Traditional Knives & Optics...

PocketKnifeJimmy

PocketKnifeJimmy

Joined
Aug 4, 2013
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I have seen posts here where folks tie other passions with their traditional knives. I have seen watches and knives, motorcycles and knives, and a whole lot more.
I don't believe this one has been done, so I hope it's okay...

Pictures of traditional knives, (fixed or folders), alongside traditional optics, (reading glasses, telescopes, microscopes, binoculars, and other such things).
I will start off here with my American made Schatt & Morgan Whittler, (having Mother of Pearl and Abalone scales), and my antique French made Lemaire Opera Glasses, (circa 1880-1890), which are clad in butterscotch dyed Mother of Pearl.


 
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abbydaddy said:
Those opera glasses are pretty out of this world beautiful! I feel like I would seek out opportunities to use those if I had them. Really stunning.
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Thank you!
I have ten vintage and antique French opera glasses in my collection of do-dads, and the one pictured above is my favorite. Although a couple of my other ones are in a close second place ;)
Thanks again! :)
 
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Here is another set of French Opera Glasses in the Mother of Pearl, and one of my knives in Mother of Pearl. They not only have that material in common, but also their vintage, (being from the late 1800's to the early 1900's), and have some similarities in how I chose to display them :)
 
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How well do your glasses work for sight/magnification? I don’t have a pair myself so I unfortunately can not participate :(
 
SIG96 said:
How well do your glasses work for sight/magnification? I don’t have a pair myself so I unfortunately can not participate :(
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They are in the 3 to maybe 5 fixed power range. Although they are all functional, they are, in some cases, over 100 years old. Who knows what types of adhesive and such were used to keep the MOP scales attached, and time may have taken their toll on such things. Imo, it's best to admire these as beautiful antiques, instead of actually using them. Even the cheapest pair of today's opera/theater glasses, will have better quality lenses than what was being made and used 80, 100, 130 years ago.
Today's opera/theater glasses are still usually in the 3 to 5 power range, so in that sense, they're comparable. New is probably the better way to go... again, imo. Now, as little works of art... The older one' are the prime way to go :)
It's like an old 1860's vintage Bowie that may have been made in Sheffield England. If you ran across one today, and it was in great shape, you'd probably just keep it as a beautiful piece of history, and as an example of old world craftsmanship. You would likely not want to use it for any duties. Besides, just like the Opera Glasses of way back in the day had lenses of inferior quality compared to the average lenses today, the old knife steels were all over the place too, with better quality steels and more consistent heat treating in today's world. Same type of comparison... Kind'a :)

Btw, I chose to use my French Opera Glasses for this posting of "optics and knives"... But, my intention was to have it be a combo of any traditional knife with any traditional optics... And that may be traditional binoculars, reading glasses, magnifying glasses, scopes, telescopes, monoculars, or any other such things :)
 
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Good write up, Jimmy, but I sadly don’t really have anything at the moment. One day I’ll probably pick up an antique telescope or magnifying glass since I’m a bit of a history buff, but right now all the optic apparel I want or need are my contacts ;)
 
PocketKnifeJimmy said:
You and I would get along just fine... We'd be hitting the local Sunday morning flea market together and scoring on all sorts of do-dads! :)
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I don’t know about that. We’d stroll in together and then I’d wander off without a word to inspect something curious. Just as we’d leave I’d ultimately start haggling with every seller in the market :rolleyes:
 


In this photo, I know the handle material is horn on the knives.
But, I'm not all too sure about the handle on the magnifying glass?... If it only offered some sort of a clue... lol! ;)

The horn handled magnifying glass was made in India.
The closed pocket knife was French made.
The open blade knife was American made, (Canal Street Cutlery).
 
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PocketKnifeJimmy said:
I have seen posts here where folks tie other passions with their traditional knives. I have seen watches and knives, motorcycles and knives, and a whole lot more.
I don't believe this one has been done, so I hope it's okay...

Pictures of traditional knives, (fixed or folders), alongside traditional optics, (reading glasses, telescopes, microscopes, binoculars, and other such things).
I will start off here with my American made Schatt & Morgan Whittler, (having Mother of Pearl and Abalone scales), and my antique French made Lemaire Opera Glasses, (circa 1880-1890), which are clad in butterscotch dyed Mother of Pearl.


Click to expand...
The opera glasses, and the knife, are exquisite PocketKnifeJimmy PocketKnifeJimmy ! :eek::thumbsup::thumbsup::cool:
I think this is a fantastic idea for a thread, too! :cool::cool::thumbsup: I don't have a lot of interesting optics myself, but I sure enjoy seeing what others have to share. I do have some binoculars, microscope, magnifiers, etc that I hope to post here with "appropriate" knives (I'll have to think about what I even mean by that :rolleyes:), but it's all pretty much everyday stuff.

Here's the only pic I currently have. It has a Vic Huntsman with Barska binoculars that we take with us on vacation each summer. I keep the binoculars on the table on the porch on the side of the cottage that faces a channel passing through the Les Cheneaux Islands in Lake Huron. I use them for watching boats passing through the channel and for getting closer views of birds, people, and other wildlife. I'm no kind of expert on optics and don't know how powerful the binoculars are. They're very inexpensive, and have "7 x 35" and "420FT at 1000YDS" printed on the frame.
Oouf684.jpg


- GT
 
I'll call this one "The French Connection".

A set of late 1800's Lemaire Opera Glasses, and an ebony handled Forge de Laguiole Pocketknife.
The ornate material that was used on the Opera Glasses is not Bakelite, but rather some sort of material that pre-dates Bakelite.


 
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5K Qs said:
The opera glasses, and the knife, are exquisite PocketKnifeJimmy PocketKnifeJimmy ! :eek::thumbsup::thumbsup::cool:
I think this is a fantastic idea for a thread, too! :cool::cool::thumbsup: I don't have a lot of interesting optics myself, but I sure enjoy seeing what others have to share. I do have some binoculars, microscope, magnifiers, etc that I hope to post here with "appropriate" knives (I'll have to think about what I even mean by that :rolleyes:), but it's all pretty much everyday stuff.

Here's the only pic I currently have. It has a Vic Huntsman with Barska binoculars that we take with us on vacation each summer. I keep the binoculars on the table on the porch on the side of the cottage that faces a channel passing through the Les Cheneaux Islands in Lake Huron. I use them for watching boats passing through the channel and for getting closer views of birds, people, and other wildlife. I'm no kind of expert on optics and don't know how powerful the binoculars are. They're very inexpensive, and have "7 x 35" and "420FT at 1000YDS" printed on the frame.
Oouf684.jpg


- GT
Click to expand...

I just wanted to share what little I know about binoculars in general, (since I too am no expert on the subject).
About your binoculars being marked 7×35...
The 7 is the power magnification (things being magnified 7 times bigger than to the naked eye).
As for the 35 number, that is the size, (35mm), of the objective lenses, (they being the bigger lenses on your binoculars). Generally speaking, the size of the objective lenses determines the amount of light in and the field of view the binoculars give at a given distance, (yours allowing you to see 420 feet of side to side and up and down at 1000 yards).
Anyhow, hope this helps some :)
 
Maybe I can title this picture... "Bones" :)

Top: A bone handle/blade knife, having a bull horn crossguard & pommel. Made in Cuba.
Middle: A bone scaled Case Cutlery 053 Bird Hunter pocketknife. Made in USA.
Bottom: A bone handled magnifying glass. Made in India.

 
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I'll call these photos... "Pearly Whites" :)




*1980's Parker Cutlery Company Bowie with white Mother of Pearl handle scales.

*Early 1900's Lemaire Opera Glasses clad in white Mother of Pearl.
 
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