The Okapi is a ratchet-lock clasp or

slipjoint A slipjoint knife is one of the most ubiquitous types of pocketknives. A slipjoint knife consists of a handle with one or more folding blades. These blades are held in position by a strong "backspring" which biases them towards the open and close ...

knife originally produced in 1902 for export to Germany's colonies in Africa. The knife takes its name from the giraffe-like central African

okapi The okapi (; ''Okapia johnstoni''), also known as the forest giraffe, Congolese giraffe, or zebra giraffe, is an artiodactyl mammal that is endemic to the northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa. It is the only species i ...

. 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 Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...

or stainless steel blades, with or without serrations. The most commonly found Okapi knives in Africa are made of resin impregnated wood (usually

cherry A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The nam ...

) and the blades are made of 1055 carbon steel. Well known around the world but especially in Jamaica as badman/gangster knives or ratchet.

Use

Okapi knives are mainly used by working-class people due to being very affordable and, while crude in appearance, are robust knives. Use can range from harvesting crops, self-defense, hunting, fishing, or general knife duty. Okapi knives are very popular in Southern Africa, but have a rather nefarious reputation as they are associated with criminals and street gangs. 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 favored of the " ratchet knives" carried by

rude boy Rude boy, rudeboy, rudie, rudi, and rudy are slang terms that originated in 1960s Jamaican street culture, and that are still used today. In the late 1970s, there was a revival in England of the terms ''rude boy'' and ''rude girl'', among other ...

s and are also known as the "3 star ratchet."

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...

of the

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

was known to carry for years a large Okapi lockback he was given in Jamaica.

References

External links

Okapi Knives
South African culture South African English Defunct companies of Germany {{Knife-stub