Antique Quill Knives

[knife7knut]

I hate to say this but I have a pair that is near identical to those and I believe they are of recent manufacture from China.Not meant to deceive but rather standard work scissors.I can't find the pic at the moment but I'll find them and post a pic.

EDIT: Here are the pictures

[LongBlade]

Interesting K7Knut.... hmnn.. they are similar but not exactly... I showed my pair to a good buddy of mine in England and he is a well-known and reputable collector of vintage fly tying ephemera (he even writes for a vintage section of a UK Fly Fishing/Tying mag) - he actually thought they were for real as old having seen a few others he pulled from old estate sales in the UK... I only paid approx $20 so for what they are I am good with them... but now you have me thinking .... Thanks for posting yours - at least mine may have some phony stamps

[knife7knut]

It's very possible that yours are old;I'm far from being an expert on old scissors.The pair I have has marks similar to yours but they appear to be forging marks where the pieces were held in a pair of tongs. I think I paid less than a dollar for mine and they actually work quite well;even for cutting heavy material.The handles are surprisingly comfortable;I can fit all four fingers into them.

[LongBlade]

No doubt they still make forged scissors such as these in China as they are a traditional design that started there long ago (& they use carbon steel as well) - they are quite useful for many things - however similar ones were made long ago as well from my understanding here and in the UK... I'm no scissor expert either though I should be with all the scissors I have from fly tying over many years I should start a scissor thread on General Discussion with photos of the many designs I have accumulated - as you said they are useful "edged tools"

[knife7knut]

Sounds like a good idea. Here is a pair I bought years ago by Joseph Rodgers. Each side has a pwn blade encased inside and the scales are ivory.There is a small silver sheath to protect the points. Marks date it to pre-1900. To give you an idea of the size, the knife blades are 1" long.

[LongBlade]

Those are without a doubt the most unique pair of scissors I have ever seen ... and with ivory scales and blades ... Are they heavy in the hand? - look like perfect size for fly tying if indeed they feel good in the hand... Scissors to me are no different in my mind than your favorite EDC in terms of how they feel in hand and doing their job ... Recently picked up a pair of scissors made by Joseph Rodgers and Son as well - not sure of age yet as I am waiting by the mailbox... But they are small 4 & 1/2" and stamped with asterisk or star and cross on handle... Perfect size for fly tying but not anywhere as nice as yours with all the additions...

[LongBlade]

Well - bringing this back to top and also getting it back on track as it was my fault it started discussing scissors ... I forgot I never posted this quill knife here - sorry...

V-crown-R carved ivory quill with brass bolsters... no doubt 1837-1901 - I was told probably earlier than later in that time period... cool coping blade - still snaps and no wobble (and I am ignoring the crack in mark side - pile side has a small chip missing.. acceptable to me given the condition of knife as a whole)... trying to figure out the 2 lines under the V-crown-R... S-K gave me some important info which didn't come to mind until he noted it and that is only certain cutlers had the right to use the crown marking... another Sheffield collector (Campbellclanman on BF - not sure he is a member here) believes it may be a Rodgers quill and that the letters underneath can be the retailer or shop for which the knife was made and sold...

Tough to read the letters under the crown marking but I see:
V-crown-R
? R ? (maybe a P R ? - maybe M R ?)
W E I ? (at least one more letter - maybe 2) OR W L L OR W I L OR WEL....

I tried all types of lighting and even my hand held mini-microscope (compliments of my buddy Jerry ).. but some letters are just too worn for my old eyes...

(Can't access the other forum and the Sheffield thread (BF) - its down or something - to see what S-K noted about my guesses on letters as he had a good perspective but he is on the mystery - and much appreciated!!)...

Any other guesses, comments etc?? Cool old quill either way in my book... and thanks for looking!!!
Lee

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[FRJ]

Nice old quill, Lee.

Here's one stamped - American.
I have no idea who made it.

[Beechtree]

Figured I would post here as well, great score Joe! American Knife Co. Plymouth Hollow Conn 1849-1875

[FRJ]

Here is another Quill stamped "American".

With fellow Patriot in previous post.

[Deni]

Hi all....I found this antique mother of pearl quill knife, sadly with a broken blade so there are no hallmarks. But there is a mark on the blade "Youle" and I can't seem to find any with this mark out there. I did find some Google books saying a Robert Youle was a cutlery forger for Mappin....does anyone know any history on this?

[knife7knut]

Hi all....I found this antique mother of pearl quill knife, sadly with a broken blade so there are no hallmarks. But there is a mark on the blade "Youle" and I can't seem to find any with this mark out there. I did find some Google books saying a Robert Youle was a cutlery forger for Mappin....does anyone know any history on this?

Welcome to the forum Deni! Sorry to be so late in replying but I haven't had much of a chance to read all the forums of late.
If you look at page 4 of this thread about half way down you will see two quill knives with letter openers attached. One is all pearl and the other is tortoise shell and ivory. The pearl one is also marked YOULE. I have never been able to find anything about the maker.

[Deni]

Thank you for your reply and welcome.

[Quillpen]

In this topic, Miller Bro's in 2011 touched on the subject of quill cutting blades having one curved face and the other face being left flat. The curve makes it easier to cut the various radii of the nib shape.

I want to make myself a rigid bladed penknife to cut nibs, and have been trawling the internet for more information on blade shapes.
To date I have only found one other reference to this important aspect of using the quill knife.

As Miller Bro's said, one face of the blade is curved and the other is flat.

Your choice of blade was decided on the way you cut with your blade, and if you were left or right handed.

Apparently it was the norm, if you were English to point the nib toward your face, and pull the knife blade towards yourself when cutting.
Americans it seems tended to point the nib away from themselves and push the blade away also.
Also,whichever way you cut with the knife, away or towards yourself, you had to decide if you wanted to hold the knife in the left or right hand.

Explanation........
Looking at the geometry of the blade, start with the sharp edge uppermost and the point of the blade pointing towards your nose.
A right handed man (or woman) that cuts towards themselves would have the curved side on the right of the blade and the flat side on the left, looking at the blade as just described.
If they were left handed the blade would have the curve to the left and the flat to the right.

If you cut away from yourself, the faces are reversed.

Try it yourself with knife in hand and see what category you fall into.
You would have had to choose correctly at the stationery shop or cutlers when selecting your knife, or you would be in trouble cutting your quill nibs.

I am not sure that many people are aware of this idiosyncrasy that quill penknives have.

Is there any chance that a few kind people could post some photographs here of the end sections of your blades so that I can get an idea of the curves used.

There is a similar situation with cut throat microtome blades. To the average person they look just like a shaving cut throat, but they are hollow ground on one side and flat on the other. Not the place to go further into that though.

Any end on blade pictures would be much appreciated.

Cheers.



spelling edited.

[FRJ]

Quillpen, welcome here.
You have a very interesting first post. I haven't given any thought to a quill pen blade being curved, as you call it, on the left or right side of the blade. I'll pay close attention from now on. In pictures shown the flat side is on the mark side and the swedge is on the pile side of this Northfield quill.
Cutting quills always intrigued me because it went on for years and was a greatly successful way to get ink to paper/velum.
Anything with that history should not be ignored but I just haven't pursued it but remain curious.
My few other quills have the same blade design, I think. I'll look into that.

[gsmith7158]

Here's a little quill knife I got as a freebie from kj. I can make out the last four letters of an arched stamp IELD. SHEFFIELD perhaps. Nice ivory scales.

[JSCNC]

Hi, I'm new and posted this Quill Knife with Quill Cutter in the Knife Related Q&A section yesterday. Thanks to you guys I actually know that it is a quill cutter. There are more images there and I just uploaded more to my gallery on this forum. Any additional info on this knife would be greatly appreciated! Cheers!

[LongBlade]

Reviving this thread -

Here's one I never posted on this quill knife thread - John Hinchcliffe (ca 1830-1851) Sheffield... According to Tweedale, John Hinchcliffe was well known maker of fancy MOP carved handled knives and especially quill knives. Hinchcliffe was given multiple awards at early expositions in that time period for carved MOP knives. The trademark was the "beehive" in the tang stamp. 3" long closed... No doubt shows that quality and beauty of old Sheffield knives

Thanks for looking!

[Miller Bro's]

An absolute beauty Lee!

[LongBlade]

Thanks Dimitri ...

[FRJ]

What a jaw dropper that is, Lee. Quite beautiful.
They sure picked out some nice pearl for it.
Thanks for the show.

[LongBlade]

Thanks Joe ....

[peanut740]

That's an amazing knife Lee!

[LongBlade]

Thanks Roger ...

[BWT]

Beautiful knife Lee, thanks for sharing.