Oddballs!! Not your usual cutlery!!

Jack Black said:
I could find this and this , along with a lot of very different images, with 'knives', (lancets), which generally have a more medical appearance. While unusual, I do see knives like the one I have fairly regularly in antique shops.
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That is interesting. Ivory can be sharpened enough to cut the skin? Or am I misunderstanding?
 
r8shell said:
That is interesting. Ivory can be sharpened enough to cut the skin? Or am I misunderstanding?
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waynorth said:
It definitely can !! Ivory is tough stuff!!
You scratch the skin in a pattern to apply the vaccine!!😨
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I'm not sure, maybe it can, but the 'blade' on the knife I have, and similar knives I've seen, wouldn't cut more than a soft pear :thumbsup:
 
Originally, inoculation which literally means transfer was the process whereby a pathogen was introduced into a wound to deliberately cause disease and then provoke immunization. Thus pus or scabs from Cowpox was introduced into a scratch or wound to create immunity from Smallpox. This is somewhat different from vaccination but is its forerunner. Ivory will retain spores or scab like material for quite some time until it needs to be introduced into a wound or scratch. A small cut or scratch would be made with a scalpel or blade; so the cut can be smeared with an Ivory blade or fresh scab material introduced with the ivory; either way it retains the virus material very well. Later, as active vaccine material was developed, small Ivory needles/darts were coated with the vaccine and then used pierce the skin, I suppose before hypodermic syringes became the norm? This is how I view it anyway.

Ivory is also used on some Grafting/Budding knives as a so-called 'spud' or wedge like attachment at the end opposite to the blade, it is used to gently pry open an incision so a cutting or graft may be introduced.
 
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Here’s one that’s a bit different. Marked Gilt-Edge can’t read what’s below that. That was a trademark used by Farwell-Ozmun-Kirk & Co St Paul Minn. They bought Henry Sears & Son in 1897. It’s a handle for a buggy whip. Patent date is Nov 11, 1884. Pretty cool knife. IMG_1676.jpgIMG_1677.jpgIMG_1678.jpgIMG_1679.jpgIMG_1680.jpg
 
galvanic1882 said:
Here’s one that’s a bit different. Marked Gilt-Edge can’t read what’s below that. That was a trademark used by Farwell-Ozmun-Kirk & Co St Paul Minn. They bought Henry Sears & Son in 1897. It’s a handle for a buggy whip. Patent date is Nov 11, 1884. Pretty cool knife. View attachment 2493833View attachment 2493834View attachment 2493835View attachment 2493836View attachment 2493837
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Wow, that's really interesting :cool: :thumbsup:

It made me think of this one, with a cast metal handle, and an internal spring. One of our absent Australian posters showed a SIMILAR knife, but with a single blade, and no provenance. This one is marked 'Rodeo' and 'Sheffield, England'. Pretty unusual I think, kind of crude too :thumbsup:

Rodeo Cast Handle Jack 1-1.JPG
 
Another fruit knife, this time with a seed pick.

1tUrbYC.jpg
 
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