All About Pocket Knives

Close up pics will help.
Do you have a flat bed scanner?
They often take better pics than a camera and can be blown way up.

Dale

Unfortunately, I don't... I just ordered a new computer this week. I'm finally going to junk my 9 year old relic. A scanner should be my next thing to buy.

Epson brand flat bed scanners seem to have good depth of focus and take great pics of knives.
I have an Epson flatbed scanner and a HP scanner/printer. The HP is worthless to scan knives, but I am told the combination scanner/printers are only good for papers & photos.

Dale

Great collection knifegirl . Love the colour of old ivory s-k

Here is a pic of a knife I bought and installed ivory scales made from some old piano keys.Note the depth of the pattern which I believe is due to the extreme drying out of the ivory.I also got the ebony keys but haven't found a suitable knife to use them on for handles.

orvet wrote:Epson brand flat bed scanners seem to have good depth of focus and take great pics of knives.
I have an Epson flatbed scanner and a HP scanner/printer. The HP is worthless to scan knives, but I am told the combination scanner/printers are only good for papers & photos.

Dale

Dale,

Just an update... I asked Santa (Bret888) for a scanner for Christmas!

Great knives everyone, I just picked up this J Ward Bronxville. All Ivory, blade, handles and spring. Pins seem like NS. Knife has not snap although I only let it snap once!!

I will be posting more in a few days.

Mike

Nice find Mike;I especially like the way the ivory was cut so that the grain is nearly symmetrical.I'm going to be handling some smaller knives I have that have damaged scales and have a small quantity of ivory piano keys that have some great graining to them.

Here is one I did recently with the piano key tops.The grain is really raised due to the ivory drying out.

knifegirl888 wrote:

orvet wrote:Epson brand flat bed scanners seem to have good depth of focus and take great pics of knives.
I have an Epson flatbed scanner and a HP scanner/printer. The HP is worthless to scan knives, but I am told the combination scanner/printers are only good for papers & photos.

Dale

Dale,

Just an update... I asked Santa (Bret888) for a scanner for Christmas!

Santa came through! I am still learning how to work my scanner, but I love it so far.

Here is the quill knife that I am not sure about. It is pictured with my other knives above. I have seen pictures in other knife books that describe this as "old" ivory. I am just not sure though.

That may be spotted horn, knifegirl.
An old method of approximating the look of tortoise. It usually wasn't very close.
If it has a fine hair-like structure when magnified, it could be light colored, spotted horn; spotted with dye.

Here are some examples on Italian knives. It was done in Sheffield and America also, but rarely.

Upnorth,

Thanks so much for replying. You have such a beautiful collection.

I have other horn knives, but I am not sure if I am seeing a fine hair like grain with this one? I will have to have Bret look at it close. He notices things that I can't see at times.

If I can figure out how to get my scanner to do enhanced scans, I might be able to get a better picture of this one.

knifegirl888 wrote:Here is the quill knife that I am not sure about. It is pictured with my other knives above. I have seen pictures in other knife books that describe this as "old" ivory. I am just not sure though.

It is Celluloid.

Note the shrinkage around the Pins and the shrinkage where it meets the bolsters.


Nice little knife though

The smallest Ivory handle knife I have.

Unmarked 3/4" long closed.

This is such a cool little guy!

Knifegirl,
I think Miller Bro's may be right, though I would expect more shrinkage on such an old knife.
The material itself looks like some amber I have seen, but I don't know that amber shrinks.

Perhaps it is celluloid made to look like amber.
It is certainly a beauty!
I may have to put some amber on a small knife handle just to see how it looks.

Dale

Thanks for the info, guys!

here's a few pix's of my wifes collection - there are a few with ivory scales - - enjoy - tom

Here's a pix of the last of my elephant ivory - this chunk was 3 or 4 feet long when i started cutting scales from it many years ago - tom

not realy vintage but i built this one in about 1985 - i's been in my personal collection.

Tom,

That's a nice one! Thanks for sharing!

I got this little one this week.

Herbert Robinson & Co. Sheffield

knifegirl888 wrote:Tom,

That's a nice one! Thanks for sharing!

I got this little one this week.

Herbert Robinson & Co. Sheffield

got to love that long pull! very nice - tom

Waterville Mfg. Co., circa 1847-1855.

Not in bad shape for a 156+ year old knife

Bret & I got this one yesterday. The tang reads E D Beet, Sheffield. I couldn't find any pictures of knives by this maker, but I do see a listing for him here: http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ances ... tlers.html

1. H. Boker & Co Solingen 4 blade equal-end with ivory handles.

2. Henry Boker & Co ivory handled swell-center or bow-tie knife.