A clam knife is built to pry, not to slice. This one has a short, wide, stiff blade with a rounded tip so it can be driven between shell halves and twisted without the blade flexing or the point breaking off. The Sani-Safe handle is textured for grip with wet hands.
It is for shucking hard-shell clams — quahogs, cherrystones, littlenecks — where the hinge has to be forced and then the adductor cut. The wide blade suits larger shells; the blunt tip is what keeps you from puncturing the meat or your palm.
Dexter-Russell has manufactured cutlery in Southbridge, Massachusetts since 1818, and has supplied the New England shellfish trade for generations.
