightly serrated for scaling your catch. See those little numbers indicating weights in kilograms? It also appears that the knife works as some kind of hanging scale.


Man if only we had $US242.50 to spare we’d bid right away, even if we’re not really sure what we’re looking at. It’s just so beautiful. What details are we missing? [eBay]

Update: It turns out that Puma still makes this knife. Gizmodo reader Definedivine points out that Puma still makes this knife. It’s called the Sportsfisher Messer and it costs $190. Oh, and it’s unbelievably beautiful.

As for the ball at the end, it turns out it’s not for killing the fish — it’s a counterweight for the scale. As Giz reader redoubtable1 notes:

My guess to determine weight you have the knife unfolded and suspended from the leather thong. Then you would hang the fish from a loop of line on the serrated edge. When the knife balanced you’d have your weight by looking at the number where your the fish dangled.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t use it to kill the fish, right?


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