I wonder how sharp knives on the prairie were kept?

Macchina said:
That would certainly interest me! I know there is a large timeframe of the setting of the West (I think if the advancement from Kentucky Rifles to Metallic Cartridge Repeaters as occurring during this timeframe).
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I'll pull up some catalog scans later. But here's an old Caron Bros guided sharpener that was patented in 1910. It is very similar in design to the Edge Pro, Lansky, and other modern guided sharpeners. This one was intended for sharpening shears. I ended up selling it (needed knife spending money :D) to a guy who still uses them for sharpening shears in a factory that makes clothing.





 
blademan 13 said:
I grew up on a dairy farm in rural, Northern NY. In addition to daily chores there was always hunting, trapping and butchering to be done. I never experienced a shaving sharp blade. I have to agree with Jake on this one, it was an uncommon experience to see a finely honed blade. My Dad was a farrier and his hoove knives fell into the same category, sharp enough to do the job at hand and nothing more. Not at all uncommon to see the old timers using a fine file on their cutting tools or a coarse stone at best. No fine stones to speak of, much less stropping! Probably the finest edge I experienced was that my Grandfather would put on his trusty Marble's Woodcraft (which I still treasure).

Many of the old knives we see today with worn blades were the result of poor and frequent sharpening practices. I suspect a majority of the prairie blades experienced the same life cycle.
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This is the most likely case. Sharp enough to do the job. My knives fall into this category. They cut what needs cuttin' and that's plenty for me. I use a Hard Arkansas stone about once a month or as needed. I don't fret over being able to shave hair or any of the other tricks we see. They do just fine for their intended purpose.
 
Given that work was a sunrise to sunset affair I imagine that most knives were kept sharp enough to do the job and touch up quickly. None of this sharpening with five different grit stones followed by a stropping on treated leather.
 
I'll look through my old catalogs later.

This 1868 Scientific American article is perfect for this discussion. Unfortunately, the quality of the scan is terrible. I had saved it from Google books. It describes carrying a pocket knife as "natural" and "national instinct" but also says that "few understand its care". It discusses honing and stropping of knives, different stones, etc. It contrasts with the dealer perspective in the ad that I showed above. It says the factory edge is "unfit for use".

"It is seldom one can borrow a sharp knife from an acquaintance. It is either left as it came from the manufacturer, or has its edge rounded so its cross section is a conical wedge, or it is abraded to tenuity by the action of the coarse stone of the street grinder's machine, one of the most ruinous contrivances for sharpening knives or razors."








This 1869 article shows some of the contraptions designed for sharpening carving knives and other table cutlery.



 
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Jake-I've got an old popular mechanics book of helpful ideas from around 1916-18, that has some interesting and down right dangerous things in it, but one idea I distinctly remember is making a strop type device out of wood, with cross-hatching, mixing finely broken glass (or glass powder really) with grease and then applying said compound to your wooden strop. It was supposed to be good for a very fine edge. Great books, on one of the title pages they list who would find this advice helpful and at the end say even women could benefit from reading the book. Hilarious today. Also thanks for mentioning the scrub plane, been wanting one awhile.
Thanks, Neal
 
neal70 said:
Jake-I've got an old popular mechanics book of helpful ideas from around 1916-18, that has some interesting and down right dangerous things in it, but one idea I distinctly remember is making a strop type device out of wood, with cross-hatching, mixing finely broken glass (or glass powder really) with grease and then applying said compound to your wooden strop. It was supposed to be good for a very fine edge. Great books, on one of the title pages they list who would find this advice helpful and at the end say even women could benefit from reading the book. Hilarious today. Also thanks for mentioning the scrub plane, been wanting one awhile.
Thanks, Neal
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Sounds dangerous! Haha!

kamagong said:
And people act like unsatisfactory factory slipjoint sharpening is a new thing.
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It all sounds like it could have been written today!

Personally, I'd rather have a good primary grind and no attempt by the manufacturer to put an edge on the knife.... like GEC. ;) Okay, they barely touch the edge with a stone wheel. But that's actually fine with me. I prefer to put my own edge on a new knife and would rather not have to even out a wavy edge (that is typical for most others except Victorinox)
 
I've ran into many secondhand knives sharpened to nothingness, I still assert they could have been by people tweaking on meth, but this theory that they were just used and sharpened into nothingness decades before could be another factor as well, I still find a lot of people do sharpen their knives to nothingness with improper technique even if they do not use drugs, but such drugs would certainly cause someone to do repetitive tasks when they are unneeded (ie oversharpening the knife multiple times wasting material without ever dulling the knife) and cause increased instances of finding such blades, this obviously only applies if the knife is of sufficient age.
 
They were sharp. shaving was not the test they used. My pappy passed in 2011. he grew up in Oklahoma and mule farmed. he grew up in a house with no bathroom. he did not make a fuss about the knife he carried. It was like having pants and a shirt on. Necessary things. When he died he had a small folder. It was sharp as hell. It was probably a 20 dollar hardware store knife with a generic stone he kept on top of his chest of drawers. the blade had been wore down from years of sharpening but it still did its job. very simple.
 
This. no diamond gel was available!
kamagong said:
Given that work was a sunrise to sunset affair I imagine that most knives were kept sharp enough to do the job and touch up quickly. None of this sharpening with five different grit stones followed by a stropping on treated leather.
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Judging by some of the old time axe adverts and sales demonstrations of axes so sharp you could shave with them, sharpness was used at least as a sales gimmick. That's from the 1930's though, a good bit past wild frontier times.

Great Hess, by the way. I've got an antler handled tiburon that I'm in love with. The term "cold, dead hands" comes to mind. Fantastic knives.
 
Sirryacus said:
I've ran into many secondhand knives sharpened to nothingness, I still assert they could have been by people tweaking on meth, but this theory that they were just used and sharpened into nothingness decades before could be another factor as well, I still find a lot of people do sharpen their knives to nothingness with improper technique even if they do not use drugs, but such drugs would certainly cause someone to do repetitive tasks when they are unneeded (ie oversharpening the knife multiple times wasting material without ever dulling the knife) and cause increased instances of finding such blades, this obviously only applies if the knife is of sufficient age.
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I got a good chuckle from your post... Thanks and have a good weekend
 
Jake, any idea on what a sharpening system like that cost back then??
 
Jsega51 said:
Jake, any idea on what a sharpening system like that cost back then??
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Which one? The Caron Bros? I'd have to search for it. I can tell you they don't go for much today. :( It was most likely used in a shop, not a household. But I wanted to show that the "modern" guided sharpeners are 100 year old designs.

The others were intended for household use. When I look through my catalogs, I'll see if I can find an example with prices.

If you were poor, I'm sure you used whatever was cheap.

My grandparents didn't have a lot of money and my grandfathers tools were mostly second hand. His finish saw was actually a re purposed surgical saw. You had what you can afford and were happy to have it.

Doing a quick search through google books in this time range, I found fiction mentioning that the kitchen knives were sometimes sharpened on the stove pipe... and non fiction anecdotes of ruffians sharpening their knives on stone steps in town... and non fiction anecdotes of town folk pulling out their knives and sharpening them to intimidate native Americans. :eek:
 
This knife sharpener combo tool was 13 cents by mail in 1890... $1 for a dozen by mail... or 60 cents for a dozen for pickup.

 
Wow, Jake! Thank you so much for posting these scans. As much as things have changed, things have stayed the same. It's entertaining to read marketing text from over 100 years ago that sounds like it could have been written yesterday. I'll bet that Arkansas stone mounted in silver plate was a looker!

...and let me tell you, if you made that multi-tool from 1890 today in titanium, you'd fetch $75 for it in a heartbeat! :p
 
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