The Arkansas toothpick is a heavy dagger

Dagger

A dagger is a fighting knife with a sharp point designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon. The design dates to human prehistory, and daggers have been used throughout human experience to the modern day in close combat confrontations...

 with a 12–20 in (30.5–50.8 cm) pointed, straight blade. The knife is balanced and weighted for throwing and can be used for thrusting and slashing. James Black, known as the inventor of the Bowie knife

Bowie knife

A Bowie knife is a pattern of fixed-blade fighting knife first popularized by Colonel James "Jim" Bowie in the early 19th Century. Since the first incarnation was created by James Black, the Bowie knife has come to incorporate several recognizable and characteristic design features, although its...

, is credited with inventing the Arkansas toothpick.

Some sources use Arkansas toothpick as a synonym for the Bowie knife, as opposed to the image of a large dagger.

Legal status

Although many jurisdictions worldwide have knife legislation regulating the length of a blade or the dagger-like profile of the Arkansas toothpick that one may own or carry, certain locales in the United States have legislation mentioning the "Arkansas Toothpick" in particular. These laws were passed in the late 1830s, in Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia as an attempt to prevent dueling.