This is the Traditional-series clam knife: carbon steel rather than stainless, and a shaped beechwood handle held on with rivets rather than moulded polypropylene. Carbon steel will patina with use and wants drying after washing, and in exchange it sharpens keener and holds a working edge on shell.
Shuckers who prefer wood tend to prefer it for grip when wet and for the way the handle wears to the hand over years. The blade does the same job as the Sani-Safe clam knives — pry the hinge, run the shell, cut the muscle.
Dexter-Russell has made cutlery in Southbridge, Massachusetts since 1818, and its Traditional line preserves the wood-handled patterns the company built its name on.
