Potato knife

The Wikipedia article on Spike Milligan says

What the heck is a potato knife? I am not familiar with that term. Googling it shows a variety of objects, such as vegetable peelers, knives with wavy blades to cut french fries, and even knives made out of potatoes, as well as more conventional knives of various shapes. But the writer of the wiki article seemed to think the reader would understand what type of knife is meant. Is “potato knife” a British term that my google-fu is not strong enough to identify?

I’m English, 65 years old (and a fan of the Goons. :cool: )

I don’t recognise ‘potato knife’ as a specific object.
Given that we’re not keen on weapons in this country, I suggest it was an old-fashioned kitchen utensil used to peel potatoes i.e. a handle leading to a u-shaped blade with a hole to allow the peel to pass through.

Potato peeler

A potato peeler doesn’t seem like a good choice to kill someone.

Spike Milligan was a comedic genius who sadly suffered from bipolar disorder.
So his choice of ‘weapon’ was not necessarily rational. (A potato peeler can still do damage.)

~Never bring a potato knife to a potato gun fight.~

It’s probably just another word for a paring knife, which is often used to peel potatoes. As seen in many cartoons and movies with soldiers doing KP duty.

I wonder if it might refer to this specific kind of paring knife with the reverse curved blade. Such blades are used almost exclusively for doing intricate peeling and shaping of hard veggies-----like potatoes.

Just a guess.

This is a potato peeler which I guess could be called a knife. A potato peeler should have that pointed, tubular tip to cut out the eyes in a quick Stab N Twirl.

Commonly, that blade shape is called a hawksbill.

CMC fnord!