Oddballs!! Not your usual cutlery!!

I just came across this pic of the handles of an African-made knife, fork, & spoon set I bought years ago. I think I must have given it away to someone. Handles look like bone, rather than ivory. Just a tourist set I imagine, but pretty funny :D

 
Jack Black said:
Really interesting knives buddy :cool: When I was a kid, in England, in the 60's, 'Made in Hong Kong', was a synonym for 'Cheap', but I don't remember seeing it much in the 70's, by which time, Japan was where the inexpensive stuff came from, and of course that changed too :thumbsup: You have lots of cool knives there :thumbsup:

This Richards of Sheffield knife has a conversion table for when Britain changed from the age-old system of Pounds, Shillings, and Pence to a Decimalised currency, in 1971.



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Such a knife would have spared me many a headache more than once ! For the change to € they made conversion cards credit card size. O tempora... 🤷🏻‍♀️
 
Bourgade-Tarry was a specialist of weird knives (#1900). 😊
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Jolipapa said:
Such a knife would have spared me many a headache more than once ! For the change to € they made conversion cards credit card size. O tempora... 🤷🏻‍♀️
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in 1971, there were all sorts of conversion calculators here 😵‍💫 Strangely, I never come across them. Perhaps they were all destroyed in frustration! 😖 It must have been VERY confusing Alain, because several of the pre-decimal coins were still in circulation for many years after, and people continued to calculate, and price things, in the 'old money' :eek: Then, there have always been nicknames for the coins (as everywhere), and for amounts of money. More recently, there is this 'Wingnut'! :D :thumbsup:


Jolipapa said:
Bourgade-Tarry was a specialist of weird knives (#1900). 😊
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bourga11.png
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Fantastic! :cool: I love those old shoe knives :) I think I have one somewhere, but it doesn't have a name :thumbsup:
 
I recall there being a huge amount of debate, mainly on British knife forums, 15-20 years ago, about knives like this, from WW1, which were wrongly referred to as 'Gift Knives'. They were in fact a standard Army pattern, this one having been made by Joseph Allen :thumbsup:

 
Jack Black said:
This Richards of Sheffield knife has a conversion table for when Britain changed from the age-old system of Pounds, Shillings, and Pence to a Decimalised currency, in 1971.



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The math on the “Pence to New Pence” side is making my head hurt. 😳🤣

Jack Black said:
Hacking Knives are still popular with workmen here, and still made in Sheffield. They are actually made to be struck, repeatedly and regularly, with a hammer! :eek:





Linesmen for the General Post Office were also once issued with a type of folding knife, which are quite collectible :thumbsup:



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A couple interesting knives there, Jack. I like the utilitarian look of that old G.P.O. knife. :thumbsup:

Jack Black said:
Then, there have always been nicknames for the coins (as everywhere), and for amounts of money. More recently, there is this 'Wingnut'! :D :thumbsup:

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I feel like they were a bit conservative on the ears. 😉😁

I suppose a hobo knife is oddball enough to fit in this thread. I picked up this Western States at the Oregon show a couple weekends back.

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Jack Black said:
in 1971, there were all sorts of conversion calculators here 😵‍💫 Strangely, I never come across them. Perhaps they were all destroyed in frustration! 😖 It must have been VERY confusing Alain, because several of the pre-decimal coins were still in circulation for many years after, and people continued to calculate, and price things, in the 'old money' :eek: Then, there have always been nicknames for the coins (as everywhere), and for amounts of money. More recently, there is this 'Wingnut'! :D :thumbsup:



Fantastic! :cool: I love those old shoe knives :) I think I have one somewhere, but it doesn't have a name :thumbsup:
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Happily not too confusing, as I had learned the old way to count money with shillings and deniers at school. So when I bought Classic Motorcycle at the Cromwell Place' newsstand the man was not surprised when he asked me a bob and received a shilling... 🤷‍♂️
 
Jack Black said:
Thanks Rachel, they are very inexpensive, and fairly widely available. Footprint closed their old premises a few years back, but are still going, and seem to do OK. I saw a US bushcrafter using one of their hacking knives for batoning :D There are lots of old ones knocking about too, and Tool Man regularly has them on his stall, but they can get pretty beat up, as they are used hard, and ruthlessly put to the grinder. I've never seen a broken one :D :thumbsup:
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Spear and Jackson does one with a wooden handle
 
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