Clasp knife

“ It is very sharp at the point, and the fact of being made from the finest Razor Steel, Hand Forged, Nickel Plated, makes it a very durable knife for Carpenters, Farmers, or Wood-Workers. Price 75 cents.
“GOOD LUCK” KNIFE.
Given for new subscriptions amounting to 50 cents and 15 cents cash additional.
This is our Good Luck Knife; the cheapest and best ever made. It has two strong, hand-forged, razor steel blades; German silver bolsters; is brass lined; cocoa handle, round corners. This is a genuine “Boys” Knife, but is made from better material than most of the boys’ knives. ”

“ The housewife’s best method of sharpening or rather keeping the edges straight and keenly cutting is the steel. When the knife really gets dull it should be ground. The use of the stone or carborundum by the ordinary operator often wears the steel. However, if the use of the grinder or the stone or the carborundum is really known, time and money will be saved in the sharpening process. Sharp knives save temper, save food to a great degree, and therefore if you can’t sharpen knives yourself send them out to be taken care of once or twice a year. ”

“ I have seen flint knives in outline very like Fig. 240 in the museums at Cracow, Moscow, and Kiev. Some are highly polished by friction and may have served as sickles.
It is difficult to assign any definite use to the British form of knife, but as the curvature is evidently intentional, and as probably it was more difficult to chip out such curved blades than it would have been to make them straight, there must have been some advantage resulting from the form. As both edges of the blade are sharp, it is hard to say whether the convex or concave edge was the principal object. ”

“ The last operation to which the knife is subjected is that of stropping, and as the blade should be stropped after every section, it becomes important that our tools should be good and that we should know how to use them. By having two or three knives we can always avoid grinding and honing the blades ourselves, for it is then easy to hire the work done, and half a dozen knives will last a careful worker a long time with merely the aid of a good strop. ”

“ It should have a handle easy to grasp, a long, thin, sharp, pointed blade, and be of a size adapted to the article to be carved and to the person using it. A lady or a child will prefer a small knife. Be as particular to have the knife sharp as to have it bright and clean; and always sharpen it before announcing the dinner. It is very annoying for a person to be obliged to wait and sharpen the knife, or to turn the meat round to get it into the right position. Never allow a carving-knife to be used to cut bread, or for any other than its legitimate purpose. ”

“ Fr. canif is also of Teutonic origin) , a small cutting instrument, with the blade either fixed to the handle or fastened with a hinge so as to clasp into the handle (see Cutlery) . For the knives chipped from flint by prehistoric man see Archaeology and Flint Implements. ”

“ In the purchase of a pocket knife, choose one that is small enough to be a constant companion; one, or at most two blades will be found sufficient for one handle. A very convenient description of knife is to be met with in most hardware shops. The handle is straight and flat. A stout stick-cutting blade is at one end of the haft, and a strong scalpel-shaped pen blade at the other. The miniature tool chests sold under the name of pocket knives to emigrants are jacks of all trades in their way, having all sorts of supposed capabilities, associated with a general tendency to uselessness. ”

“ These knives are usually about eighteen inches long, with a broad, sharp, murderous blade. The handles are of tortoise or ivory, often carved richly, or inlaid with figures of the Virgin, the Saviour, or the crucifix. The knife is kept open by a curious little wheel, between blade and handle, and is used indiscriminately, to slice a melon or lay bare a quarrelsome neighbor’s heart. ”

“ With knives like the corrugated types, there are often metal wire handles drawn out on them. The corrugations on these blades are to obviate tearing and reduce, some think, the pressure necessary in cutting.
Handles themselves are made of various things,—woods, rubberoid, celluloid, metals, stag and in the case of table knives, mother-of-pearl, shell, silver over nickel, etc.
The kitchen knife handle must be able to stand all heats, be impervious to hot water, be smooth and comfortable in shape, and must be nicely finished so as to give the worker a feeling of worth-whileness in his job. ”

“ Some persons prefer to turn the knife over, drawing it first from the left hand and then toward it, sharpening each surface alternately on the same edge of the steel. This is more difficult to do, as you cannot so surely keep the blade at the same angle,—and this is the most important point. If held at any other than the proper angle, either no edge is made, or it is taken off as soon as obtained. ”

“ A sharp knife is found to be a very decisive method of settling all controversies, whatever may be their nature. These knives, which are sold in the shops avowedly for the purpose for which they are used, are very formidable instruments, with blades from three inches to a foot and a half in length, and with this inscription engraved thereon, "Soi sola para defender el onor." ”

“ Grinding (fig. 2) is necessary because new knives are not usually sold in a form sharp enough for immediate use. The stone should be water, or oil-cooled to avoid overheating the knife. The blade should not be ground back more than 1⁄4 inch from the edge to form the proper bevel. The bevel should be the same on both sides of a skinning knife so that it may be used with either hand in removing the hide from a beef carcass. It is best to grind the knife by holding the knife edge against the stone at a right angle to prevent scarring the blade any farther back than the actual bevel. ”

“ Most larger skins need thinning with a special tool, though an experienced hand can manage to thin a heavy hide with a common draw knife.
An empty lard tub, a half barrel or a large earthenware jar to hold the tan liquor, a fleshing knife and a fleshing beam are necessary to begin with at least. Any smith can make a knife of an old, large file or rasp by working both sides to a blunt edge and drawing the upper end out in a tang for another handle. A piece of old scythe blade with cloth wrapped around the ends will do, or a dull draw knife, either. ”

“ It's forbidden to shecht a sick one because it improves [its value] . A gentile's knife that he sharped on his stone (see below #121 end) , or if it was fine and unblemished and he stabbed it in hard earth ten times and then shechted with it, it's permitted. If he shechted with it without kashering, he rinses the cut. If he trims off some, it's praiseworthy. ”

“ To this end there are some good implements on the market: strong, well balanced and riveted to give good service. Knife blades for this work range from 5′′ to 14′′ in length and are in various styles.
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The cleaver is a good thing to have should the butcher sometimes neglect to break a furtive bone. These come in pleasant weights and dimensions, the one with blade 6′′ long by 21⁄2′′ wide, weighing in all one pound.
In connection with knives for fruits and vegetables you will be interested in the story of the late product of steel which is so fast coming to the markets of the world. ”

“ Two men will be required to work the instrument promptly,—the one to bind the condemned, the other to drop the axe. The bascule is so arranged that the whole weight and length of the trunk will rest upon it, leaving the head and neck free, and when prone it will reach to the grooves, leaving space for the knife to pass below it. The knife itself is short and wide, with a bright concave edge, and a rim of heavy steel ridges it at the top; it moves easily in the greased grooves, and may weigh forty pounds. ”

“ The plough must be held firm in the groove or guides of the press, to prevent the knife jumping or cutting the edges uneven; and, should the knife be found to run up or down, the defect must be remedied by removing some of the paper or boards placed under the knife where it is fastened to the plough. If there should be none required to bring the knife even with the plough, then a piece must be placed on whichever side of the bolt the defect may require. The head being cut, the same operation is repeated for the tail.
Much precaution is necessary in cutting the fore-edge. ”

“ An alternative fashion of cutting to the double scissor or guillotine knives is sometimes employed, a circular knife in front engaging against a fixed straight knife at the back. This system has the advantage that the knives have not to be kept sharp, though they must be very accurately adjusted. ”

“ Study carefully the knife. No matter how carefully the machine is built, an imperfect knife cannot cut right. Most knives are imperfect in spite of the rigorous specifications given them by makers. They vary in thickness, straightness, concave, bevel, flatness, temper, and quality of steel; and also in the character of their sharpening and honing, which varies with the fineness or coarseness of the grinding wheel and stone. These variations need only be a few thousandths of an inch to cause trouble. ”

“ Almost without an exception every scalping knife used in North America is nothing more than a common butcher’s knife, made in Sheffield for sixpence, and sold to the Indians at the price of a horse. After all, it is perhaps the very best instrument that they could use. One of my friends, an experienced hunter, said that he discarded all his elaborate and costly hunting knives, and preferred the Sheffield butcher’s knife, which combines the advantages of strength, lightness, and the capability of taking an edge like a razor. ”

“ This makes the section irregular and worthless. But a really good knife with a perfectly true flat side is such a valuable tool that a good deal of effort may be profitably expended in getting it, and when once obtained never let the flat side be touched by a grindstone, or more than touched by a hone. It is not absolutely necessary, however, that the sides of a delicate knife should be curved, provided the knife is used for cutting very soft materials. An angle of 10° or even 5° gives a pretty stout blade when carried back three-quarters of an inch, as may be seen by examining Fig. ”

“ Hone the knife only on the bevel. To remove the wire edge burrs along the edge lay the hone flat on the face and rub gently so as not to round over the edge.
A knife will sometimes cut better after it has been ground the first time. A polished knife will give a better surface to the cut. The cutting of the same kind of stock will often vary with different makes of knives. An oily rag tied to a stick kept handy and passed along the bevel of the knife before cutting hard stock will improve the cut. A blunt bevel is preferred for hard stock; a long, thin bevel for soft stock. ”

“ It was what is termed a “jack-knife,” with a buckhorn handle, and but one blade—a sort in common use among sailors, who usually carry them on a string passed around the neck, and to which the knife is attached by a hole drilled in the haft. The blade was a square one, drawn to an angular point, and shaped somewhat like the blade of a razor. Like the latter, too, the back was thick and strong, as I could tell by the “feel.” I was gratified at perceiving this, for I knew that it would require a strong blade to hew a hole through the tough staves of oak. ”

“ The cutting edge of the blade is beveled on one face only. This knife represents the general shape of knives of this sort, but is rather smaller than most of them. I have seen some knives with blades fully 5 or 6 inches long and deep in proportion. The handle is almost always of walrus ivory and of the shape figured. I do not remember ever seeing an úlu blade secured otherwise than by fitting it tightly into a narrow slit in the handle, except in one case, when the handle was part of the original handle of the saw of which the knife was made, left still riveted on. ”

“ The right-hand knife must be adjusted so that its edge is exactly parallel with the left-hand knife in order to make the slug of equal thickness throughout its entire length. The faces of the two knives separate slightly toward the front of the machine, which allows the slug to pass freely forward from the cutting edges. The right-hand knife must be shaped so there is a cutting edge of about 1/64 of an inch on the side that stands next to the slug. ”

“ Section knives, during the process of sharpening, are subjected to three distinct processes: 1, Grinding; 2, Honing; 3, Stropping.
Grinding is one of the most important, though it is probable that it will rarely be undertaken by the microscopist himself. More knives and razors are spoiled in grinding than in any other way. We have now in our possession an excellent knife, which in an evil hour we entrusted to a New York cutler, and received it back utterly ruined, the temper being entirely taken out of the blades! ”

“ It is a semi-circular double-edged knife, made fast into a double wooden handle. Other forms of the fleshing-knife edge are also used. They are sharpened by a steel. The workman seizes the tool in his two hands, so as to place the edge perpendicularly to the skin, and pressing it carefully from above downwards, removes the fleshy excrescences, and lays them aside for making glue. He now turns round the herse upon the wall, in order to get access to the outside of the skin, and to scrape it with the tool inverted, so as to run no risk of cutting the epidermis. ”