All About Pocket Knives

I bought this at the flea market today. About 12 3/8" overall, the Ivory is about 8 1/2". A couple stamps on the handle and a tang stamp I have never seen before. The guy said someone told him it was a Pastry chef knife.I would like to hear any ideas you have.

I believe the ivory is a shoe horn. Be careful it is easy to break. I had a similar knife and tried to use the shoe horn and it broke right about mid shaft.
Or it could be a Doctor's knife with tongue depressor
kj

My guess would be that it is was made to separate pages in a book. I remember Bernard Levine explaining old book pages were often not cut apart, and such a "tool" was used.

Case V42 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 09, 2022 10:59 am My guess would be that it is was made to separate pages in a book. I remember Bernard Levine explaining old book pages were often not cut apart, and such a "tool" was used.

That would be my assessment. Library knife.

The ivory 'spuds' used to split pages in a book are much shorter than the 8" on the OP knife.
kj

I suppose one could frost a cake with it.

It looks like it is curved in cross section towards the end, the same profile as in a shoe horn.
kj

It doesn't curve at all like on a shoe horn, it's flat.

knifegnome wrote: ↑Sun Jan 09, 2022 10:30 pm It doesn't curve at all like on a shoe horn, it's flat.

O.K. i thought it looked 'dished' in the picture. The one i had was 'dished' at the end.
Being flat in cross section means it likely is for cutting between pages in old books as has been stated above. I should of asked about the end being dished or flat before i posted.
kj

kootenay joe wrote: ↑Sun Jan 09, 2022 8:32 pm The ivory 'spuds' used to split pages in a book are much shorter than the 8" on the OP knife.
kj

Not necessarily, smaller books used smaller paper-knives, which is what the OP knife is, which has been mentioned above.

Paper knives are not letter openers, they were specifically designed for opening the pages of some new books. The edges come to a even edge but are not sharp, in fact if you use a sharp knife to cut the pages open you will have a jagged edge.

Letter openers have a more acute point to get into the small space at the end of an envelope unlike a paper-knife which has a noticeably wider end.

Attached is a copy of a catalog page for paper-knives.

Here are two ivory tusk paper knives similar to the one seen in the catalog cut MB posted. The larger of the rwo is over 15" long.

btrwtr wrote: ↑Mon Jan 10, 2022 8:13 pm Here are two ivory tusk paper knives similar to the one seen in the catalog cut MB posted. The larger of the rwo is over 15" long.

Wow!

doglegg wrote: ↑Mon Jan 10, 2022 9:09 pm

btrwtr wrote: ↑Mon Jan 10, 2022 8:13 pm Here are two ivory tusk paper knives similar to the one seen in the catalog cut MB posted. The larger of the rwo is over 15" long.

Wow!

Double WOW .
This Forum never ceases to Amaze me . Good Conversations and So much knowledge .
Never heard of a Knife for this till this Post .
Thanks much to All here .Great Post

btrwtr wrote: ↑Mon Jan 10, 2022 8:13 pm Here are two ivory tusk paper knives similar to the one seen in the catalog cut MB posted. The larger of the rwo is over 15" long.

Gorgeous piece of ivory there. What a show, thanks for the pics and great info. Never seen that kind of thing before. Thanks again.

Ripster wrote: ↑Mon Jan 10, 2022 9:15 pm

doglegg wrote: ↑Mon Jan 10, 2022 9:09 pm

btrwtr wrote: ↑Mon Jan 10, 2022 8:13 pm Here are two ivory tusk paper knives similar to the one seen in the catalog cut MB posted. The larger of the rwo is over 15" long.

Wow!

Double WOW .
This Forum never ceases to Amaze me . Good Conversations and So much knowledge .
Never heard of a Knife for this till this Post .
Thanks much to All here .Great Post

I had never heard of this either. If I had one of those I probably would be spreading peanut butter on my toast with it. Live and learn on AAPK.

OLDE CUTLER wrote: ↑Mon Jan 10, 2022 10:40 pm

Ripster wrote: ↑Mon Jan 10, 2022 9:15 pm

doglegg wrote: ↑Mon Jan 10, 2022 9:09 pm

Wow!

Double WOW .
This Forum never ceases to Amaze me . Good Conversations and So much knowledge .
Never heard of a Knife for this till this Post .
Thanks much to All here .Great Post

I had never heard of this either. If I had one of those I probably would be spreading peanut butter on my toast with it. Live and learn on AAPK.

Sounds like the perfect plan!

It could be a grafting knife. Schrade made a smaller one with one blade.
It had a ivory end to hold the root stock open to insert the graft.
(Could be wrong . Lets say I took a different root I mean route )

Grant

Another WOW! J.O'.

When you’ve been on this forum long enough you learn to trust the people that usually know.

I have this George Wostenholm knife that I thought was a grafting knife, not I'm not so sure. It is ivory with a 3 inch blade and is 4" closed, 6" open. It looks a little fragile for a bark separator. so maybe it is a Library knife, what are your opinions?

Terry: I'd go with budding/grafting on that one. J.O'.

Ridgegrass wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 4:01 pm Terry: I'd go with budding/grafting on that one. J.O'.

Agreed it's a budding/grafting knife.

terryl308 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 3:18 pm I have this George Wostenholm knife that I thought was a grafting knife, not I'm not so sure. It is ivory with a 3 inch blade and is 4" closed, 6" open. It looks a little fragile for a bark separator. so maybe it is a Library knife, what are your opinions?

That one looks like a budding knife. The “bark separator” does not have to be substantial as it just holds the bark flap open while the graft is inserted. The knife blade does the heavier work of cutting the bark. Typically the graft is made on young, more tender new growth, not hardened bark. viewtopic.php?f=4&t=72709&p=957860&hili ... ng#p957860

The OP knife is not a budding knife. Dimitri knows.

Ken

thanks guys, I'll stick with a grafting/budding knife. Terry