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To my eye, in the Smith's key photo, it looks like a mechanical pencil. The point is tapered too much to be a cylindrical punch, also it is longer than the punch you have shown and appears to have grooves above the point which would give you a better grip when using it.
I'd guess it's about the same length, given the angle in Mason's photo. The grooves are probably just pencil lines in the drawing. It'd also make more sense to have a leather punch on a sporting knife, where you'd find leather straps and buckles on things like riding tackle, and it looks way too short for even a stub pencil.Miller Bro's wrote: ↑Tue Mar 21, 2023 8:19 am To my eye, in the Smith's key photo, it looks like a mechanical pencil. The point is tapered too much to be a cylindrical punch, also it is longer than the punch you have shown and appears to have grooves above the point which would give you a better grip when using it.
I agree that he most likely was talking about the type of knife... but he was also oddly specific about naming the implements such knives had, which is what's got me so interested. They're all working mans' tools, rather than those of a gentleman (or woman), which I feel has relevance to the fact that he's using them to describe a working man.Dinadan wrote: ↑Tue Mar 21, 2023 1:33 am Very interesting thread. I do not have any knowledge about the subject, but I liked seeing the comments and photos. When I read the Melville quote, I had the impression that he was making a generalization about a kind of knife, not necessarily describing a specific knife.
Yes, you are correct. That small hand drawn picture in Smith's book could be mistaken for having a mechanical pencil rather than a cylindrical punch, but that's not the case. Mechanical pencils were much longer to house the thin round lead. Enclosed is a picture showing both folding implements on the same knife with the mechanical pencil on the left, and the cylindrical punch on the right. Similar looking, but quite different in actuality.Tasky wrote: ↑Tue Mar 21, 2023 11:43 amI'd guess it's about the same length, given the angle in Mason's photo. The grooves are probably just pencil lines in the drawing. It'd also make more sense to have a leather punch on a sporting knife, where you'd find leather straps and buckles on things like riding tackle, and it looks way too short for even a stub pencil.Miller Bro's wrote: ↑Tue Mar 21, 2023 8:19 am To my eye, in the Smith's key photo, it looks like a mechanical pencil. The point is tapered too much to be a cylindrical punch, also it is longer than the punch you have shown and appears to have grooves above the point which would give you a better grip when using it.
I agree that he most likely was talking about the type of knife... but he was also oddly specific about naming the implements such knives had, which is what's got me so interested. They're all working mans' tools, rather than those of a gentleman (or woman), which I feel has relevance to the fact that he's using them to describe a working man.Dinadan wrote: ↑Tue Mar 21, 2023 1:33 am Very interesting thread. I do not have any knowledge about the subject, but I liked seeing the comments and photos. When I read the Melville quote, I had the impression that he was making a generalization about a kind of knife, not necessarily describing a specific knife.
It is this which makes me think all of these were real tools on real pocket knives... somehow and somewhere!!
I did also chance upon this bit-holder with a countersink: https://www.tooltique.co.uk/shop/antiqu ... it-holder/
Clearly a hand-turned countersink, it makes me wonder if any pocket-knives featured sockets for similar usage, in the same way some Wenger Ranger knives had 6mm hex sockets for modern screwdriver bits?
