All About Pocket Knives

Here's my small collection of ink erasers. Top to bottom; Eastern Kodak Company, No maker stamp, Miller Bros.,Rogers Cut to her Majesty, Utica Cut., Henckles, Rogers Cut to her Maj., Bell system, Miller Bros. 2nd picture; Japan, Harrison Bros and Howson, Bainbridge 0r Cainbridge (stamp missing first letter), Miller Bros, J.Rogers and Sons, 6 Norfolk St.,unmarked, and Rogers Cut to His Majesty, ___Dave

I had no idea what those were.....now I do.

So, they didn't actually erase, they scraped?

I have a few "Ink Erasers" that I posted here on aapk back on Sept 2, 2016.

My Ink Eraser collection link is below:

Surprisingly, for years now, many auction sellers list these as a "Civil War Fleam Bloodletting Tool" (Which they are not).

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=48591&p=522032&hil ... rs#p522032

Dan

Yeah, I've seen them in antique shops marked as medical tools. Some knives have spey shaped blades that actually are for scraping ink, most notably the little WW1 issued jacks made by a number of companies. I have one of those made by Cattaraugus I should have included in this post. The paper back in the early 1900's was more coarse so the ink could be scratched off to make a correction instead of painted over like secretary's do or did with their little bottles with those little brushes in them. I also collect box openers that drug stores used to use to open cigar boxes, and many of the antique dealers don't know what they are either. I'll have to dig them out and post them on a separate thread. ___Dave

djknife13 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 1:21 am Here's my small collection of ink erasers.

Nice pile of erasers, Dave !

The first one in the top row might not be an ink eraser. It's marked Kodak so it might be for trimming paper or maybe for both trimming and correcting writing.___Dave

I thought they were originally used to remove ink from vellum.

Decades ago when I was taking technical drawing (drafting) classes we created vellum drawings, by hand using ink. These drawings were tracings of the original paper drawings, which were done in pencil. The vellum-and-ink transparencies were used to create blueprints. If (when ) you made a mistake the ink had to be scraped off so the lines or printing could be re-drawn.

Eventually those manually created vellum transparencies and eventually blueprints were made using photographic equipment. That was in the days before desktop computers (CAD) replaced draftsmen. And hence the end of ink erasing knives.

Prior to that I suspect, in the days of ink bottles and quill pens the ink erasing knives were used to erase mistakes. I’m old, but not that old!

Ken

I got a BS degree in drafting and wood working to teach in high schools back in the late 60's and I vaguely remember inking drawings but don't remember how we corrected mistakes. I know we didn't use ink erasers, and I'm sure we made mistakes but don't for the life of me remember what we did with them.____Dave

djknife13 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 11:54 am The first one in the top row might not be an ink eraser. It's marked Kodak so it might be for trimming paper or maybe for both trimming and correcting writing.___Dave

That is part of an old manicure set. Small knife blade on one end & a cuticle pusher on the other. I've posted pics before in other forums here with them.

Samoa scrapers.

Here is an old ink erasure with a cover.

Someone unfortunately sharpened it assuming, I suppose, it was a cutting tool of some kind.

A cool one Joe.

That's a nice one. Can't count the times I've seen them labeled, "Civil War Scalpel" in antique shops. I've seen them claimed to be "found on the (pick one) battlefield". I was in a local shop and the vendor was putting stuff in his case and I very politely explained to him what the item was. He just didn't believe me, I guess, and a year later the eraser is still there with the same "scalpel" tag and priced at $35. J.O'.