Okapi (knife)

The Okapi is a lockback or slipjoint knife originally produced in 1902 for export to Germany's colonies in Africa. The knife takes its name from the okapi.

The Okapi knives are no longer produced in Germany; in 1988, Okapi South Africa (then trading as All Round Tooling) bought the trademark and tooling and began producing the Okapi line of knives in South Africa. The South African Okapi lockback knives are produced with carbon or stainless steel blades, with or without serrations. The most commonly found Okapi knives in Africa are made of resin impregnated wood (usually cherry) and the blades are made of 1055 carbon steel.

Use

Due to the use of Okapis by criminals they have been nicknamed "the Saturday night special" of knives. In Jamaica, they are both a tool and one of the more favoured of the "ratchet knives" carried by rude boys.^[1] Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones was known to carry for years a large Okapi lockback he was given in Jamaica.^{[citation needed]}

External links

Okapi Knives

References

^ Stephen Davis (1985). Bob Marley. Schenkman Books. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-87047-045-5. Retrieved 14 August 2012. - The major emblem of the rudie was his ratchet, a curved German gravity knife (Okapi was a favorite brand)

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[Davis1985-1] Stephen Davis (1985). Bob Marley. Schenkman Books. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-87047-045-5. Retrieved 14 August 2012. - The major emblem of the rudie was his ratchet, a curved German gravity knife (Okapi was a favorite brand)

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