Jabberwocky Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 anybody carry machetes around?? Da Fox `Ill mob did in da 70s! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertDSmith Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Having spent my working life selling cutlery and having three previous generations of spring knife cutlers on my mother's side, may I humbly submit my twopennth. A pen knife has a single spring and a blade at each end. A pocket knife has 2 springs side by side with a blade each. The endless permutations which follow all had their names but are now too far buried in the old grey matter. I had considered donating my accumulation to a museum but I expect Weston Park has more than enough already. About the Coronation souvenir I still have the 1937 tin of cadbury's chocolate complete with mouldy chocolate !! Dad said "don't eat that, save it", and if you remember, we used to do as we were told in those days. Bob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waltheof Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 I wasn't around in '37, nor was I born in Sheffield, but it's my adopted city and so I have taken an interest in the heritage of knives. I always carry a folding knife (generally with two springs and blades) as it's useful for all sorts of things, and I've collected a few interesting old knives. The ones with the black handle and spike, I believe, were made and issued during the war (at least, I have one with the broad arrow and the date 1944 on it). The opinel French ones are good too, they were for kitchen use, and I have a couple of those. It always amazes me, the number of parts that go into a folding spring knife, and the terminology of the different parts, and names of the blade shapes. I wish I had the skill to fashion such beautiful objects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pensionipper Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 We were all given pen-knives for (I think) the festival of Britain. These were one bladed red handled things made by Richards and they fell to pieces when you tried to cut anything stronger than butter. None of them lasted more than a couple of days; you could have given one to a serial killer and he would have died of frustration. Taylor's 'Eye Witness' knives are the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertDSmith Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 I wondered how long it wouldbe before someone mentioned the dreaded Richards. How many are old enough to remember the arrival of Herr Rikartz to the city and what a shock to the system when pocket knives could be mass produced with bits of bent metal. It is interesting to reflect that that they were probably the first in a long line of debasing influences which eventually brought Sheffied to its knees. The whittle-tang knife, the chrome on brass spoon and fork then Harris Miller's brave attempt at mass production and eventually Viners who require a volume to themselves. It's an interesting story and some attempts have been made to record it but I'm afraid non to my satisfaction to date. I personally carry a slim engine-turned 5 piece Victorinox and it is in use several times each day when no-one has a pair of scissors to hand or a small screwdriver. The orange peeler can raise a few eyebrows also. Sheffield for all its great skill never quite matched the Swiss. Bob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterw Posted November 17, 2009 Author Share Posted November 17, 2009 We were all given pen-knives for (I think) the festival of Britain. These were one bladed red handled things made by Richards and they fell to pieces when you tried to cut anything stronger than butter. None of them lasted more than a couple of days; you could have given one to a serial killer and he would have died of frustration. Taylor's 'Eye Witness' knives are the best. Hell-fire! Post anything at all on the Forum and before long one thing has led to another. In this instance, “cut anything stronger than butter” Alas, when you’re in a Care Home, all or most of your worldly goods have been thrown into a skip and driven to the cemeteries of rubbish. Now you have mentioned butter, I recall a ‘butter-knife” sleeping in the kitchen in our cutlery drawer. The handle end was a barrel-shaped tubne into which you poured boiling water. The blade was thicker than most knives because that was the reservoir for said boiling water! Warm blade cuts through refrigerated butter and Hey Presto! Easy spreading — no problem. Is it still possible to buy such a treasure or were they all sunk in the Ark? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cal1943 Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 The boys also received a penknife when Queen Elizabeth's coronation took place and the girls got a sugar spoon and the number of times I received a penknife off people for doing little jobs for them in the 50s I still have one or two somewhere you could even use them in class at school to sharpen your pencils with no questions asked Hi, We girls all received a pair of needlework scissors for the Queens Coronation in 1953. I still have mine and use them regulary. They are stamped June Queen Elizabeth 1953. Cal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertDSmith Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Cal, I wonder who made the scissors ? that could have been a nice little order at that time when many were struggling. As for the butter spreader Peter, with the hollow handle ! thats a new one on me ! and I reckon to have seen it all in cutlery. I bet Weston Park don't even have one. I have just packed off my grandson to Hallam Uni with a handful of Sheffield cutlery. I told him he will know which is his own cos it's got Sheffield marked on it, nobody elses will have ! Funnily enough his student flat is right over where cutlers workshops once were. Old Mr. Paulson's in fact, the last true little mester that I knew I never did count outworkers as little mesters. I'm sorry I'm new to this forum I would hate to outstay my welcome. On Tripadvisor it only gets interesting when someone says something contraversial. Bob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cal1943 Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Hi Bob, I have had another look at my scissors, and it says...June E R. 1953 with a crown in the middle. The stamp says MV ---- Sheffield. England. The scissors are very good quality. Yes it would have been a good order to have had all those years ago. My family were in the cutlery trade, and my late Dad worked at Surmanco's, a scissor manufacturer in Sheffield Cal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pensionipper Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 I wondered how long it wouldbe before someone mentioned the dreaded Richards. How many are old enough to remember the arrival of Herr Rikartz to the city and what a shock to the system when pocket knives could be mass produced with bits of bent metal. It is interesting to reflect that that they were probably the first in a long line of debasing influences which eventually brought Sheffied to its knees. The whittle-tang knife, the chrome on brass spoon and fork then Harris Miller's brave attempt at mass production and eventually Viners who require a volume to themselves. It's an interesting story and some attempts have been made to record it but I'm afraid non to my satisfaction to date. I personally carry a slim engine-turned 5 piece Victorinox and it is in use several times each day when no-one has a pair of scissors to hand or a small screwdriver. The orange peeler can raise a few eyebrows also. Sheffield for all its great skill never quite matched the Swiss. Bob. Many thanks,Bob. Who actually DID win the war?? I have an interesting book: The Lost Victory by Correlli Barnett about this (off the subject again I fear.) Herr Rikartz indeed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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