Early pocketknives were the multi-tools of their day. Many were named because of their specific use in certain occupations. One such knife is the doctor’s knife. They had a characteristic shape that was easily recognizable and had very specific uses to the physician’s profession.
Back when doctors routinely made house calls, they usually carried a knife as one of their main tools in their bag. This particular type of knife was based on a jack knife frame with very characteristic flat bolsters. This flat rear bolster was quite often used as an aid to grind pills into a powder.
Most doctor’s knives have a spear and pen blade, sometimes referred to as “baby docs”, while other larger versions had a “spatula” type blade instead of the pen blade. This spatula blade was often used as an aid in the mixing of poultices. The spear blade was quite often used as backup for their scalpel.
Got “baby doc” in your FAK?
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